What Else Do You Do While Knitting?
Wednesday May 14, 2008
This week I'd like to know what you do while you're knitting. Are you one of those people who knits at traffic lights? Or do you find knitting quite enough to pay attention to at one time? Let us know, and feel free to share any multitasking stories (good or bad) in the comments.
This is one of those checkmark polls, so you can mark all the answers that apply to you, or just the ones you do most often, if you like.
Comments
I brought my knitting to my niece’s sendoff ceremony prior to leaving for Iraq. I told her that I would be wearing the finished sweater when she returned.
I listen to audio-books, music, talk with friends. Some times I just enjoy the quiet time. I have 4 friends who are knitters, sometimes we get together to knit, talk and have a glass of wine or a desert.
My mother was the best multitasker I’ve ever seen. Before she quit smoking she would knit, smoke, read and listen to the radio at the same time. I can’t just knit; I often listen to CBC radio while I’m knitting, or to podcasts.
I like to knit and watch Take Home Chef on television. Otherwise I just concentrate on knitting. I have plenty of his shows recorded ahead.
I use knitting to relieve my restless leg syndrome, so I knit in situations where the RLS is particularly miserable: movies, the theater, meetings, and sometimes even in bed, to help quiet the misery so I can go to sleep. The last time I forgot to take my knitting to the theater I actually had to leave after the first act!
I am in a club that combines knitting and book discussion.The two go together very well.
I like to knit when my hubby plays video games. Then I also knit and listen to basically anything.
It’s funny I’ve been crocheting for years and decided to start knitting too. I can’t just sit and watch TV/Movie. If my hands are idle I feel lost!
By the way~ ladies how the heck do you read and knit at the same time?
I ride the bus to and from work so I knit. I take my knitting to meetings, it actually helps me concentrate better if my hands are busy. I knit while watching TV also.
When my mother-in-law asked me to avoid knitting (or any other yarn or thread-related activity) at family reunions, I felt miserable during the whole time. My hands HAVE to be occupied, otherwise I feel I am not doing anything. I began to take photographs of the said reunions. I have been told that I was hiding behind my camera to avoid speaking with people, which is not the case. I see no way to get out of this “problem”…
People know me by my knitting, I take it almost everywhere I go. I’ve knit lots of dishcloths at basketball and volleyball games. One year I even gave the team (granddaughter’s friends) each a dishcloth for their “hope chest” I too, have to keep my hands busy.I did have the privilege to teach quite a few to knit. Enjoy the knitting web sites. Thanks
I knit in the evening after dinner while watching TV. I can get a lot done in an evening of TV. I take knitting with me when I do on a long car trip and sometime on short ones. It depends on what I am working on and how fast I want to finish the project. I feel lost if I don’t have a project going.
FINALLY!!!!! A poll with multiple choices you can use . I am generally multi-tasking when I knit, although when I’m on the computer, I’m on the computer. I’ve even knit while behind the wheel (in traffic jams and snowstorms, I do NOT knit and drive at the same time. However, just about anywhere else is fair game. It keeps me from yawning during meetings and at conferences. And knitting back backwards during a meeting drives the person across from you nuts trying to figure out how you’re doing that.
I sure would like to know the process( how to do it) of reading and knitting at the same time (without dropping a lot of stitches). I envy those who do this. i have great sympathy for the person who responded and whose MIL is critical of -in fact not allowing - her to knit at family gatherings- or is unhappy with her photography too! C’mon MIL!! give her a break!
Here’s one I haven’t seen: I knit when I am at the hairdresser. It’s great to get compliments on what I am making from the other customers! Listening to classical music is another accompaniment to my knitting. I get into a rhythm combining them both.
I had to check 3. I love to just knit with no one around. It’s peaceful! Next I turn on the radio or a CD, cassettes, sometimes, just music. Next I go to a knitter’s group and then I talk to other ladies. I haven’t done this lately, but I have taken my knitting to wait for my car or to an appointment of some kind. My preference is to just knit - alone. This is more relaxing to me.
Sharon, when it comes to knitting and reading for me, I do much better with a magazine or a large book that I don’t have to hold in my hands (and that I can read from that far away, too). If I need to hold it open I’ll use a knee or an extra ball of yarn or something else handy and heavy.
I’ve been thinking about getting a cookbook holder to prop a book on for reading while knitting, but I haven’t done it yet.
I mostly watch TV while knitting. I do take my knitting on all trips so I can do it in the evening, etc., in the hotel room.
I have always knit in the car - family is far away (8 hour drive) and I can’t sit still for that long without knitting. I have two sons who wrestle and the days at tournaments are very long for the short amount of time they are actually on the mats. I can do a pair of mittens or a long scarf at a meet. It also brings me great conversations with other parents who knit (or crochet or whatever).
I knit just about anywhere. The knitting situation that has caused the most comments is my knitting while I walk. I learned to do this while teaching elementary students and going on field trips to pretty much the same places year after year. I was able to concentrate and show my students that I was still interested in the things I had heard over and over by keeping my hands occupied.
I taught mainly fifth grade for 32 years and took my knitting to staff meetings, workshops, and pretty much anywhere that I would have to sit and listen for varying lengths of time. Since I retired, I try to walk up and down and around on our VERY rural village sidewalks for an hour to an hour and a half, 4 or 5 times a week and knit while I’m walking and listening to music from my MP3. I don’t have to look often because I can feel the stitches. I’ve been knitting for over 60 years and can usually feel mistakes when I make them and will stop walking to get any of them straightened out if necessary. Since we have 13 grandchildren, it takes a lot of knitting either walking or sitting to keep up with the handmade sweaters, ponchos, afghans,socks, hats, mittens, doll clothes, etc. that are requested every year.
My thought is that there’s almost no place where knitting interferes with what other people are trying to do and if they think it’s rude or whatever their complaint is about my knitting, it’s their problem, not mine. As long as I can keep my hands occupied, it leaves my mind free to concentrate on whatever is going on even though I might be made to sit for an extended period of time which my body doesn’t tolerate very well unless my hands are busy.
Knitting is cheap therapy, I have Arthritis and it helps keep my fingers moving. I knit while watching TV and while waiting at doctor appointments.
In addition to next to my TV viewing chair, I keep an easy project in both cars in case I have to wait somewhere(I put it down when my foot leaves the brake and it saved me from being hit by a red light runner), under the dryer at the hairdresser, in line at the grocery store, on the bicycle at the gym (and have others making infant hats there), at the computer (waiting for dialup), and at the doctor’s office in the waiting room, waiting for the doctor and during the procedure to keep calm. I knit infant hats for the hospital at evening church concerts sparking conversations before or after. I enjoy talking at a church knitting group. A friend in the group asked me if I took my knitting to the bathroom. So in her honor I’ve put a church mission slipper project next to the toilet. The Shriners from my husband’s temple weren’t too thrilled to see me knitting at one of their parades until another wife told them I was knitting for a child in our county without a sweater. I’m in my 60s, have knit off and on since I was a child and am able to straight knit, purl or do ribbing in the dark. I knit in the car at night when I’m not driving. I hope I’ve gotten you interested in new places to knit.
When I was a student (many years ago) I used to knit, study and listen to pop music on the radio all at the same time.
I found that having a specific small and easy project to knit only while on the treadmill (a/k/a dreadmill, as tagged by my knitterly friend, Laurie) keeps me from quitting after only a few boring minutes of brisk walking because I always want to knit “just one more row.” So, I increase my exercise benefits and have a tangible knit item to show for it after several days/weeks of exercise. Dreadmill projects are usually knit or crocheted dishcloths, slippers, legwarmers — nothing heavy and no intricate patterns like afghans or lace. I now have several extra handmade items and lost 15 pounds!
When I knit, I like to JUST knit. To me, knitting is a form of meditation. However, sometimes I do have easy listening, instrumental music in the background. Harp music is very nice and calming.
I take my knitting where every I have to wait. I always took my knitting when I had to go to court with children who had to testify. The knitting kept me from worrying about how the child was doing and most of the kids were fascinated by knitting. I took an extra bit of yarn and some needles, and if a child was interested, we had a how to knit lesson.
I knit practically every waking moment of my life. I make my husband drive everywhere so I can knit in the car. I also knit while on the excercise bike. Once I even knitted a dishcloth while taking a bath, it was fun. I have to say that if I do not have a project in my hands I feel like something is missing. I have made a few changes in my life (and projects) to keep from this happening.
1- I bought a larger purse and always keep two balls of cotton and I make dishcloths with simple patterns that I have memerized while waiting, driving, shopping, eating at restaurants, going to the movies or bars, hanging out with friends, at the park, and finally while taking long walks.
2- I always have two projects (other than the dishcloths) at home, a simple pattern and something I really want to make. I keep the harder project for evenings while my kids are in bed and there isn’t any interuptions, while the easy one is for while playing board games, relaxing outside, having company over, exercising, anytime I can’t give my project 100% of my attention.
Following these things have made my knitting addiction so much better to control (Ha!Ha!).
There was only one time that I got into trouble knitting in public. My Mother invited my family to go to church with her. When the sermon was begining I pulled out my knitting. My Mother scolded me like i was 3 years old and told me to put it away. Let me tell you it was the longest 90 minutes of my life. Plus I didn’t hear anything that the minister was saying because I couldn’t keep my mind focused.
I am so gald to hear that I am not the only one that feels naked without yarn in her hands. now I can tell my mom that it is normal to go to church and knit.
When the children were young and being breast fed, I would sit cross legged (I was alot younger then!) with a book on my crossed leg, feed the baby and knit too. No wonder those babies were well fed!
I have always enjoyed crocheting, but after Hurricane Katrina I taught myself to knit while living in that little fema trailer. I mostly knit scarves, I have several started and one with me almost always. I too have to have my hands busy.