Knitting dyslexia?

[untonuggan]

I keep having the following situation happen to me. I'll be happily knitting along, say on a 2x2 rib. In my mind I'm thinking, "Knit two, purl two, knit two..." Then at some point I think I've messed up. My mind says I should be knitting, but I'm purling!

Except I'm not. I've just gotten befuddled somehow. My hands know what to do, and hopefully my brain will figure it out before I pull back perfectly good stitching.

My mom seems to have this problem as well, although perhaps more seriously. She just started knitting recently after having been the only woman in her nuclear family who didn't knit. (She crochets, though.) She grew up thinking that knitting was purling and purling was knitting, and so she's been having a hard time "reading her knitting" to tell where she is in a pattern. I generally try to tell her to look where the loop is, but that doesn't seem to stick in her memory.

Do other people have this problem? Any potential solutions?

Comments

[indeliblesasha]

Oh! I totally left out the part where I literally had zero outside assistance, though. I learned to knit from books and the internet, so I had no one to talk to and show me things and physically point at what I should be looking for. Ravelry changed my life because at the very least I suddenly had people to talk things out with. Knitting, I have come to understand, can be a very social experience for as singular and unique as it can be, and sometimes you need an outside perspective to jog things for you.

Local knitting groups could be a huge boon for getting those technical bits to click, for you both, I think. :D (Although I know that can be hard to do if you have social anxiety or health issues that make getting out difficult. But, it's an option.)

Good luck. :)