What do you do while you're knitting?

[jackandahat]

I've just read yet another person going "Ooo, you can't possibly knit during films with subtitles". And I keep getting people doing the internet version of looking at me funny when I talk about knitting while reading fanfic.

But... to me that's perfectly normal. Obviously there's some stuff where I have to look at my hands, anything like picking up stitches. But if it's something like plain knitting/ribbing or an easy pattern, I'm generally either watching a film (with subtitles, dodgy hearing) or reading fic/a blog. I don't have the one-track attention to only be knitting unless it's something incredibly complicated - in which case I can only do little bits or it drives me nuts.

What do you do? Do you knit in front of the TV? Do you read while you do it? Do you knit while only focusing on the knitting? I'm curious now.

Comments

[19_crows]

I can't knit and read. In fact, I can't knit, even stockinette, without looking. Maybe this would be a handy skill to learn. How did you learn to do it?

I mostly knit while the TV is on which at our house is mostly sports (baseball and hockey.) I also get fidgetty during movies & TV so knitting helps. If I'm not knitting, I'm doing something on the computer or playing solitaire on the Palm.

I knit when I'm a passenger on long car trips, too. That's perfect.

[jackandahat]

I learned through necessity rather than on purpose - I taught myself to knit from books when I was a kid, and the internet later on - so I was used to having something in front of me while I knit. It took a while to get into a rhythm, but it's a case of focusing on how it feels in my hands, rather than how it looks.

[james]

It is a very handy skill to learn! What I did was get big yarn and big needles, and practised by making a big garter stitch scarf. At first I could only manage 2-3 sts before I had to look down, and I dropped stitches a lot. But I gradually got better at it.

The thing to remember is that knitting while not looking means knitting by feel. My fingers are much closer to the tips of the needles when I knit while watching tv, because I'm feeling the stitches. I think, also, it helps a lot if you hold the working yarn in your left hand. I've tried to throw the yarn with my right while not looking and it's much harder.

[19_crows]

Thanks. I knit left handed - with the yarn in my left hand - anyway, so that's encouraging. now I have to practice!

[ironed_orchid]

I throw the yarn with my right and knit a lot without looking (much), I think it's a whatever works for you thing.