2 pairs in 52 weeks

No, it's not a misprint, I'm not one of those crazy sock people who're planning to make one pair of socks every week for a whole year! Have a look at their Ravelry group 52 pair plunge III and blog. I'm not a sock knitter, I made one sock a couple of years ago, and before that I hadn't made a sock in years. But I must admit I get inspired by all the beautiful socks out there. Pinneguri has already made #4 of 52 pairs. She's also inspired me to buy a German sock knitting book: Socken aus aller Welt.

I did learn German at school, but knitting vocabulary was not part of the curriculum - so we'll see...

My ambition for the next year is, as the title indicates, to make 2 - two - pairs of socks: One in stranded pattern, maybe these or these, and one pair of lace socks, these maybe (photo from the book):



But why does sock patterns have such tight gauge? I'm a loose knitter, and I hate using needles thinner then 2,5 mm. So how the ...... am I going to get a gauge of 36 sts / 10 cm?