The man socks were (past tense) knitting up quickly. On Friday, I managed to finish nearly the entire leg of the first sock on the drive to Squaw Valley.

When we got home, I had the man try on his sock. Bad news - it was too loose. Turns out they really mean “Mega Boots Stretch” — this is some stretchy yarn! I think I could knit socks that were my size, and they would be stretchy enough to fit Todd too. So, my bright idea of adding two ribbing repeats to scale up the size of the sock was not so bright after all. I’m pretty bummed about the fact that I have to rip an entire 7 inches of sock, so I’m not ripping it just yet. I’m putting this project on the back burner for a while. After trying on the sock, Todd didn’t even seem so sure he’d like wearing hand knit socks. So sad. I’m not giving up just yet though.

To cheer myself up, I went to Babetta’s today and bought some yarn to make the Entrelac Socks. (I actually went to get a skein of light colored Cascade 220 for my Stitches class, but couldn’t resist the call of the Cherry Tree Hill solids in bright pink & olive green.)

These socks are so. fun. I’m really enjoying the entrelac, and can’t believe that I was (sort of) scared to try it before this. It just looked so complicated. Really, it’s not complicated at all. The only kind of annoying thing is all the turning. And I solved that problem by teaching myself how to knit backwards. (also not as complicated as it sounds.)

I didn’t get Salina finished over the weekend, as I planned. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish her up this week. I need a sweater to wear to Stitches on Friday!

That’s not a statement of self-worth. It’s a fact. I don’t count. And I didn’t realize this until tonight.

The realization occurred as I was knitting on the Man Socks. I decided yesterday to rip the sock cuff and start again… the socks were looking a bit large, and I decided to actually use a pattern. I came across Karen’s recently completed Madder Socks. She made them using the same yarn that I’m using (Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch, in a different colorway), and they look absolutely amazing. They’re also very gender neutral - plenty manly, or girly, depending on the yarn. And, the addition of ribbing in the foot and ankle part of the sock will make the fit not so critical - the socks will have a bit more stretch.

Tonight, I sat down to work on the socks, in a somewhat dim room. My yarn is dark. Almost black. I didn’t really realize how much more difficult it was to knit with a dark color, but Sheila warned me that it was probably not going to be easy, especially if I knit at night. Anyway, the previous cuff was a 1×1 ribbing - knit 1, purl 1, repeat. Not much counting required, so I didn’t have too many problems the first time around. The new cuff is 2×2 ribbing. Minimal counting required. 1, knit; 2, knit; 3, purl; 4, purl. Uh oh. Mistakes everywhere. Turns out I can’t count to 4. And then, when I finished the cuff, the real fun began… 6×1 ribbing alternating with 2×1 ribbing. I can’t count to 7 either. Or 10.

Somehow, I continually managed to mess up the ribbing. How could this be? I can count, right? I mean, I’m a pretty OK knitter. I’ve knit some fairly complex things. These must have required counting.

Turns out, not so much. As I kept making mistakes and fixing them, I realized exactly what was happening… I can indeed count. I just don’t. I knit by reading the stitches. For ribbing in the round, I knit a stitch if it looks like the stitch below it is a knit stitch. I purl if the stitch below is a purl stitch. Same goes for more complicated things: lace, cables, etc. I look at my knitting, and at the pattern or chart (if there is one), and figure out what I need to do based on what’s on the needles.

That approach has worked really well for me until now. Now, I can’t see what’s on the needles unless I really strain. It’s just a bunch of dark, indistinguishable stitches that form a knit fabric. My sense of when to knit and when to purl is completely gone because I can’t see a darn thing on the needles. Who knew stitches in dark yarn are so hard to see? Not me!

I’m hoping once I get into the groove of the pattern that I’ll get a muscle memory of sorts for the ribbing pattern, so that I’ll automatically knit and purl in pattern. Otherwise I’ll have to teach myself to actually count stitches. Good times.

I was recently informed that I have to knit a pair of Man Socks. This is not news, as the man picked out the yarn for his socks during our vacation last fall. Unfortunately, I just got my Spring IK, and am dying (DYING) to knit Eunny’s entrelac socks. But, they will wait. For now, I am knitting Man Socks.

Hopefully my gauge is OK. I’m not using a pattern for these, just extrapolating my basic 64 stitch stockinette sock for a bigger, more manly foot. No use in making a gauge swatch, since that would take just as long as knitting a few inches of sock. After I get past the ribbing and into the stockinette, I’m going to take the sock of the needles and see if it is way too big. I fear that I cast on a few too many stitches, but will wait and see how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed.