Basketweave pattern

I'm currently working on a simple basketweave pattern using some sport weight yarn. The pattern is very easy to memorize, I just need to keep track of what row I'm on. At first I tried reading my knitting, but then I later added one of those row counters so I didn't have to use as much brain power to figure out which row I'm working. The cabling rows are cable intensive since it's cabling across the entire row. I have discovered that I can't keep an even tension if I do some of my knitting in the car. I tend to knit tighter in the car, perhaps it's to prevent losing stitches. I don't take this with me in the car anymore, I take a more "mindless" project instead. I feel as though cable patterns tend to use more yarn yet yield less "mileage" (because the work gets scrunched up more).