Trust the process

Sometimes you just have to trust the process even if you don't fully understand it. Even if it is a scary thing, with which you have zero experience. _Especially_ then. I remember 23 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I had read every book on what to expect and blah blah blah. I was not scared to be pregnant. No caffeine, no alcohol, no problem. It was fine. More than fine. It was fun - cruising right along.

However, as my due date approached, I started to worry about the end game -- that transition between being pregnant and being not pregnant. Rationally, I knew that women have been birthing babies for millennia. But that didn't make it any less frightening for me. The pictures in the crunchy granola books I'd seen - tender images carefully sketched -- helped not at all. In fact, they terrified me even more. A baby's head is how big, you say? Um. Words like dilation and effacement should have appealed to my logical side, but honestly, it just did not make intuitive sense. Too late to reconsider. This train had already left the station. Not much for me to do but trust my doctor and do as I was told.

Knitting socks is kind of the same. You're going along working in the round on double pointed needles. That's kind of new and fun - not too different from what you already know how to do. Just around and around. And then it's time to work the heel. Wait. I thought we were working around and around. Um. Slip which way? Why that way? What? Decrease here? In the middle? Why? Okay. Knit which ones? Why those? Pick up where? Why there? How many? Why that many? Yeah. Charts that try to explain the process are as scary as those birth sketches. Who in the heck thought this would be helpful?

Good grief. At some point, after banging your head against the wall trying to understand and visualize the process, you realize, it's better to simply follow the instructions and do as you're told. People have been knitting socks since the 4th century. Trust the process, trust your instructor, and it'll be fine. You'll see. That first time is definitely a leap of faith, but the more you do, the better you'll understand.

If you'd like to take that leap of faith and knit your first pair of socks, join us for our Beginning Sock class. Beginning Socks is a three session class, and the first class in our Sock University program. You'll be working with worsted weight yarn which knits up quickly and makes it much easier to learn the techniques. To ensure your success in this class, you should be able to cast on, work k1p1 ribbing, knit in the round, work k2tog, and ssk basic decreases. If you can do those things, you can knit socks.  Check out our class listfor dates, times, and details!