I find most knitting projects fall somewhere on the “Mindless to Absorbing” scale.  Stockinette Wasteland (especially in the round without even the variety of the purl rows!) being “Truly Mindless” and a pleasant 4-row repeat lace being somewhere in the middle at “A Bit Interesting” and something with a complex chart and, perhaps, shaping to go along with it and maybe 3-5 balls of yarn hanging off of it topping the scale as “Absolutely Absorbing.”  Certainly a project like a sweater might have sections that hit different levels (a simple solid body with a color-work yoke, for example).

Then, there are projects that I call “In-the-Zone Knitting” because while the stitch pattern is not complex it is such that if you take your mind off it for a minute bad things happen.  Most basket-weave stitch patterns fall into this category because of the alternating nature of the rows – sometimes you are knitting the knit sts and purling the purl sts, sometimes it is the other way around and what you do on the right side for some rows might be turned around completely on other right side rows. 

Trellis patterns too – which are characterized by textural diagonals (meaning you keep changing the number of knits between purl sts or the other way around).  I made Max’s
“Yzma Blanket” in a trellis stitch of fingering-weight wool.  Nearly went both blind and crazy! 

“In-the-Zone Knitting” requires full focus, but is not really interesting enough to keep my mind engaged.  Tricky, that.  Errors in pattern usually escape my notice when I am working the row – showing up dramatically after another row or 2 have been knitted.  Which is a bad thing.  So, I have to pay attention to the repetition of the row I am on and not let my mind slip into the repetition of the previous row or the next row or some other random gosh-darned row. 

The trick, I find, is to set myself up in the right environment.  My current “In-the-Zone Knitting” project is the linen stitch scarf Sonja abandoned (really, I don’t blame her – she has a 12-week-old baby and is getting up every night! this kind of knitting is doom for a sleepy brain).  She still wants the finished piece – which will be gorgeous – so I said I would complete it for her birthday.

The Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf (Churchmouse Classics pattern) is worked length-wise.

Over 450 sts to a row!  The yarn is fingering-weight merino (Koigu KPPPM).  Linen Stitch is worked by alternating slipped sts with knit (right side) or purl (wrong side) sts.  When slipping the sts, you hold the yarn at the front of the work on the right side and at the back on the wrong side.  The result is a knitted fabric that looks and behaves like a woven fabric.  Fabulous, really.  Wonderful possbilities. 

(note: top is wrong side, bottom is right side)

And kind of a beast to knit – because the rhythm of the right side is just slightly different from the rhythm of the wrong side.  Except it all kind of looks the same –especially as the nature of slip stitches is to scrunch down into the row below so you cannot really see whether you are slipping a knit stitch (good) or a slipped stitch (bad) from the previous row.  It is so easy to get off and knit 2 sts in a row or purl the st you are supposed to slip because you just put the yarn to the front of the work and let your mind wander for a moment!  I have to keep checking my work – and I have to sing to myself so that I keep the “knit, move yarn to front, slip, move yarn to back, knit” separate from “purl, move yarn to back, slip, move yarn to front, purl.” 

The best environment I have found is morning at a coffee place like Starbucks.  Coffee, the mildly interesting people-watching, few interruptions.  Ideal.  Since it takes me about half-an-hour to do a row, I m probably going to have to spend every morning this month at Starbucks to get the scarf done by Sonja’s birthday!  Except that I really cannot, of course.  Could I re-create the Starbucks environment at home?  Hmmm. Fire up the espresso machine and turn off the phones!