Reverse Psychology

Sensei takes the three new students into the other room, leaving me in charge of the main class. After a brief moment of thought, I say, "Barrett, lead us through the basics."

Barrett lines us up and leads through the basics harder and faster than we've done them in a long time. And we did twice as many reps to boot. He finally stops--two basics short of doing them all, and we do some stretches and things. He tells me later that he'd stopped because Tom looked like he was about to fall out. Tom is in his late 50s, and even though sensei cautions us not to exceed our limits, Tom will not quit.

After class, Barrett confesses, "I was trying my best to make Becky break down over there, so she'd think, 'I'm never telling Barrett to lead the basics again!'"

What I was really thinking, though, was, "Boy, this is a great workout. I ought to get Barrett to lead basics more often!" Reverse psychology doesn't always work.

In knitting knews, I've hit a snag with the second Jaywalker sock. I got all the way through the heel and past the turn. I'd picked up the gussets and had begun my decreases when I realized that what I was doing wasn't matching up with what the pattern was saying, or with what I'd done on the first sock. I picked back until just before picking up the gusset stitches (a whole round and a half, thankfully it wasn't more) and figured out what I'd done. Instead of ending the leg on round one of the pattern, I'd ended on round two. Yes, I knew I was supposed to end on round 1, and I thought I had, but I must not have been paying that much attention.

So now the decision needs to be made. Do I rip back the heel turn and the heel and knit one more round on the leg, or do I just wing it?

I'm gonna wing it.

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