I just spent the last couple of weeks in Oklahoma, working with my book photographer Brandi Simons by day and hanging out with my parents and sister on nights and weekends. (Sometimes those spheres overlapped when we needed extra helping hands with photo shoots!)
On this trip my parents were eager to introduce me to their latest Netflix favorite: Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which are brief, suspenseful dramas that aired on television in 1955 to 1957. My parents both remember watching the show when they were kids, so it has a high nostalgia factor for them. But the show really holds up as entertaining TV, and I found that it’s perfect to knit to!
Each episode is about the typical half-hour length, but there’s something about the pacing and the simple conceits of the stories that make them seem shorter than that. That’s not to say that they’re too simplistic—the acting is often brilliant, and the endings all contain wicked twists, which, while often predictable, are usually thoroughly satisfying.
A recent favorite of mine was the man who was suspected of murdering his wife. When he finds out that friends think he has killed her, and they reveal to him her many affairs at the same time, he basically shrugs and says to himself, “might as well murder her then!” And he does. It looses a little of its charm in my retelling, but like many episodes, it’s comedic and dark at the same time.
The single plot line, high-drama acting style, and limited number of characters make this show ideal for couch knitting, when I can’t always be looking at the TV. But it’s also entertaining enough that I would even—get this—watch it without knitting at the same time.
So that’s what I’ve been knitting to lately. What have YOU been knitting to (or stitching to, or otherwise crafting to)? Please share in the comments!
