I struggled, I really did. I started 'cherry leaf' shoulder shawl in Rowenspun tweed 4 ply & it got frogged so much it should be waterproof! I knew that I had knitted all of the stitches before so I was beginning to get really frustrated, then I realised that I didn't really understand what the stitches collectively were supposed to be doing. I recalled a book that I have called 'Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain'. In essence, people who say 'I can't draw' tend to be left brain dominated & the logical left brain sees the bits & jumps into action.... yup its a vase, I know what a vase looks like..... & switches off the right side of your brain & the bits that look at the 'big picture' & draws a not very good picture of what it thinks it has seen. Turn the object upside down, left brain can't recognise it, right side of brain gets to work.... this line is here, this shadow is here..... Picture when turned upside down is of a .....vase. My left brain recognised the stitches & took off. So to switch it off I first scanned the pattern, studied it.... this is actually a garter stitch border..... got out the coloured pencils & coloured in the border stitches in one colour..... then the centre is basically worked in stocking stitch, so colour that in, annotate the pattern. Label the rows that have an extra increase & see the BIG PICTURE. Didn't frog it again! I could see what should be happening & if I made a mistake I could feel that it wasn't right & stop to sort it out. 
The photo of the knitting includes my coloured in & annotated 'help' sheet! A big learning curve & one I related to Year 9 yesterday is a 'SATS build up' assembly -message... if it aint going in one way...try another... work to your strengths. I KNOW I am a visual, big picture type of girl, so what was I doing letting the itsy bitsy left side of my brain getting in the way anyway?????? I have had a look at the border pattern.... mmm we will see! The pattern is actually easy. I can knit it in the car, which as we have a 9 hour journey down through France on Tuesday, is not a bad thing! We are all really looking forward to the holiday. School is out, thank goodness. Its been a rough old term really. Russell (the owner of the apartment in Bourg St Maurice) rang this morning from Bourg. Masses of fresh snow & sunshine this morning!!! That will do nicely!
The photo of the knitting includes my coloured in & annotated 'help' sheet! A big learning curve & one I related to Year 9 yesterday is a 'SATS build up' assembly -message... if it aint going in one way...try another... work to your strengths. I KNOW I am a visual, big picture type of girl, so what was I doing letting the itsy bitsy left side of my brain getting in the way anyway?????? I have had a look at the border pattern.... mmm we will see! The pattern is actually easy. I can knit it in the car, which as we have a 9 hour journey down through France on Tuesday, is not a bad thing! We are all really looking forward to the holiday. School is out, thank goodness. Its been a rough old term really. Russell (the owner of the apartment in Bourg St Maurice) rang this morning from Bourg. Masses of fresh snow & sunshine this morning!!! That will do nicely!Here in North Yorkshire there are signs of spring despite the cold north-east wind that has been blowing for the last couple of days. The dog & I took the camera out on our walk at tea time earlier this week to capture some of the images of spring. 
Actually Moss isn't bothered about buds and flowers, just chasing sticks!
2 comments:
I had a laugh reading your post but I totally understand (which part of the brain am I using ?)where you are coming from as if I sometimes have difficulty in understanding a pattern or a chart I have to write it down or I use graph paper for charts(cheap at Lidl) and use coloured pens to clarify things . I thought I was just getting older !! But hey whatever works. As the saying goes 'there's more than one way to skin a cat '... awful saying though ......wonder were it came from !!!
Hav alovely holoday and I expect to see that shawl done ; hope you take some other knitting with you ,just in case :)
As you say, play to your strengths! I must see if coloured pencils help me translate a lace pattern from words to graph paper; the written description doesn't make any sense. I wish you a pleasant drive and fabulous holiday, with the right amount of sunshine and snow in all the right places.
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