Are you able to count the rows you’ve done and figure out where you are? The CO should be obvious, then the first row will start with a k1,p1 on the RS, row 2 will look like a purl on the RS, Row 3 is k all the way across, Row 4 looks like Row 1, etc.
I made a shawl one time with a repeating pattern and I didn’t want to get lost either so I wrote each row out on an index card, punched a hole in the corner and put it on a ring. Each row I flipped a card so when I had to put it down I always knew where I was when I left off. Or you can keep a pen and paper nearby and number it 1-4 (or however many rows in the repeat) and then cross out each number as you finish it. Hope that helps for the future.
I always have a small pad or notebook. When I start a project, I write on a piece of paper. I usually just write 1 2 3 4, or 1 2 1 2 1 2, or 1 2 3 1 2 3, etc. As I am finished the row, I cross out the row I just did. This way if I have to stop for whatever length of time, be it a minute, a day, a year or longer, I can always go back and know exactly where I left off. I know that the first row that is not crossed out is the row I should be working on.
Also, some stores now have electronic row counters. I was looking at them today. They are small, light, hang around your neck and when you are finished a row, you just click a button and it advances to the next row. They are a bit pricey, but worth the money. I wish I had had the money today to get myself one. They are amazing. This is the next knitting supply that I want to get. It’s on my wish list. Santa is coming, perhaps he will read my list this year.
You will always know what row you are on with either of these methods. Good organization makes knitting go so much more smoothly.
That’s assuming that 4 is a separate row rather than a repeat of 1. (The way I read it, it’s a three-row repeat – one of k,p and two of k – rather than a four-row repeat – two of k,p and two of k.)
[QUOTE=The.Knitter;992269]I always have a small pad or notebook. When I start a project, I write on a piece of paper. I usually just write 1 2 3 4, or 1 2 1 2 1 2, or 1 2 3 1 2 3, etc. As I am finished the row, I cross out the row I just did. This way if I have to stop for whatever length of time, be it a minute, a day, a year or longer, I can always go back and know exactly where I left off. I know that the first row that is not crossed out is the row I should be working on.
I use this method too, except I write down the number of each row before I start it, then cross it off after I finish, then write down the next number, and so on. Writing the numbers down also helps a lot when you have to repeat a sequence of rows a specific number of times. I learned this from my mother who is an expert at both knitting and crocheting!:knitting:
I have tried writing it down, checking it off and I always forget. BUT, this has taught me to read my stitches…
What I have done that help me keep track is to make a marker. Tie loops on a scrap peice of yarn (4 for a 4 pattern repeat, 3 for a 3) and each time you get to it slip it and move it to the next loop.
I read this somewhere on the net, not sure where though, but it wasn’t MY idea, but it does work GREAT!
Guess I better just go for it and hope I’m right!