I have both long term and short term memory problems. It ranges from not remembering childhood events to “what the hell did I come in here for???”
One place where my short term memory issues really bother me is knitting. Not only can I not remember what a knitted stitch vs a purled stitch looks like in progress, but even something simple like a seed stitch (k1, p1) can confuse me if I look up from my work for even a second or two, as in “what stitch did I just do?”
I’ve come up with two solutions that might be helpful to other knitters. The first is a tangible one. On the pattern or instruction paper, I write a little section at the bottom that says “next stitch is” or something similar and if I have to put away my work, I write down what the next stitch is.
The other solution is kind of a mnemonic that I repeat as I work or just before I stop, “knit next,” so that no matter what I’m working on (currently it’s a seed stitch in the round so it’s just k1, p1 until I’m finished), if I have to leave for a minute, I always stop so that when I pick it up again, the next stitch is always a knit.
Hope this helps other people out there!
My Dog Linus 