To everything there is a season

The blanket is coming along quite well, mainly because I've done a lot of knitting the last couple days. In other words, knitting as palliative. The soothing repetition of mindless garter stitch is what I need. I've almost polished off the first skein. I'll have to take and post a picture of the WIP tomorrow.

Of course, lots of knitting means lots of time parked in front of the television. When I was learning, I thought that knitting would mean a reduction in the amount of TV I watched. I even dropped a couple of shows from my DVR record list. I needed to focus all of my mental energy on the task at hand.

Once I got the hang of knitting, I needed background noise, even if I wasn't actually looking at the TV enough to be able to say I was watching it. Often it doesn't matter what's on, just as long as something is on. (I'm also finding this to be true when I want to take a nap. This isn't a good thing, is it?) I've even reached the point where I'll record programs that I wouldn't make an effort to see but figure I can use them as a knitting companion. Sad but true.

This week provides, well, not manna from heaven but grist for the mill. The fall TV season begins in earnest this week, so there is plenty to sample while my needles click away. Thanks to Amazon Unbox I've already seen the pilot episodes of four NBC series. (They were free downloads, and until now new programming was hard to come by on network TV.) That's OK. The DVR will be filling up quickly enough, so a head start will do me good.

As a kid I devoured the fall TV preview issue of TV Guide, a hefty volume filled with the most positive spins on each of the new programs and what to expect for returning ones. It didn't matter that I wouldn't see many of the shows. Their descriptions were likely better anyway. (While my parents monitored what we watched, I didn't see many of those programs because I had other things to do--throwing a tennis ball against the side of the house to work on my fielding and make up baseball games, reading books--than watch TV all the time. Umm, not to imply that I don't have better things to do now...)

My simultaneous knitting and viewing skills have improved gradually, although there are some shows I can't knit during without risking missing key information. It's surprising how few shows those are, though. The premieres are arriving, and I'm ready to settle in with them and my knitting. Cooler weather shall be here soon.