Well, not really, since I don’t watch MTV, but I do watch CBS, and our access to it has been yanked because of some dispute between EchoStar (owners of dish network, which we subscribe to) and Viacom, mega media company that owns CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Channel, and countless other stations, no doubt. Ideologically, I suppose I am against TV, and for many years we only had access to one channel because we didn’t want to pay for cable or satellite. Now, though, I watch a crapload of TV. Knitting in silence just doesn’t do it for me. I wish I could say I only watch PBS or the History Channel or something, but no, I actually watch a lot of trash TV (though I can’t stand reality shows or any of those fake news shows like Dateline). So here is my dilemma–do I just embrace the TV and get digital cable and a digital television recorder and pay a small fortune each month, or do I cheap out and get basic cable? Or should I give satellite another chance? Or should I smash the TV and read books (no, wait, I can’t read and knit at the same time, so that’s out).
Okay, time to go knit and NOT watch CBS. I’m hoping to finish the 2nd (well, fourth, actually, if you consider the two sleeves I already knit that I’m not going to use) sleeve of peppermint candy this evening. Knitting these sleeves in the round is hurting my hands. Does that happen to anyone else?
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We get cheap cable and take advantage of the video stores cheap night.. All new and newish movies only $.88, some due the next day and the others 5… Know what you mean, spinning and knitting were not meant to be done in silence!
I agree, knitting in silence can be deadly… silent but deadly… hmm… anyway, do you have any good knitting music??? If you’re lacking some good music, I could hook you up with some good knitting tunes :0)
What about books on tape or radio shows? I have a book about knitting that talks about a vicar and his wife who knit in the evening and the wife read out loud to him while knitting at the same time.
As a non-TV owner and someone previously too cheap to throw money at cable and satellite service, yet also addicted to TV, you can either download stuff off the ‘net or ask/beg someone to record videos or burn dvd’s for you. There are also illegal cable boxes, but I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble.
But ya know, I don’t mind knitting in silence; I can also listen to the same cd all day. Bet ya didn’t know that about me! : )
Yanked eh? Seems I recall (and I may get this wrong) a few years ago when our cable company (let’s name names Time Warner) and a network channel had a row and a channel ceased to be broadcast in our area. Turned out that was an illegal move. But all was back to normal within a few days and we all lived not always happily ever after paying ever exorbitant cable rates (no wonder you’re reconsidering). Just what did we all do before cable (and TV)? I know reading, writing and surfing the net (whoops I guess not the last one).
Friends around here are suffering from the same fate. One idea that just may work… Books on Tape/CD. Rent/borrow them from the library, listen while you knit. WOrks great in the car each day for me.
Have a great day
BTW Love the cute tote you made the other day. Did you use a pattern?
Get whatever is cheapest. Since you aren’t a slave to the boob tube it really wouldn’t matter what is on….
everyone else is crazy i say go broke if you need to but don’t go without your TV fix. that’s worse than giving up than caffeine!!!! (and as long as it’s not “reality” it’s not “trash” hee heee….)
I knit and “read” at the same time thanks to books on tape (or cd). It can be a refreshing change from tv, even when you aren’t having the unfair channel wars.
I’m a big fan of the books I download from Audible.com — they carry periodicals as well as books.
I agree with Carolyn. TV is awesome. I say, go with basic cable and sign up for Netflix or the DVD rental thingy that’s based in CA that has more artsy/underground kind of movies.
Sometimes knitting in the round hurts my hands, but knitting on straight needles hurts my wrists more.
Oh, and? Limewire.
Get TIVO its the best – we have had no problems with it or the company whatsoever. Much better than messing around with those stupid A/B boxes and the very poor customer service the cable companies offer.
Gotta be cable – – regardless of how much you spend monthly, 98% of the programming will always be crap, so why not go with the cheapest option?
Oh, and knitting/reading? I recently discovered these gizmos designed to hold open recipe books (while upright, no less) – not so good for small paperbacks, but great for hardbacks & magazines.
I hear ya girl…I have Dish Network too, and I am sooooo pissed about what they are doing. I watch mostly 3 channels, VH1, MTV, and SciFi (yeah, I’m a geek), so I figure they should cut 2/3 off my bill, right? NO! They are giving us $1 credit per month for CBS being gone, and $1 credit for the other Viacom stations being gone. Can we say, B.S.?! Pretty darn stinky. They trouble is, I don’t know who to blame, so I haven’t logged any complaints yet. Oh well, I hope they fix this before new episode of “The Newlyweds”…
Okay, so we JUST moved into a new place and JUST got our Dish Network set up when this happened. I don’t know what to do, either, so I’m going to sit it out for a bit and see if they can reconcile it. If not, it looks like we’ll be going with just the basic channels again.
I also have to knit to some sort of noise or TV. I don’t even have basic cable though, so I watch a lot of the same movies over and over. I’ve been thinking about joining Netflix and renting DVDs of TV shows I’ve never seen.
Supposedly they have tons and tons of movies and shows. Maybe that is an option for you too.
As long as you don’t succumb to the utter crap TV, like reality shows, TV isn’t *too horrible for you. I don’t think… 😉
I have kiddos who are a little to influenced by television, so we have rabbit ears and local channels. I can’t knit to silence either, so when I have the tv on, I’m usually watching movies. That would be my suggestion – invest your money in renting movies or a netflicks subscription!!
Oh cable! How I love thee! Whenever I visit the ‘rents I tend to veg out in front of the trillion cable channels they have so I can take in every single movie I’ve missed in the theaters.
P.S. What IS the deal with MTV??? I want my MTV like the way it was in the eighties. Just bad videos and VJ’s with bad hair.
I always feel like a lazy loo if i’m not multitasking. but when i get in the knitting zone i will sit with the tv on for 4+ hours watching trash. After realizing how much time i’ve spent in front of the tv, i just feel … icky.
so … i’ve started learning japanese on cd! my friends are pretty impressed by how much i’ve learned in just a week. and if my eyes need extra stimulation, i pop on the tv too but just don’t listen. and the best part, no more ick … now if i could just get someone to give me a foot massage at the same time
I second the Netflix recommendation. I love it, since I too like having something on while I’m knitting or eating dinner, and despite all the channels I have there’s often nothing good on. It’s especially good for all the older movies that everyone (it seems) but me has seen. Last night I knit all the way through “The Man Who Knew Too Much”.
Though I have to put in a vote for books on tape too: good for knitting, car trips, and working out.
This has nothing to do with tv, cable, or satelite (but I would go with just basic cable)
http://www.wham-o.com/content/marshpeeps.html
ok, netflix is always a great option…dvd’s in every category you can think of(i love documentaries)…and time saved from not having to drive back and forth to rental place can be used knitting! hmmmm, what a great topic, “music and movies to knit by…the top ten list”. i listen to mozart in hopes of enriching brain cells…
I second the vote for Tivo (in conjunction with either cable or satellite).
I confess to watching many more hours of television since owning a digital recorder, but now I only watch the shows I like. (No more random reruns of Full House just because nothing else is on!)
I’ve had DirecTV for years and have been happy with them… but then, I’ve hated cable for a while (mostly having to do with the requirement to have a cable box to get some channels which really threw off my TV setup.)
However, the best thing to do with TV watching is to get a Tivo or a Replay TV. (If you can get a Replay with the auto commerical skip, go for it! – its GREAT). You’ll never watch TV the same way again… if you miss something, you can skip back and replay it. Timeshift shows, etc. Its awesome.
I have no cable here, in large part because our apartment hasn’t even been wired for it (I know–that’s easy to do). The local CBS station is notorious for being fuzzy because their transmitter is on the other side of the Sears Tower or something. So, I’m not attached to any CBS shows, but a Famous Knitting Weblogger who started our Knitting-In-Public is a camera operator for their news programs!
Tell EchoStar Communications what you think of their goofy yank job:
CEOofDishNetwork@Dishnetwork.com
Rumor has it this will be resolved in a couple of days; Time Warner did the same thing to ABC a few months ago will very poor results.
Hi there- I rarely if ever comment, but enjoy your blog a bunch. Frustrated by the growing pile of books by my bed that just sit there because I’m obsessed with knitting during all my spare time, I have recently been working on knitting and reading todether. It can be done! It’s best to try on straight ST though because it does slow things down a little bit – but better some of both than none at all. I discovered that I was already knitting by touch quite a bit without realizing it. Good luck and may your TV channels be restored soon!
Tivo’s the way to go. I record a bunch of mental candy just to knit to – right now it’s Queer Eye, Monk and Charmed. Sex and the City used to be on the rotation… 🙁
Isn’t it all really annoying? 🙁 I’ll tell you – I have satellite – Direct TV, and I’m not sure if I still get CBS etc or not… And TIVO – well, you know that they use that track your viewing habits, you know. Netflix – that’s great, but it’s mostly movies what do you do when you’ve seen them all? We have that too but it’s only temporary. You could do like me – sit next to the computer and knit. Course, if I *had* a tv in the ‘office’ it would be on. Ok – rambling ~ whatcha gonna do? 😉
They took Nick too. 2 channels worth. I did hear on NPR that they expect things to be resolved soon or DISH will start hemoraging customers especially with March madness (something I don’t care about)coming.
Hey, I commented! I’m not a lurker anymore.
Listen to the radio. NPR. Or or your local college or community station. Keeps your eyes on the needles and your ears occupied. And you find out stuff. And you only pay if you like it. Not so good if you’re knitting something complicated, though.
i have rabbit ears and 3 fuzzy channels…i find that paying for cable really cuts into my yarn allowance!!
i like reading jane austen (not while knitting) and they’re always talking about ladies sitting around the fireplace (not too close, in case their facepaint containing wax melts. oh dear) chatting and knitting.
i guess what they used to do was have a bunch of friends over to knit! i think the modern version would be to go to a coffee shop and knit there!
other than that, i really like the multi-tasking learning a different language idea! maybe i’ll learn some french so i can order the phildar magazines directly from the site!
We get basic cable, and when there’s nothing good on (yes, this does happen even with 50+ channels)I usually opt to listen to books on tape. Actually, since I have to read a lot for school anyway I’ve been favouring b.o.t’s over tv more and more-the problem of knitting in an uncomfortable silence and not being able to read at the same time is solved! Get an armload next time you stop by the library and enjoy yor favourite books while knitting!