Multi-tasking.

I am a reader. I love to read. I take pride in my reading. But - knitting has come between me and my books.

Turns out, I love both too much to choose between them. Usually, on a tube ride into Central London, I will bring both a book and some knitting, and depending on the conditions of the train (how hot, how crowded, how bumpy) I will choose one or the other to take up the journey. (I absolutely, positively loathe any kind of waiting or idleness, and must keep busy somehow or else I go mad.)

At home, it's a different story. Do I read or do I knit?? How could I possibly choose? When I was writing my MA dissertation on knitting in literature, my supervisor even asked me if I was able to knit and read at the same time. (She really shouldn't have encouraged this.) I developed a method of opening a book out on to a pillow on my lap and weighing it down so it stayed open with my phone. This was okay, and fairly do-able as long as I wasn't knitting something too complicated or reading something too complicated.

And then, an epiphany. I didn't need to use my eyes to read - I could use my ears! So, my adventures in podcasts and audiobooks began. I have listened to a lot of stuff now. Here in the UK you can get a good amount of quality listening from BBC Radio 4. However, I just can't seem to get into the radio drama, The Archers, which seems to be their leading fiction. It seems strange, then, that now I live over here, I am in love with NPR - the closest thing Americans have to the BBC. In particular, I just can't get enough of This American Life. I will go as far as to say it's one of my favourite things in the world. Ever. (Other favourite things include Murder She Wrote, but for entirely different reasons...)

It's sort of difficult to explain TAL, but it's basically a real life story or stories based around a theme. It's an hour, weekly, and it's just never enough.

Going through TAL withdrawal for the rest of the week (it's available on Mondays on iTunes), I had to find something to tide me over. TAL lead me to The Moth - more real life stories, except these are one-off, 15 minute stories told live in front of an audience. It's people from all walks of life, and though they aren't necessarily professional story-tellers, it does often turn into a performance. Some are really funny (in fact most have elements of humour) and a lot of them are really touching.

From there, (because clearly, 1 hour of TAL and 15 mins of The Moth are just. not. enough.) I found Selected Shorts. This time it's fiction. Short stories from any time period, often read by actors or other theatre people. Also usually on a theme (French Fictions, anyone?). It's wonderful.

Not exhausted by all this storytelling, I then fall back on the knitting podcasts. I have tried out quite a few over the past couple of months, and my favourites are now The Electric Sheep and Stash & Burn. I also used to enjoy the Cast On podcast, but she hasn't had a new show on since early August, so fingers crossed she comes back. Cast On is probably the most professionally made of the three, but I have to admit I actually like the more lo-fi atmosphere of the other two. Of course, the host, "Hoxton Handmade", of Electric Sheep, has a voice for Radio 4 - a clear, English, made-for-reading-the-news voice that's lovely to listen to. Not everything she talks about is necessarily knitting related, but great for knitting along to. She even throws a ukulele Radiohead performance in there occasionally. The Stash & Burn podcast is great for catching up on what patterns are big on Ravelry at the moment, info about different yarns, etc - and they always have a great song on at the end that usually I have never heard before.

So needless to say, with all this listening, I have been getting a lot of knitting done. But that's not all! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have also been taking advantage of the free, in-the-public-domain audiobooks that are available on librivox.org. My library also has audiobooks to check out, and I've currently got Ali Smith's The Accidental on the go.

In the photo above: a favourite antique book - an 1892 copy of Charles Dickens' Christmas Boooks and the in-progress and appropriately named Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. Book vs Yarn crisis averted.

Employment.

I haven't posted very often on this blog, well, ever, but I find myself in a position recently (read: unemployed) where I can finally get into it properly. The word unemployed itself is interesting... I wouldn't say I am unemployed in the strictest definition of the word exactly; I have found a million ways in which to "employ" myself - it's just unfortunate that none of these ways have managed to make me any money!

Catching up on Jessica Fletcher and Cabot Cove, Maine aside, I have been doing things that I always meant to do and wanted to do but never had the time or the energy. This includes the main reason that I originally financially unemployed myself - finally knuckling down and working on a PhD research proposal and applications - but also things that somehow remind me how to enjoy life. Growing herbs, pumpkin, tomatoes and strawberries in the garden, making real food, taking photos, listening to music, meeting friends, and knitting, knitting, knitting. (And some crocheting and dressmaking too.)

Somehow having back the energy that I lost commuting an hour each way on buses and tubes every morning has made a huge difference and I wonder that I ever thought I would miss it! And so it's time to catch up. We all know Mrs. Fletcher knows how to enjoy the simple things in life (I suppose witnessing as many murders as she has would give you some perspective) and so I felt it only right that I finally document some of these things that make me happy.

Herringbone Mesh Jacket (Amy O'Neill Houck)

Now, believe it or not, the above is set to become a sweater. Hopefully I will have proof of this soon. For now, it is a slightly confusing, but surprisingly easy to crochet hunk of pretty cheap yarn (Robin Aran with Wool 400: 25% wool, the rest acrylic). I bought the yarn ages ago thinking I would make a huge blanket, but obviously more luxurious, fascinating knits came up. And being without finances as I am, I have just recently decided to use up that stash and hitting two birds with one stone, tidy up that corner of the living room that Murray tries not to look at. Brenda Dayne, of the Cast On podcast was talking about this on her last show and basically said even if she tried to just use up all her stash - without buying any more yarn - she probably wouldn't be able to in her lifetime! Now, it hasn't got so bad for me - yet. But might as well start using it while I still have a chance. But my Liberty gift coin still lurks in my wallet, waiting to be spent in exchange for the most beautiful yarn, for the most beautiful project - but gift vouchers don't count, right?

Anyway, the sweater grows. (Confession: I may have allowed myself an episode or two of Murder She Wrote while hooking). Some notes on Ravelry. Also on the go are: Saartje's Booties done Fleegle-style for a friend of the family's baby due early September and the Tender cardigan by Kim Hargreaves.

All this while listening to the lovely Bon Iver and eating (read: getting fat on) some easy, way too quick homemade chocolate fudge. Bliss.