Knitting and "fibrofog"

ewalker · July 18, 2010, 4:49pm

Help.
I have been working on a “lace like” scarf pattern (I have done lace before), but I am frogging more than I am leaving in. I think it is the “brain fog” that is caused by fibromyalgia.

I need suggestions from others as to how they have overcome this problem. (I even re-wrote the pattern on index cards and still can’t seem to follow it.

suzeeq · July 18, 2010, 8:47pm

With most patterns, you should be able to use stitch markers between the repeats, so you should know right away if you have the right number of stitches. You can put in a lifeline (see the Tips page) on a row you know is right so you don’t have to start all the way over. When you get to the end of a row and the sts don’t come out right, instead of counting stitches, look at the beg of the row and [I]name[/I] them instead - edge sts, yo, dec, 2 knits, dec, yo, etc - as you follow the pattern and that should help you figure out where you went wrong. If you forgot a YO, mark the spot and on the next row just pick up the strand between the 2 sts where it was supposed to go; if you did an extra one, drop it and work the extra yarn into the sts on each side of it. Same thing for decs if you goofed on them, mark them and fix on the next row.

hyperactive · July 19, 2010, 1:16am

suzee’s tips are SO true!
I am happy, other knitters “fake” it the same way I do.
I have lately droped several stitches in a seed stitch pattern to make a yarn-over-button-hole in the CORRECT row and redone the seed stitch quicker than I could even count.

For repairing stitches one or more rows down, I use crochet hooks a lot.

But with life lines and markers, you should come out just fine!

How much of your pattern is done? can you already see the master plan? That helps me a lot in lace: to SEE where the next increase/decrease/yo etc. has to fall, instead of counting it.
I am just doing the second lace jacket in a row so I know what I am talking about!

ewalker · July 19, 2010, 2:15pm

I have about 8 inches done and things are going better now. I need to figure out the life lines and I have been using markers. I think the whole problem was the inabilitly to concentrate on what I was doing during the “fog”
Thanks:hug:

ewalker · July 19, 2010, 2:17pm

suzeeq:

With most patterns, you should be able to use stitch markers between the repeats, so you should know right away if you have the right number of stitches. You can put in a lifeline (see the Tips page) on a row you know is right so you don’t have to start all the way over. When you get to the end of a row and the sts don’t come out right, instead of counting stitches, look at the beg of the row and name them instead - edge sts, yo, dec, 2 knits, dec, yo, etc - as you follow the pattern and that should help you figure out where you went wrong. If you forgot a YO, mark the spot and on the next row just pick up the strand between the 2 sts where it was supposed to go; if you did an extra one, drop it and work the extra yarn into the sts on each side of it. Same thing for decs if you goofed on them, mark them and fix on the next row.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will be using them frequently.:knitting: