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

[laughingrat]

I can't knit or spin while watching a movie that really needs attention--silent film, foreign film, physical comedy, or something where the cinematography is really important. (Which basically weeds out all my favorite stuff, alas.) But if someone can truly enjoy and attend to that stuff while also doing awesome craft stuff? That's pretty badass.

[apis_mellifera]

I watch television while I knit. I can't knit or spin in front of the computer because I get a massive crick in my neck. I haven't really tried reading while knitting or spinning, but if I ever get a decent stand for my e-reader I might give it a go.

[jackandahat]

Well, it's not like I'm knitting anything particularly complicated - right now I'm doing k2p2 ribbing for the brim of a hat. I wouldn't dare trying to do anything like picking up yarn overs or something, I'd end up with a mess. I think that's the trick - simple stuff only!

[jackandahat]

I hadn't thought of e-readers, I bet that could be really handy if you can get it propped up in the right place.

[laughingrat]

Stockinette! I think I'm bad at paying attention, honestly. But I did, at one point, have the kind of job where I could knit a pair of socks in a week. At work, at my desk. It was not a terribly engrossing job.

[apis_mellifera]

I know there are ones you can get that are basically easels. I am not coordinated enough to balance a book/e-reader while juggling yarn/needles/fiber without some sort of assistance. :)

[jackandahat]

It's funny how types of attention go - like you say that, and then I'm saying about how I can't focus on just one thing. Give me two things to focus on, and I'm happy, I'll do them both. Try to make me focus 100% on one, and my brain is throwing a toddler strop in five minutes, totally useless!

[hellkitty]

I watch tv/netflix a lot. I've even done the thing of having an easy project with, say, swaths of stockinette, during the show and *snatching* up a more complicated pattern (fiddly lace pattern, set up rows, etc) during commercials.

DVD movies are wonderful because if I get too engrossed--I can pause and go back! I also love the Teaching Company's CDs/DVDs.

[jackandahat]

Heh, is anyone? This is why my "reading" is reading on a computer screen - I can tap the space bar once in a while to page down, and apart from that it takes care of itself.

[liseuse]

I knit and watch TV. I find knitting useful for my consumption of films, actually. I tend to get bored and a bit fidgety during films, but if I'm knitting I have something else to focus on a bit. I haven't managed to learn how to knit and read at the same time though, but I think that's because I read too fast.

[lomedet]

I taught myself to crochet, lo these many years ago, specifically to have something to do with my hands while listening to the radio. In grad school, there was a whole knitting culture, and I knit my way through most lecture and discussion classes (although not all of them) and a whole bunch of guest speakers and community meetings.

These day I mostly knit while watching TV or listening to the radio/audiofic.

[jackandahat]

See, now that is proper multi-tasking. *Impressed*

[jackandahat]

The fidgetty is exactly why I love it - OK, hands busy, brain can enjoy the film. Otherwise I get bored and wander off.

[jackandahat]

I've heard a lot of people talk about listening to audiofic/books on tape/etc while reading, that sounds like a really good way to enjoy both.

[jenna_thorn]

Simple knitting like stckntte or ribbing I can do while paying attention to something, but since I don't live alone, much of my television viewing is for other people's shows, so I can knit patterns and still keep up with who the current suspect is or call out answers to Alec Trebek.

I can't, however, read while knitting. Part if it is that I engage more with written text than I do with video, and part of it is that the way I hold my yarn and needles doesn't leave a finger free for scrolling down the touchpad without jumping all over the screen.

[jackandahat]

When you say "other people's shows" do you mean stuff you're not invested in?

And yeah - I can't do the trackpad at all, I just use the spacebar.

[glinda]

I've never tried knitting and reading at once, I'm not sure I could manage it. I do like to be doing something else while I'm knitting (or other crafts for that matter) as I really dont like working in silence.

I prefer to knit listening to the radio/podcasts/audiobooks, but I can and do enjoy knitting while watching tv/films. I can usually only cope with films in English while knitting, but I can manage gaelic tv along with french and german language films reasonably well (cos I know a bit of the language) but other languages not so much.

[jackandahat]

I envy anyone who can speak another language well enough to watch films in it! It's always impressive.

[kareila]

My favorite time to knit is while watching sports, because of all the dead space in between exciting things happening on the TV. Yes.

I think I could also knit while watching a film with subtitles, but not while reading - unless I could scroll down or page turn with my feet or something.

[jackandahat]

Ha! That's a good one - I've heard of people knitting at games, but I guess the same applies watching it on TV. What's your sport?

[gwaihiril]

If it's something simple, yes. Actually, if it's something simple, I'll usually only knit it in front of a tv/computer or while talking to someone, because otherwise I get bored with plain stockinette/garter/ribbing. I can't watch/read while doing complicated knitting, though, because I have to look at what I'm doing.

[kareila]

I have two: I was raised on SEC college football, and I became a Red Sox fan when I lived in Massachusetts. That covers all but two months of the year, so I'm good. :)

[jackandahat]

"because otherwise I get bored with plain stockinette/garter/ribbing."

Very much this - I would never get through knitting socks or plain hats if I didn't have something else to do during it.

[spikewriter]

I knit a lot while watching television/DVDs. There are a few things I won't knit during -- or won't knit anything serious during -- such as Sherlock, opening and closing episode of a Doctor Who season, etc. At least, I won't do it the first time I watch them. Anything where I find myself getting seriously sucked in, I put the needles aside as quickly as possible.

The current rewatch of Dark Shadows? Oh, that was made for knitting.

[jackandahat]

...funnily enough, I timed knitting a hat using Sherlock. I found if I watch all three episodes back to back, I can cast on during the opening for the first, and gather up during the closing credits for the last. Very plain hat, k2p2 all the way up to the decreases, but I was going for basic.