More Time to Knit?

I (like everyone) have so many projects on the needles, but (even though it's summer) I can never find enough time to knit! Any creative suggestions out there for extra knitting time in the day?

Audiobooks :) instead of print books most definitely!

I'm not sure how to help exactly. What do you think is getting in the way? Maybe you just need to schedule it if you are busy with things in the summer. Whereas the rest of the year you can fit it in here and there?

I know somebody who got special permission to knit during company meetings, since she could prove to her boss that her retention of what was discussed and her participation wasn't affected... but I have a feeling that would be a special case.

I generally take knitting or needlework everywhere I go. I can usually get some knitting time during my daughter's swimming lesson (I could use the time to do errands, but it's much more pleasant to sit near the pool and knit). I knit in doctors' waiting rooms. In the car (when I'm not the one driving). I find it's a good idea to have a tote bag containing a fairly small and portable project available to grab as I go out the door (for me, it's best if it's one that I can do without having to concentrate on it too much).

sammimag's idea of listening to audiobooks while knitting is inspired - if you don't have to hold the book, you can hold knitting!

Theodosia - I took my knitting to a PTA meeting once but got too many bad vibes, so haven't done so again. (I also don't go to very many PTA meetings.) I do find, though, that it's much easier for me to concentrate on a meeting or program if I'm knitting. I'm usually a fidgety person, so if I don't knit or stitch or doodle in a meeting I end up daydreaming, or worrying, or planning dinner or something.

Hmm posted once and then I lost it through an error.

I would say planes, trains and automobiles are my knitting friends. I have a 40+ minute el train commute twice a day so that is enforced reading/knitting time.

I agree with MaggieO take a portable project in a tote bag. I once saw a knitter on the train with yarn spooling from the headphone slot in her backpack.

I also knit watching TV and keep my project basket close to the couch. Then I don't feel as guilty for watching TV.

If you need to carve out time think about a knitting group or class which would give you a defined time and place to go knit.

Also I've found I finish projects I am really excited about and will find time to knit when they are nearing completion, I'll actually take my lunch breaks at work then and knit.

The added bonus of knitting in public is interesting conversations you have in airports or trains.

Finally is there any housework you can procrastinate . . . I find loads of time that way.

Marensr - LOL! Knitting instead of housework! My kind of person!

Yes, LOL, I was thinking the same thing, but embarrassed to say so! The house just gets dirty again, but the knitting grows and becomes something beautiful and useful. Hopefully.

Whenever I knit in public places, I tend to get the kind of attention that I don't want. People seem to think I am odd or something. Well, maybe I am...

The one time a knitter engaged me in conversation while I was knitting in public, she said, "I knit MUCH faster than you." I smiled and thanked her for that information...

That was very gracious of you, marise, to thank her for the information. I'm not sure I could have been so tactful!

I was once knitting while waiting for my daughter's music class to end, and the mom of another student, who was European, scrunched up her face at my work and said "VAT are you DOING?" To her eyes, of course, I was knitting all wrong. I don't use the European, left-hand-throw kind of knitting. I do the modified-Maggie-kind of knitting, which is a mix of whatever I came up with when I was just learning and wished I had 3 hands.

On the other hand, just today at my daughter's swimming lesson, a woman came to check out my knitting and confessed that she had just started a knitting class at the library, had made a mistake, and was now stuck until her next class when her teacher could fix it. So I helped her as best I could and got her going again. I love helping people do something they can take pride in!

Wow, second time today I lost my post.

MaggieO and marise, thanks for the support of my poor housekeeping. It never gets too bad- just untidy.

It reminds me of the Basho Haiku that was on our trains a couple years back:

"Don't worry spiders, I keep house casually."

Of course my spiders do need to worry because I am afraid of them.

How awful that people would make knitting about who is fastest or how you throw your yarn.

Although, my sister did have a woman on a plane ask her to put her knitting away because she was afraid if the plane crashed she'd get a needle in her eye. My sister told her if they plane crashed they'd have bigger concerns than her knitting needles and kept knitting.

This may be a really bad thing to reveal, but it's not completely impossible to knit & read a book at the same time! It just requires toes, or knees, or a buckwheat filled pillow, or one of the leather page weights from Levenger.com. (I do read only my own books when using toes, just in case anyone here is in my lbrary's circulation area!)

I still need to look when I knit and crochet. I'm not sure when or if I can break myself of the habit. I kind of like watching what I make too. So reading a book and knitting or crocheting will unlikely be an option for me but more power to ya!

I like to read and knit too - it's a lot easier since I found some little book holders at Powell's Books the last time I was there. Toes would work, if my eyesight wasn't so bad!

Crocheting and reading... no way. It's too easy to stick that hook somewhere it doesn't belong!

My friend Brenda Clough used to write and websurf, and pick up her knitting whenever she was thinking next to write in her novels. But I think she has unusual powers of concentration as she was a SAHM during that time, too....

I have a take-no-prisoners guerilla-war attitude toward maintaining my knitting time.

Tips:

1. Go to the store and determine the approximate cash value of whatever you've made for your family members.

Keep a running total, and if somebody complains that you spend too much time knitting, show them how much money you've saved the family.

2. If you knit to work off the nervous energy that comes with that Certain Time of Life, you can also add to your total the price of hotflash and anti-anxiety meds that the knitting is saving them.

3. My husband loves his homemade chukes/beanies, whatever you call them now because he's pretty much bald on top and needs something even in the house to keep his head warm.

As long as I can hold up a chuke-in-progress, I can get him to do the housework. And I ALWAYS have a chuke-in-progress for just such occasions.

nohrt4me - I love it!

I ditto the sentiment. I'm a SAHM and if I didn't have my fiber persuits I would sure be in the loony bin. So I figure we are saving for sure and all kind of meds and doc visits!

Wow #14 an 15 we are a group of knitting enablers aren't we? I love it.

Did somebody mention TV? Maybe it was on another thread.

Another way to carve out large chunks of knitting time is to knit whenever the TV or VCR is on; doesn't matter if you want to watch it or not because not even my family has the gall to suggest I get up and do housework while they veg out in front of the tube.

I can't knit in cars or on planes--motion sickness. I can on the train, go figure. Will they even let you on a plane with knitting needles anymore? Just curious.

Knitting in coffee shops and the doctor's office is a great way to indulge my other favorite pastime, eavesdropping on other people's conversations. Everybody thinks you're minding our own Ps and Qs while the drama rages on around you.

#17 nohrt4me

I have carried knitting needles on flights as a carryon. I have never been stopped (they have also never been metal.)

In fact once the let me in the knitting needles and a little pair of stork scissors (accidental on my part) while the stopped my American-born English speaking fiance who is of part Persian descent (and has a Persian name) But I'm sure they weren't profiling.

Here is a link to the TSA's allowed items- knitting needles and crochet hooks are on here as allowed. You can always print it off before you fly and take it with you through security.
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.sht...

I don't know if they are allowed on overseas flights it might depend on the airline. I'd check before flying.

Evesdropping while knitting is great. I don't know why everyone assumes you can't hear just because your needles are moving.

My experience re: flying with knitting is similar; I've never had any trouble, but my needles have usually been small and never been metal. In other countries they're a lot stricter; a French friend of mine is always flabbergasted that American security lets needles through. Swiss Air is also extremely strict.

Thank you very much, everybody! I've actually never tried listening to an audiobook, though I've always wanted to! Knitting while listening to a book is a good incentive though!

#20 MissLucinda, just make sure that your tension doesn't change if it is a book that gets really exciting. There are so many downloading options too and many are free. I was recently listening to This American Life broadcasts on my ipod while knitting on the train.

Omigod, This American Life streaming has been my companion through at least three sweaters. Best show ever!

Aren't they great. Sometimes I'll get home halfway through an episode and just sit there with my ipod on and knit until the episode is done. Too bad they aren't broadcasting from Chicago anymore. They used to do live show here on occassion.

Somebody should get Ira Glass to do a knitting theme show. Seems we are legion.

Ira Glass bugs, but I do love This American Life. So glad you can download them now, I'm never near a radio when they broadcast it.