Have our eyes fooled us?

Do you sometimes think you are following instructions, then find out later your eyes fooled you? Maybe your first clue is that things are not working out. Or maybe something is just not making sense.

Here’s a quick tip that has often helped me, and it might save you time and frustration if you are having trouble in the future …

Read instructions out loud! Well, maybe you don’t have to recite to everyone nearby, but definitely read at least in a whisper so that you form each word with your mouth. Even say the punctuation!

You’d be amazed at how many times our eyes can fool us and go right past important ‘signals’ in the instructions, like punctuation. Or even words that our eyes glide right past or think they are seeing some other word. Reading out loud (even at a whisper) can slow you and me down a bit and force us to pay attention to the signals better.

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6 thoughts on “Have our eyes fooled us?”

  1. I had a pattern that instructed you to “decrease at each end of the next two rows” and I kept reading it as “decrease at the end of each of the next two rows.” Needless to say I had more stitches than I was suppose to and it took me a long time to realize my mistake.

  2. Thank you! I thought I was the only one who did that. I’m constantly calling out the pattern, even if it’s only in my head. “Knit, knit, purl, purl, knit, knit, purl, knit, knit, no, wait, tink, tink, purl, PURL, knit, knit…” Now, if I could just count up to two at the same time….

  3. By reading out loud, we are transmitting information between the two sides/halves of our brains. For real! Ask an anatomy or psych teacher. I need to talk to myself when doing math, as well as when going over pattern instructions.

  4. Oh boy do I know what you mean by that.
    I whisper the instructions to myself, especially when it comes to a complicated pattern that I haven’t figured out the rhyme or reason to. It’s saved me a lot of tink’ing, that’s for sure!
    Angel

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