facing how little I know

Last night, as I knitted the heel flap of my 2nd Breeze sock I slipped the first and last stitch purl-wise on each WS row as directed by the pattern. As I did so, I knew I was laying the foundation for a crisply edged heel flap with perfectly even, tightly spaced picked-up stitches at the gusset, exactly as the first sock.

In that moment, I saw past the details of "... k1, p1, k3 ... " to get a sense of the pattern designer. She knew! She knew that slipping those stitches would create tight and even edges on my heel flap. She knew that after 34 rows, 17 stitches could be picked up on either side at the gusset. She knew exactly what she was doing!

That's a bit overwhelming for me. Because quite often I can't even visualize how the instructions are going to work ... I work the stitches exactly as written and hope for the best. It's an insight into how little I know about this whole knitting thing. And a basis for setting some lofty goals.