Entrelac

When I was younger, I loved to run through the woods at night. It was sort of an act of faith - you just had to keep going, confident that the path would be there. It was also something of an act of necessity, since the police didn't like us building campfires in the public parks in the middle of the night, but that's another story.

Knitting entrelac is like that....the faith part, not the police. You just have to plunge blindly ahead with the pattern, ignoring what the knitting actually looks like, and somehow it all works out. At least I think it will all work out.

Sam, one of the Sockday knitters, decided she really wanted to make Eunny Jang's entrelac socks from Interweave Knits, and somehow that turned into a proposal for a knitalong. So I gave in to peer pressure, bought my yarn, and decided to learn entrelac. We got together yesterday at Debbie's for a cast-on party, and this is the result. I did a little work once I got home, so in about four hours of knitting I managed to cast on the toe, do my base triangles, and get in two rows of rectangles. I'm trying to break out of my blue-purple-green color fixation, and work with something different, so this color combination is an attempt to do that.

As it turned out, Sam and I were the only ones brave enough to start on the socks. Michelle and Amanda were our local entrelac experts, but they both left early. Amanda's on a lace knitting kick this year, so she was only along for the company, but Michelle started and abandonded a pair of mittens. Elizabeth is working on a nice felted bag, and Debbie started her entrelac adventure with Knitty's Danica.

There's some concern that Sam's name will become a curse word in the local knitting community, and I'm not making any promises that it won't yet. I question the wisdom of trying to knit an entire pair of socks in six-stitch blocks. But I may be pleased with the results, and I know I'm falling in love with the Cherry Tree Hill yarn. So we'll see what happens.