I have come to the conclusion that I love knitting socks. They’re fun, small, portable projects. The socks I knit and give as gifts are always well received. Plus I have a thing for sock yarn. So I’ve decided this year to do a self-imposed monthly sock knitting club, kind of like the Yarn Harlot did a few years ago, but mine will have a special twist. Mine will be a synesthesia self-imposed sock club.
Right about now you’re probably thinking o.O…? Allow me to explain. There are different types of synesthesia, and I have the most common form of it called Grapheme–color synesthesia. I perceive letters, numbers, and shapes as having a specific color. When I look at my name, Susan, the S is the dominant first letter and therefore my name is bright red. Markus and the number 6 are a pumpkin orange; Doris, a ∆, and the number 3 are all a crisp dark green; Jim, the number 7 and January are warm brown, etc. So my plan is to knit a pair of socks each month in the color I perceive the month to be:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
**October
November
December
**October is transparent like glass so it will be a freebie month. I’ll knit with whatever color I want. But not white, I mean heck, nobody knits white socks! My SnB group will get the joke…
My synesthesia sock club has three rules:
1. It is totally permissible to purchase sock yarn or a knitting pattern if I don’t have the appropriate color or pattern in my stash.
2. I must start knitting the socks in the correct month, e.g., start knitting orange socks in March.
3. I can take as long as I want to finish the socks, though ideally I’d like to finish one pair a month.
YES I’M CRAZY, but crazy makes knitting more fun, right?
A few weeks ago before I thought up this crazy synesthesia sock-a-month idea, I started knitting a pair of green socks. According to my synesthesia, January socks should be brown. So right off the bat I’m breaking rule #2. But I’ll make an exception this time and swap January and February.
So tell me, what crazy knitting projects are you working on in 2012?
I remember the day you discovered synesthesia. It was because of the article in Discover magazine. Thanks for the wikipedia reference. I don’t have a clue – I’m just colorblind!
Great blog entry!
Dad
Until you and Mom showed me that article, I had no idea this condition existed, let alone that it isn’t “the norm”. I mean doesn’t everyone think a circle is red?? I guess I’m just a speshul snowflake.
That is excellent! I can’t wait to see the result!
Do you actually see the letters in color? Or like the one girl in the article said, she knows these letters are in black, but she knows they are colors?
Glad it isn’t so strong that it bothers you!
Oh, and by the way, you must have gotten it from Dad!!
Ok, no family squabbles now. This is a cool idea for a self-imposed sock club. I just need too many colors, and knit too slowly, to do such a thing myself. I have thought about committing to knitting one holiday gift each month, all year. I might be able to pull it off, except the slippers I knit last week have already gone to their intended recipient (her tootsies were cold).
I think your club is a great idea and I like the story behind it. Thanks for sharing the info about synesthesia, as I was not familiar with the condition. Sounds more fun that regular interpretation of text to me.
(sjn821 on Rav)
Having synesthesia is fun, in a way. It helps me remember phone numbers. For my monthly sock club there’s an awful lot of brown and green, and sadly no blue which is my favorite color.
I did notice that you had a lot of “earthy” colors in that list and no blues or purples. Maybe you’ll have to make some other exceptions like knit for a friend’s birthday in July, if you see her name as blue. Something along those lines to mix it up a bit.