Knitting with ADHD, part 3
As a knitter with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), I struggle with many things. One is a notorious chaos in my creative projects, tools and materials. As a result, I often find WIPs in unusual places, wondering who that little darling is and how I started to make it... My memory is generally my nemesis. I forget things, people, experiences and facts I find boring – overnight.
While all of this sucks, I have a vast gold pot of creativity in my brain that comes up with unusual solutions. I also work very well with visual reminders and am generally a visual person. Combine those two facts, and you get superpowers. They helped me to find ways to deal with my knitting projects. If my struggles sound familiar to you, keep on reading!
Print your patterns
I am all for sustainability, but there are moments when our sanity comes first. When you print out your patterns, you can take notes on them. Try to tread them like a log book, where you – the captain ;-) – add journey dates. I highly suggest adding your yarn, including that lot number, in case you need more. If you used other needles to match the designer's tension, jot it down. In fact, any changes are a good idea to add!
Put it all in a project bag
Now you have your printed pattern, the cast-on on your needles and maybe the other yarn that comes later... to make sure it stays that way, even if you take a break for a while, especially if you take a break for a while, put it all together in one project bag. One for every project, OK? So, get some more – it can be the pretty or the cheap ones; it doesn't matter as long as they will get the job done.
Say hello to your (new) best friend: removable marker
I love removable markers. I have them in many colours and buy them in bulk on Amazon. We all love the beautiful handmade ones, and you are welcome to get those, too. Use them as a BORm (beginning of the round marker), and do with the other this:
Put one removable marker into every funky stitch.
If you have to work increases every 4th row, you can't remember when you did it the last time, and it's hard to see; put one in the loop of the stitch directly after you made it.
If you knit short rows and always knit over the double stitch instead of turning right after it, put a loop into the double stitch directly after you make it.
If you knit a pattern with repeating sections and the markers are not written in the pattern, add them anyway.
Of course, you can add one removable marker inside your right side if the right and wrong sides look similar and you struggle to distinguish them.
Another thing you can do with removable markers is to intertwine them. It's beneficial with a two-round pattern. Let's say you have to work decreases every other round. Use the intertwined markers as the BORm (beginning of the round marker) and change them up at the beginning of every round, like this:
Round 1 – colour green – shows you this is a chill round, all good, nothing special to do.
Round 2 – colour red – attention, this is the round where you have to work decreases!
If you can make the change a habit, you will always know which round you are working now.
Last but not least – colour your charts
This is a tip I got from another ADHD knitter. I am not a chart knitter yet.
She suggests printing the charts and marking the different stitches with different colours. Neon yellow marks every k2tog, neon green every YO, etc. This way, reading the charts and understanding the workflow gets easier.
Bonus: You can cross out every row/round you knit afterwards.
