You can.
Women are more predisposed to multitask than men are. I've been known to watch TV, read GC, and cross stitch simultaneously... drives my husband crazy. (He couldn't multitask if his life depended on it.) I sit on the commuter rail and listen to my iPod and cross stitch... other riders are convinced I'm listening to Enya or something, when I'm actually listening to Linkin Park or Evanescence. (I've been asked.) So, "x" away.
Oh, the cross stitch pattern I mentioned when this thread was first started 3 years ago? Still haven't finished the frelling thing...