I have to admit, I am a bit of a mathie at heart. I love to awe mere mortals with my math wiz skills at the cash register and to non-chalantly name drop pi, irrational numbers and square roots. While being no prodigy, I have always prided myself with reasonable math skills.
Well, at least I thought I had reasonable math skills, until I took up knitting again last year. Apparently, the teacher made a mistake when she let me go from kindergarten to grade one all those years ago. My knitting has made it abundantly clear that I cannot count! No matter how many times I count simple stitches, there are always errors that show up and I am left to wonder HOW have I survived all these years without the basic skill of counting. Put out a bunch of candies and I can count them! Ask me to count the number of red traffic lights between here and there (the answer is usually pretty easy though, I seem to be a red light magnet and the answer is usually ALL of them) and I am all over it. I can prove it . . . one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen (and I could go on).
But ask me to count the number of stitches or the number of rows on my knitting project and I am unable to do it consistently. I double check my counting all the time and I still have to tink or rip all the time. Gads! Can someone please direct me to a remedial counting class?
Lochside socks in progress. The second sock has the colours reversed (on purpose). That way people will pay more attention to the colours and less attention to my less than lack luster counting and tension.
This is one of my current projects. It is a lovely pair of short colour work socks called Lochside. They have been a delight to knit, except for two small things:
- I apparently cannot count and have to keep tinking. This problem becomes exacerbated when working with TWO colours.
- I still have not settled on a preferred method for two colour knitting.
I did the first sock using my own modification of one handed two colour continental knitting. It was was really enjoyable and fast! Woo hoo. Unfortunately, the tensions issues I had and hoped would be fixed during blocking remained even after blocking. So, for the second sock, back to two handed stranded knitting. As I go along, my technique is slowly evolving. Hopefully, by the time I have knitted forty or fifty pair of stranded socks and mittens, I will have settled on a method that really works for me. Until then, I am determined to plod on.
Today, my watercolours out to play. It was so nice to paint again. I am by no means a good painter, but I do enjoy the process. I painted for my sketchbook and then created two Mother’s Day cards: one for my mom and one for my husband’s aunt.
