Time Off

For the last couple of days I have been doing some serious contemplating about time off.  Specifically, taking time off knitting.  It isn't something I really want to do, but more something that I ought to do.  I don't want any big chunk of time off or anything like that.  Really just a week should do.  I just keep thinking that if I took a solid week off knitting that I could maybe finish two or three of the novels that I have in progress.

You see, I miss reading.  I miss getting so wrapped up in a book that I don't even want to stop reading long enough to eat.  That I bring the book to the table with me and eat while still being able to turn the page and keep going.  That feeling where I will put off sleep until I finish the chapter and then the next and before I realize it the sun is coming up and I forgot to go to sleep altogether.  I miss being so invested in a series that before the current book is even finished I have looked up the title of the sequel and already have it off the bookshelf and at the ready, so as soon as the last page is read I can open that next book and just keep on going.

It is really hard for me to pick up a book and not have a million interruptions right now.  That is one aspect that makes knitting the easier hobby to be invested in.  Kids need attention?  I can still play along, listen, and interact while knitting.  House need attention?  It is much easier for me to finish a row or finish a repeat of the chart, sit it aside, and vacuum or do laundry, and pick it right back up.  I can't do that when I am reading.  When I read, I get completely immersed in the story with the characters and events.  If I even know that I only have a half hour to read I do not even want to bother picking the book up.  It is hard to explain.  Not everyone reads that way.  Plenty of people can just pick a book up and read a page or two and sit it down again.  Plenty of people can grab a magazine and flip through it, read an article at random and be done.  Not me. 

It is sort of like going to the movie theatre.  You wouldn't drive all the way to theatre, pay for the movie, buy your popcorn, choose a seat and then only watch fifteen minutes and leave again.  You would go there prepared to see the entire film.  Before you even left the house you would make sure you had enough time for the trip and to see the movie.  That is how I approach reading.  I need to know that I have quiet to focus on what I am reading.  I need to know that I have enough time to read, without interruption, to get through a chapter or two.  If the story is getting really good I don't want to have to put it down before i am ready to take a break.

Which is why I have been thinking about taking about a week off knitting.  Of course the things I am working on right now are really interesting and I don't actually want to stop.  Christmas feels close right now when I think about the various gifts I want to knit this year.  I have a KAL happening for a shawl.  I have a friend KAL happening for that sweater I swatched for in July.  I really want to finish the owl cables on the Hogwart's shawl before the Florida Fiber In so I will be able to wear it there.  So, why do I keep thinking about books?

I am not sure really.  I just feel the strong desire to see what happens in Watership Down.  I have the intense need to see what happens next with Heathcliff and Catherine in Wuthering Heights and to talk about it with my cousin.  I want to read through the next few Sookie mysteries and see how the series starts to change and how it all ends.  I want to read the Dexter books and see if that series is worth reading all the way through and if Jeff Lindsay is finished with it yet.  I want to get started on The Wheel of Time novels.  The Game of Thrones books.  I want to read those before my friends have put them so far behind them that they don't even remember the character twists or events that I want to chat about.

The best plan I can come up with so far, is to maybe take one week at the end of this month and dedicate it to reading.  I will swear off knitting for the entire seven day stretch.  This will be right when school is starting back for the friend I am having a the sweater KAL with.  She will have to focus more on work and a little less time on knitting and so if I can get a bit of the sweater done before then, I can stand to take a week off and wouldn't really fall behind on that project.  The shawl KAL lasts for two months so there are no worries there as long as I at least get through a couple repeats of the lace before taking the time off of that project.  Any other knitting plans that I have or projects that I have on the needles will be just fine sitting untouched for a week as well.

I would know that I had seven days and nights just for reading.  I would stay off the shiny interwebs as much as possible.  I would be able to read aloud parts of Watership Down when I need to pay attention to DD.  I would be able to finish it and Wuthering Heights for certain.  A bonus would be getting at least one other novel to completion.  Then, once the week was through, I could maybe just read a bit before going to sleep each night to chip away at my goal of 13 books in 2013.