I have become an absolutely devoted fan of our chain row counters for years, but sometimes there's a project where a full sized counter just feels like overkill. Maybe it's a simple garter stitch shawl that just has an increase at one end every other row. I think "Oh, certainly with 20 years of knitting experience I can handle this" but still blow through that increase more times than not. Then I have to go back and closely look at my knitting and scratch my head. Did I increase last row? Am I SURE I increased? Or maybe it's decreasing for the toe of a sock. I get into a rhythm and just knit along and before I know it I've knit 2 rounds without decreasing and have to unpick it YET AGAIN because I wasn't paying attention. Or  maybe it's some lovely waste shaping for a sweater and my counter is busily keeping track of the rows but by the time I get over to the decrease dart I have totally forgotten that I was supposed to do something there as well... Our little 2 row In