It was actually in the high 60s this morning as I drove to work. Driving in with the top down and the heater on just a touch to warm my feet.... ahhhh. And Fred Eaglesmith playing to set the driving mood.
At least half of Fred's songs are about car sin one way or another. It was funny, the only time I drove Rudder's Hummer, the Orange Crush, in to work, listening to the Eaglesmith CD for the first time, when his song "Mighty Big Car" came on. It was even funnier today, hearing it as I drove the Mozzie, my tiny convertible. I felt like a mosquito with delusions of elephancy.
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The KnittingNovices discussion group has been having a thread lately on things to do while knitting, like watching old movies or listening to books on tape. One woman mentioned using a cookbook stand to read while she knits. (An idea I should try.) I replied with the following, which I suspect may not be a popular view on that particular list:
I've used books on tape while driving and for long pieces on the rowing machine (Harry Potter V will take you through quite a few 10-20 km pieces :-) but if I'm downstairs in my house, as I usually am while knitting, there are *all those* books around and I can't resist their siren song. In fact, one of the reasons I took up knitting was to having something to do with my hands while reading. (I can't do beadwork and read.) I tend to sit sideways in a big comfy chair, so my book rests on my knees and my knitting basket is on the floor beside me. It can't be more than a few inches from the chair or the trailing yarn is long enough to fascinate the cats.I won't say it's always easy doing both at the same time; this is why I don't anticipate doing any complex lace patterns any time soon. But if I had to give up one or the other, it would be no contest - the knitting would have to go. I read about like I breathe - constantly and by necessity. Incidentally, one tip that may be useful is that magazines are a bit easier to combine with knitting than books. They stay open flat and tend to require a bit less focus.
I can just see people reading that and thinking, "Rowing machine? People actually use those? Lots of books in a house? Why would you do that? And giving up knitting for reading? Is she mad?"
On the other hand, someone else remarked about knitting while listening to audiobooks, "Don't they get in the way of the conversations you have with yourself?" That struck me for a moment, until I realized that my first reaction had been, "You need silence to have conversations with yourself?" I don't even need quiet to have conversations with other people. I know people who require an uninterrupted block of time in which to read, or who can't talk when there are interruptions; I can participate in one conversation while casting asides into another (at a party, for example) and will always rather read than not even if I only have time for half a page. I think it may be easier for me to multitask than not to. Born that way, I guess. It's just as well, because I think my life would drive me insane otherwise.
I may also try to scale back keep only my hands busy this Saturday, Yom Kippur, when I would like to pay a little more attention to the "conversations I have with myself." Or Whoever.
Posted by dichroic at September 21, 2004 02:30 PM