Travel Knitting

Probably a more important consideration than what clothes I am packing for a trip, is what knitting am I packing!?

I try to bring a main project and a backup project. There is nothing worse than running out of knitting. Especially on long 10+ hour transatlantic flights (hello, life in California! 10 hours to London, 10 hours to Tokyo!) , or even worse—during a layover or flight delay. I try to focus on fingering weight projects, as these require less room in my bag, and take longer. For my quick succession of Idaho and England, I have three(+) projects in mind. (Edit—Idaho happened! and I already finished project 1! eek!)

Project 1:

my progress the afternoon of 6/20

Dandelion Fields
I’ve liked this design since it came out, and I think my brioche skills are up to it. I’m making this for my partner’s nan. She is an amazing gardener and lover of all things green. I hope she loves this! All the yarn is deep stash yarn, so that feels great, too. The wonderful thing about brioche as a travel project is that it doesn’t take much yarn, but isn’t the fastest knit. So it keeps me busy, but not weighed down. I cast on Wednesday night, and you can keep up with my progress on my ravelry page, too!

Project 2:

Previous Festoon socks for a petite friend

Festoon Socks
I’ve made these socks a few times for others, but never for me! I am a recent covert to sock knitting. I would not call myself a sock knitter, per se, but socks are slightly more appealing to me now than during the previous 12 years of knitting. I have always been a lover of cable knitting, however, so these are a clear fit for me. The cables makes these a slightly slower knit, but that’s good for a travel knit. Also small and portable, can fit in my bag (or purse) anywhere. I’ll be knitting these in some deep stash yarn as well (I don’t really know what it is). And I can always pick up an extra skein if my needles are really flying.

Project 3:

dreamy colors

Navelli
I love colorwork, and it also makes great travel knitting. Deciding to knit a short sleeve top also means I don’t need to bring as much yarn along. I’m knitting this cute little number in Flock from AVFKW. I really like this yarn, and it is very sticky—perfect for color work! This is also deep stash yarn and a special project for special yarn. I’m using Grizzly Peak for the main, and Succulent and Limited Edition (I think this was just left in the dye pot for too long, it’s madder dyed) for the contrast colors. Should be awesome!

I don’t think I should run out of knitting. But I can always pick up a skein of sock yarn to keep me occupied if I do! What do you do on long flights? I sleep, read, knit, and watch movies. Sometimes my knitting makes me want to stay up more than I should.