edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
[personal profile] edenfalling
I find hemming pants and other sewing projects extremely tedious and hard to do in a timely and efficient fashion. I always think there are more interesting things I could be doing and wandering off without finishing the job... or I just don't even sit down and get started in the first place.

I also find it very difficult to listen to audio storytelling. I can't focus on sound alone the way I can focus on written words alone, and constantly find my attention wandering off so I miss significant parts. (This happens with music, too, but missed sections are less vital there.)

It turns out that these problems solve each other! Sewing occupies just enough of my attention -- on a completely non-verbal level -- to let me pay attention to podcasts, and listening to podcasts keeps me from getting frustrated and bored by sewing.

In other words, today I hemmed one pair of pants and tightened the straps on a bathing suit while listening to the first six episodes of Welcome to Night Vale, which I'd been curious about for a while. (Verdict so far: it's cute and I like it.) Tomorrow I think I can get through another pair of pants and another five episodes. I'm not sure what to do after that, though -- I don't have an endless supply of repairs and I don't really have any craft-type hobies that are similarly non-verbal.

Maybe I could take up finger-weaving again?

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-06 04:51 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Decorative pillow covers are pretty easy to make if you've got fabric that you like sitting around and liven up a room? I like to make bags to use as purses. Finger weaving sounds like fun too.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-07 01:52 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
That's an excellent choice too! And you get blankets or scarves or hats from depending on your level of attention span. Some of my scarves were very short and the hats were scaled for fingertips.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-06 07:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] annearchy.livejournal.com
Given your description, I am guessing that you learn by doing, that using your hands (somehow) helps you to concentrate, and that listening to a lot of words tends to make your mind go blank (unless you have something to work on with your hands). This makes you very much like me. There is a name for this: KVA. Kinesthetic/Visual/Auditory. I learned this about myself more than 10 years ago in a great 2-day workshop (for work!) called Perceptual Thinking Patterns. Here's a good article that summarizes the concepts: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/perceptual-thinking-patterns/.

xo

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-07 10:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wistfulmemory.livejournal.com
I tend to put on Mythbusters while I'm sewing. I don't have too pay too much attention (unless there's something cool being shown), and it's educational, which is fun.

(no subject)

Date: 2014-08-08 01:28 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wistfulmemory.livejournal.com
They have a collection specifically titled "MythBusters: Big Blasts Collection." :)

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edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Elizabeth Culmer

June 2025

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