Lynn is knitting a sweater. She is part of a group of women knitters, some of whom are quite advanced and knowledgeable about knitting. Her current project is more challenging than she is used to. She knew that at the start and she felt she was up to the task of something more complex than usual. She finds that she can knit and pay attention to a tv show at the same time. It helps if the show has audio and if the audio is in English. She has managed to get something out of a show where the speech is in a foreign language and the translations appear in subtitles.
However, she draws the line at knitting, having a tv show on and me talking. It doesn't matter how witty and fun my comments are. My voice, my vocabulary and my insights into the characters and the life predicaments they experience are too much of a distraction. It is understandable. Knitting instructions can be complex. For instance,
Then work to the turning gap and wrap the next st after the gap at each side 7 (7,8, 9,9, 9, 10, 10, 10, 12) times.
She may not find that she has made a mistake, usually in counting, until the next evening or the one after that. But if she does make a mistake, it is very depressing and upsetting. It usually means that quite a bit of her knitting needs to be pulled out and re-done. She doesn't like that.
She told all this to her knitting circle friends and they realized that they too make errors in following the complex directions in their own projects when I talk. Turns out I am the source of many exasperations and difficulties, near and far. I need to check with them all before I talk, wherever I am.
