knitting: forgetting things

Knitting is something I taught myself. My great grandmother apparently used to earn extra money knitting for Dillards in Little Rock, and family lore has it she refused to give it up after she broke her wrist and the doctor told her she would probably never have full use of her hand again. She would knit, with tears streaming down her face, in defiance of medical science. It apparently worked as a kind of home grown physical therapy because she need regain the full use of the wrist. At any rate, knitting is in my genes. So, I was flummoxed the other day when I sat down to begin a baby hat for a new dad in my department and I had totally forgotten how to do a picot edge. It's a lacey kind of edge, and this pattern calls for a cable cast-on versus a long-tail cast on. I finally re-learned it, but I've never totally forgotten how to do a certain kind of stitch or pattern before. I even taught myself how to do short rows for the world's most complicated baby cardigan (darn Vogue patterns). So, I'm blaming this one on the dissertation.