It really is cool when you manage to unite two of your favorite hobbies. Reading is absolutely my favorite. I can’t imagine a day with no reading. There is nothing like settling in and letting an author take you on a journey.
Also, high on my list of hobbies are crocheting and cross stitch and painting. I have often found myself in a quandary over how I want to spend my time. Do I read? Do I crochet? Do I work on my cross stitch project? There have been times when I would choose one and feel like I was ignoring another.
I can’t say I have found a way to combine all of them but I have found a way to do two of them at the same time. The solution is audiobooks. With audiobooks I can “read” and work on one of my other projects at the same time. In fact I find that by listening to an audiobook while I crochet, cross stitch or paint actually helps me to concentrate on the craft project with greater clarity. My mind doesn’t wander to other concerns or random thoughts. Instead, the passive listening given to the audiobook allows me to absorb the story and still concentrate on the hand-eye coordination necessary for the projects.
Finding this clever little hack has brought me more pleasure in working on my hobbies. The frustration of trying to find time each day to do all the things I love is greatly reduced. Currently I’m working on a Christmas afghan and listening to The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett. Doing the two together has raised my productivity on the afghan and has resulted in longer sessions of crafting. It is a win-win.