knit swatches

A few weeks ago I was trying to remember how to do a double decrease stitch,  I didn't have access to my knitting books but I could look back at my blog which helped but not enough because the stitch was on a sock in progress on size 0 needles, very small.  I'm a visual thinker so I need pictures, big illustrations and when I'm not getting it and someone says "do I need to draw you a picture?" I'm like "yeah it really would help." If someone is talking numbers to me I need to visualize the number with the commas otherwise thou, grand, k, exactly how many are we talking about??!!?
So I get out the size 9 needles and worsted weight yarn and knit a swatch.  Now I get it and have a swatch stitched to an index card in my swatch box which also has swatches from sweaters that have been washed and blocked with accurate notes just in case I use that particular yarn again or forget how I should wash it.  warm water? cold water? hand wash?  Just trying to make my life easier.   --Ann--

Slipping the 2 stitches knit wise then knitting and passing the 2 slipped stitches over looks so much nicer.  By the time I knit this stitch pattern again I will have forgotten how it should be done so I have a reference in my box of swatches.