How Do You Do What You Do?

My DH says I'm a focus freak - well, not in those words exactly - but he often teases me on my ability to focus so intently on what I'm doing that I shut out all distractions. For example, when I drive I tend to focus on where I'm going and the path I need to follow to get there, plus my fellow drivers, etc. I don't gaze around me at the scenery, looking at different buildings, landmarks, etc., unless those are part of my directions I use to help me get to where I'm going. So if I'm riding with my DH, it's not unusual for me to suddenly say something like, "Wow...when did the (such & such) restaurant go out of business?" My DH will look at me like I'm a moron and reply that it's been gone for 6 months.

However, when I knit I can't just sit and knit in silence. I have to have some distraction or else it's just too quiet and (gasp), dare I say it, boring. There is a small voice in my head that just squeeked, "Maybe you'd get more knitting done if you sat in silence," but I just ignore it. I used to knit and watch movies, but I found that I concentrated too much on the movie and not enough on my knitting. I still knit while watching some sporting events, such as Arsenal football, or MotoGP racing. But I really enjoy listening to an audio book while reading.

I started listening to audio books when I found that listening to music just wasn't motivating me enough to work out. I'd play the same album over and over until I got sick of it, then move onto another album. I'd listened to an audio book in the car before (on vacation), so I gave it a go and it really worked.

Now I find I check out more audio books from the library than paper books, with the exception of knitting books, of course. :) Obviously there are so many wonderful books out there that are converted to audio format, but my two favorites for listening & knitting are:

• Duma Key, by Stephen King (love this book - listen to it over and over)
• the complete Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, partly because Jim Dale has such a great voice

Work progresses on the star sweater (I'll show pics in the next post), and my "count every RS row" method is helping me avoid repetitive re-work. I am sure when I'm knitting in public, people must think I'm a counting freak, stopping at the end of every other row to count. No, I'd tell them, I'm not a counting freak...I'm a focus freak.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

As you know from my last post, I've started working on the Star Motif Sweater from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009. Yes, I correctly called it the "Star" motif, not "Snowflake" sweater like my last post. Although in my defense, it does look like a snowflake. Well, the reason for this post title, is that I've been suffering through a series of knitting snafus trying to finish the first diamond piece.

Apparently I've lost all ability to correctly read a chart. Well, it's really more accurate to say that I suffered through a period of probably 20-30 rows that I could not get my count to come out right. Like all lace I've ever worked, all WS rows are purled. Naturally I didn't notice my mistakes on a RS row until I was nearly done with the next RS row and I found I didn't have the correct number of remaining stitches to finish the row. I didn't bother using a life line because it was readily apparent within two RS rows if I had messed up.

You'd think after doing this for 5 or 10 rows that I'd realize my approach wasn't working. Either I need to focus more (e.g. no knitting while watching TV) or I needed to count my stitches after the end of a RS row. Nah...why would I want to do something intelligent like that??? Amazingly, the lace knitting is going so much better now that I have pulled my head out of my...eh...never mind.

On a completely different note, I've been spending some free time these past several days classifying patterns at Ravelry. When I viewed my checklist tonight, I see that they have it closed down temporarily. Hopefully you were able to get in on the classifying goodness (geesh - sound like my brother the librarian) and that we all win one of the amazing prizes!