Anti-social hobbies

One thing I appreciate about knitting, quilting (sans machine) and needlework is they allow you to be around and interact with other people while you're working. Non-crafters often don't understand this, and it seems to cause a lot of discussions among the crafters I know, about why others get so snippy when we knit/etc in certain settings, believing that anyone knitting/etc cannot possibly be paying attention. Apparently many believe we are constantly counting as we knit. Ha! I'm not that good a counter.

Well anyway, I usually just knit during certain types of social get-togethers. Sporting events, anything revolving around a tv or projector screen, that type of thing. Last night I knit at book club, which hopefully was ok. I usually don't say much anyway, because that's just my way, and I can listen quite well while knitting. I actually got a lot done on the clap, woohoo! I think it's about half done... I might need to buy more yarn, I'm not sure if it'll end up long enough by the time I run out of yarn. We'll see.

So that knitting seemed to go well. I can also knit very well while watching tv (except anything with subtitles). One thing I'd never combined, even though I'd considered it, was knitting and reading. I often (no, always) read while exercising, and most books have trouble staying open on the elliptical, so this might be one reason. I read while eating alone, using the remote, with the lovely rubbery buttons, to keep the book open. But reading while knitting? No, never.

Until yesterday. I bought a book (this is all Ann's fault, actually) called Twilight. You've probably heard of it, I think everyone has. It's creating a hype similar to Harry Potter. Well, I can't say I think it's a wonderfully-written book, with complex characters etc etc, but it's a really good page-turner. The kind that I can't put down. So when I realized I was about out of balled yarn for the clap and needed to wind another hank into a ball, I sat down with the book open in front of me, and wound and read. I found that quite easy, really. Almost habit. Then the ball finished (with my cat's help, she loves it when I wind skeins into balls), and I wanted to continue to knit, but I was at such a suspenseful part of the book! So I dove in, and yeah, it's not hard. The trick is to do something with a very simple repeat pattern that you don't even have to think about (forget lace), and have a book that stays open on its own. Also, the large-ish print of Twilight is quite helpful.

So.... it's no wonder it took me 18 hours to finish Twilight, which has nearly 500 pages.

The only problem is that you can't interact with other people while you're doing this. I suppose reading in any form is like that, unless you're reading aloud or something, or reading bits and then commenting in that obnoxious way I'm so good at (it's best when the other person is reading his/her own item, and would prefer that you shut it). Since I'm going to see my parents this weekend, I won't have much time to practice reading/knitting. Oh, well. I should cast on something else so I can save the repetitious clap for New Moon (the sequel).

ps. I loooooooove the clap. I have plans for two more, if I ever have enough money for the yarn. I got a raise, though, so maybe that'll help....?