I am primarily a knitter, though I've done various types of embroidery off and on since I was six. Knitting is even better than needlepoint for mindless occupation of hands, unless you're doing lace or something with complex shaping. I nearly always have a sock in my purse for doctors' offices, standing in line, or whatever.

Evenweave isn't too difficult a transition to make -- you quickly learn to start seeing two fabric threads as one. The only hard part is skipping over a large unworked area, and you can weave a threaded needle in and out of the fabric to help you visually track two-thread groups. It looks much nicer, though, and it lets you get into really fun stuff like hardanger cutwork!