Do You Count?

I have started a new sock. I had some snippets of time and started a new sock. It is the yarn I bought last week at the lys I visited for the first time. It is Jitterbug by Colinette in the Toscano colorway. The yardage is rather short, only 267m. I really prefer a long cuff but I don't think it is going to be possible. I enjoyed using the double points for the previous socks and decided to try again.

This time, I found thatt I was getting stretched stitches where I was changing the needles. I have never had lessons, I have taught myself how to knit, usually trial by error. If you already know this, I am jealous. When I would change needles, I would introduce the new needle by inserting it above the right hand needle. It seemed to be a little easier to hold the needles and not have the yarn get tangled.

I decided to change how I introduced the needle. By inserting it under the right hand needle, I am able to snug the yarn a little tighter and the stitches look much better.

The yarn came with a pattern. I don't usually follow the pattern that comes with the yarn as they are rather vanilla. However, this time, since the rumors are that the yardage is slight I am going to try to follow the directions. The cuff calls for 40 rows. My question is - do you count or do you measure? I find that if the pattern is stockinette, I have a difficult time paying close enough attention to count the rows. I don't like stopping to hit the counter, it interrupts the flow. What is your preference?

OK enough slacking off, time to get back to the lace.