Tatting while doing anything else!

Help! I would like to know how all of you watch t.v. and tat. Or, talk to people and tat. I have the hardest time with this. I try to remind myself to check the ring before I close it, but I always seem to mess up. I was with my nephew at the hospital yesterday. I always try to tat in public when appropriate so I can introduce it to people who might be interested. I had only done one ring on my snowflake when I realized I did not do the back half of the split ring. Argh! I tried for quite a while to untat it and finally gave up and cut it out. Now, I have to tie the thread back in. I just put it away and picked up another project I had taken with me. I love my tatting and want to do it whenever possible, but it seems I must concentrate while tatting. Any suggestions would be appreciated!