Knit, Purl, Paso Doble

My parents --both decidely urban in their outlook, although my mother was only a half step away from the farm liked to joke about how the army had trained farm boys to march by replacing "right" and "left" with "hay foot" and "straw foot." I'm sure it was an exaggeration at best or more likely an early version of an urban legend. Nonetheless it popped into my head recently as I was struggling to cope with right and left-ness.

I am not a fan of popular culture and have sworn off any reality TV, but I am a sucker for dancing, so my New Year's Resolution led me to buy the DVD of the Fitness routines based on dance steps from Strictly Come Dancing. So there I was struggling with right and left in front of the TV.

OK the first revelation (Thanks to my sister Molly) was that if I looked at the TV in the mirror, I would not have to contend with the right-left reversal which was way too much for my poor brain. As it happens, there is a glass front cabinet that provides enough of a mirror effect, so I now march with my back to the TV--which must look even odder than otherwise.

OK that worked--better. And then as I was marching up and down trying to master the basic steps of a paso doble and trying to remember if the count is one, I should be on my right-left---oooh . And then hay foot straw foot came to the rescue.

The right foot is the right side--the knit side in a stocking stitch (plain knitting) world.

And the left side is the purl side. Of course. Knit purl knit purl. My paso doble has improved enormously since this revelation.