Autopilot
My brain amazes me.

I knit while I do things, like read websites and watch movies. And, sometimes I'll be working in a simple pattern, like a ribbing, but with one or two spots when I need to pay attention and do something different. In this case, I'm working on a slip stitch rib, but in four places around the hat, I have to break that pattern because I have little columns of garter stitch going.

(That paragraph probably made no sense to those of you who don't knit, but all you need to know is that in four places, I have to do something different that requires paying attention.)

So, I'll be just blowing along, not looking, and suddenly, my brain will go, "HANG ON! There's a problem!" And I'll look down, and, sure enough, I've blown past the garter stitch.*

This happens a lot when I'm knitting--I'll just be breezing along, and suddenly a tiny little alarm will go off and I'll look down to discover I need to fix something. Maybe I'm trying to knit into a stitch that was split on the previous row, or maybe I'm trying to knit something that should be purled.* But, it's always a little weird. Just, knowing how much my brain has internalized the knitting, that not only can it do the mechanical stuff, it can tell there's a problem, all without any conscious attention.

Brains are awesome.


* My fingers do get a clue, on that one because the purl stitches are oriented differently on the needle than the knit stitches. If you're curious, it's called combined knitting.