Sprite Stitch Board!

Does anyone have any suggestions for things to watch or listen to while crafting? When making a difficult pattern (or when sewing - you can't hear anything over the sound of a sewing machine) obviously you (at least, I) need to keep full attention to the work at hand. But often a pattern at least partly consists of things you can do on automatic pilot. I like to counteract the boredom of this with something to watch or listen to. The problem is that it can't be something that requires a lot of attention to visuals to follow the story, because I will occassionally look at or focus on my work instead of the screen. I have rewatched all my favourite series, as well as all BBC nature documentaries several times now. I've only ever listened to a few podcasts, and found them to be a bit too rambling for my taste - I think old-fashioned radio plays are maybe more my thing?

Does anyone have any recommendations for documentaries or easy-to-follow series? What do you watch or listen to when working on your projects?

I really just put anything on, but I found that the best thing to "watch" while stitching is mystery science theater 3000....just ripping on b movies you probably don't want to watch anyways. I do like some podcast but MST3K is my best recommendation.


Watch out for snakes!!!
Nobody probably gets that joke....

Old-fashioned radio plays? Try listening to Thrilling Adventure Hour. Yes, it's a podcast, but it's done in the style of old time radio. I started listening to it after it was mentioned on Welcome to Night Vale, and I think I may like it more XD They've got a few different universes that they use, and a large number of voice actors. The biggest ones I can remember are John DiMaggio (I'm probably spelling it wrong, but it's the guy who does Bender on Futurama) and Nathan Fillion (that one dude from Firefly).

Can you tell I love this podcast?

I like to craft to audiobooks. I get more done that way compared to watching tv because I don't have to watch anything but my work.

Currently, I'm going through Heir to the Empire, the Thrawn Star Wars series. Prior good ones to craft to were the Divergent series and I do really enjoy James Marsters reading Dresden.

Batboard wrote:I really just put anything on, but I found that the best thing to "watch" while stitching is mystery science theater 3000....just ripping on b movies you probably don't want to watch anyways. I do like some podcast but MST3K is my best recommendation.


Watch out for snakes!!!
Nobody probably gets that joke....

MST3K is a very good suggestion. Like you said, you don't need (or want) to watch the movies anyway. Also, I got the joke. Yay? YAY!

Also, you could rewatch things that you've seen before that you enjoy but don't need to focus on. I'm currently watching Star Trek while I'm knitting a big football scarf. I can look up occassionally after so many rows, so I'm not missing all of the visuals.

I like to craft listening to audio books (right now even as I type this, I am listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), or listening to music. Occasionally I will put on a movie that I've already watched mostly for the noise, occasionally watching some parts.

TigerLily wrote:Also, you could rewatch things that you've seen before that you enjoy but don't need to focus on. I'm currently watching Star Trek while I'm knitting a big football scarf. I can look up occassionally after so many rows, so I'm not missing all of the visuals.

Yeah, this! I'm re-watching ST:TNG for the billionth time, because I know everything they are going to say and everything that happens, so I don't need to look so much. Also, I tend to say to myself, "how much can I get done this episode?"
...and I find the background noise of the ship very comforting, in a way.

I adore audiobooks for all the things, crafting, working, cleaning stalls. Other than that I frequently have favorite online reviewers playlists going, Nostalgia Critic, Chick, Cinema Snob, Linkara, Angry Video Game Nerd, etc... Their tendency to do their reviews like a casual conversation seems to really work well for me when I'm cross stitching.

I like to craft to Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who DVDs. In terms of audio, I'm a fan of working to books from the Redwall series

I like to watch/listen to Let's Plays. The best ones are for games that I've already played (requires less attention) but it doesn't really matter. I try to avoid watching stuff with jump scares when I am stitching though; my needle can get frightfully close to my eye when I jump