Your hands use over 60% of the surface area of your brain.

Neuroscientists talk about the plasticity of our brain and how we can reformat and redirect it.

Wilson's discussion of how even in ancient cultures the rhythmic use of worry stones, mala beads, etc are very similar to knitting.

2) Another thing knitting and smoking have in common is their ability to trigger the release of endorphins and other ‘feel good’ brain chemicals called endogenous opioids.

3) It has been proven that addictive habits are best tackled when they are not just abandoned but are REPLACED by something else.  Knitting is a perfect replacement for smoking because it mimics so many of the effects of smoking.  It also calms the body during its detoxification process, and knitting needles provide a perfect replacement for the tactile habit of holding a cigarette.

Even the most advanced knitters make mistakes, but they have learned techniques to fix the hiccups.

 

One of the most common mistakes is not completing the 4th step and pulling off the previous loop. 

This can lead to double knitting which will increase the number of stitches left on your needle. 

 

Knitting too tight? You may be adding your new loop too close to the tip of the needle. Use the full girth of the needle as you add each loop and do not pull too tightly.

 

Knitting too loose? You may need to pull your working yarn tail tighter. Your goal is to create even loops a little larger than the size of the needle so they can slide.

 

Splitting the yarn ply? Most yarn is made up of twisted strands and the sharper the point on your needle the more often you may poke through those ply strands. If that happens you can knit it together with the stitch or try to rejoin it with the original loop.

 

Too few stitches? You may have dropped a stitch and you can add a stitch back or find it to pick back up. Too many stitches or did you create a hole in your knitting? You may have accidentally increased.

 

The side stitches at the end of the row are sometimes stretched out or difficult to keep even. Be sure that you are only poking into the loop that is on the needle (not the big loop on the previous row below it which is especially prominent on the edges). 

Too many? Accidental Increase

Too few?  Dropped Stitch

From:
https://commaand.co/2019/01/03/good-grief-knitting/

by Ann Hood

A personal account of one woman knitting through the loss of her young daughter.