Packing Knitting Projects...
I'm sick again! Not surprising, because I basically have no immune system, but still, I had hoped to avoid this, as I am going over to the UK on Wednesday. My Mom, Dad, and the Moose are all flying over to the UK, where we'll meet up with Adam's family, and then all of us are taking two cars and going across on the ferry to Normandy for a week in a gite.
Here is the house we are renting
It seems it is more or less in the middle of nowhere. There are 9 of us going, and the house has 5 bedrooms. The beds, however, look teeny.
Which will be tricky for my parents, in-laws and sister in law and her husband. And it will suck for me, if I have to share with the Moose. Well, it will suck for both of us. She steals covers, and I tend to crawl on and snuggle up to whoever is in bed with me at night. I also like to read late into the night. So if Moose and I have to share, we'll make do!
Here's a photo of the living room- the furniture doesn't exactly look... comfortable, does it?
But I am looking forward to having that fire lit. I love a nice fire.
I am also very excited to see Normandy. I have recently been watching Ken Burns' The War. If you haven't seen this documentary series yet, you really, really, must watch it. It is incredibly well done, and though I have read several historical accounts of WWII and seen other documentaries, this is one of the best I have seen, and deals only with American involvement in the War.
I will be packing a deck of cards, and my dad is bringing his cribbage board, so that'll be good. But there is no internet here, and I'm guessing tv will be a no-go, so for evenings, I am trying to plan what I'll need to bring, in terms of knitting.
One of the biggest problems I'm going to have with this trip is that because there are so many of us going over, and only in two cars, we need to pack very lightly. VERY lightly. So I am bringing a suitcase I normally reserve for a long weekend trip on a two-week trip. But I need to bring knitting!
I have been quite sick the past couple of days, and have not really done any knitting at all. So it's looking like Ben's Big Digger will be finished when I get home, and sent over to him. Which will be ok. But for the actual trip I am thinking I'll knit...
Clapotis. I have ten skeins of Blue Skye Alpaca and Silk,
but I have the sport weight. So I am trying to figure out how to make it the right size. I am thinking of using size 7 needles, and doing a couple extra increase rows... does this seem right to you guys? The color is black, so if I should run out of yarn, I can always get more black when I'm home. This would be my mindless knitting project.
Any hints or thoughts on using the sport-weight?
Cozy I have Silky Wool in a cream color for this, and I thought this would be my slightly more involved project.
OR I also have the yarn for The Bar Harbor Shell Bag
Which I am going to make in shades of red and hot pink for my aunt's birthday, coming up in November. Now the issue here, is if I bring this bag, then I need to bring the completed bag home, and I know if I complete Clapotis and/or Cozy when there I'll need to bring them, too, but at least I can wear them while on my trip, right?
And finally, I have several skeins of Noro's Cash Iroha, in two shades of blue. I am going to use these to make a scarf for the Moose.
Now, I am leaning toward using the the lighter blue, I have three skeins of that, and two of the darker blue. So I had initially thought of using the one color to do a cabled scarf for her. But then I wondered if there was a nice mosaic pattern I could do, that would be reversible, using the two colors together. Any ideas? The other idea I would LOVE to do, but am not sure a pattern exists, would be to do a cabled scarf where the two colors are used and wrap around each other. You know the look I mean? I'm sure I've seen it in sweaters, but am not sure there is a pattern for something like that out there. The other option would be to do an entrelac scarf for her using the two colors, woven in and out, which would be lovely, but I've been doing a lot of entrelac lately, and worry I might get bored with it.
Plus if I do entrelac I'm not sure I'd be able to figure out a good matching hat. Hmmm...
Any ideas?
I'm not sure I'll be posting again before I go, and I'll be gone for a while, so no worries if you don't hear from me. I won't have any internet for most of this trip.
But I'd love to hear your ideas on what I should pack for my knitting!
Here is the house we are renting
It seems it is more or less in the middle of nowhere. There are 9 of us going, and the house has 5 bedrooms. The beds, however, look teeny.
Which will be tricky for my parents, in-laws and sister in law and her husband. And it will suck for me, if I have to share with the Moose. Well, it will suck for both of us. She steals covers, and I tend to crawl on and snuggle up to whoever is in bed with me at night. I also like to read late into the night. So if Moose and I have to share, we'll make do!
Here's a photo of the living room- the furniture doesn't exactly look... comfortable, does it?
But I am looking forward to having that fire lit. I love a nice fire.
I am also very excited to see Normandy. I have recently been watching Ken Burns' The War. If you haven't seen this documentary series yet, you really, really, must watch it. It is incredibly well done, and though I have read several historical accounts of WWII and seen other documentaries, this is one of the best I have seen, and deals only with American involvement in the War.
I will be packing a deck of cards, and my dad is bringing his cribbage board, so that'll be good. But there is no internet here, and I'm guessing tv will be a no-go, so for evenings, I am trying to plan what I'll need to bring, in terms of knitting.
One of the biggest problems I'm going to have with this trip is that because there are so many of us going over, and only in two cars, we need to pack very lightly. VERY lightly. So I am bringing a suitcase I normally reserve for a long weekend trip on a two-week trip. But I need to bring knitting!
I have been quite sick the past couple of days, and have not really done any knitting at all. So it's looking like Ben's Big Digger will be finished when I get home, and sent over to him. Which will be ok. But for the actual trip I am thinking I'll knit...
Clapotis. I have ten skeins of Blue Skye Alpaca and Silk,
but I have the sport weight. So I am trying to figure out how to make it the right size. I am thinking of using size 7 needles, and doing a couple extra increase rows... does this seem right to you guys? The color is black, so if I should run out of yarn, I can always get more black when I'm home. This would be my mindless knitting project.
Any hints or thoughts on using the sport-weight?
Cozy I have Silky Wool in a cream color for this, and I thought this would be my slightly more involved project.
OR I also have the yarn for The Bar Harbor Shell Bag
Which I am going to make in shades of red and hot pink for my aunt's birthday, coming up in November. Now the issue here, is if I bring this bag, then I need to bring the completed bag home, and I know if I complete Clapotis and/or Cozy when there I'll need to bring them, too, but at least I can wear them while on my trip, right?
And finally, I have several skeins of Noro's Cash Iroha, in two shades of blue. I am going to use these to make a scarf for the Moose.
Now, I am leaning toward using the the lighter blue, I have three skeins of that, and two of the darker blue. So I had initially thought of using the one color to do a cabled scarf for her. But then I wondered if there was a nice mosaic pattern I could do, that would be reversible, using the two colors together. Any ideas? The other idea I would LOVE to do, but am not sure a pattern exists, would be to do a cabled scarf where the two colors are used and wrap around each other. You know the look I mean? I'm sure I've seen it in sweaters, but am not sure there is a pattern for something like that out there. The other option would be to do an entrelac scarf for her using the two colors, woven in and out, which would be lovely, but I've been doing a lot of entrelac lately, and worry I might get bored with it.
Plus if I do entrelac I'm not sure I'd be able to figure out a good matching hat. Hmmm...
Any ideas?
I'm not sure I'll be posting again before I go, and I'll be gone for a while, so no worries if you don't hear from me. I won't have any internet for most of this trip.
But I'd love to hear your ideas on what I should pack for my knitting!
posted by Annie at 10:01 AM
13 Comments:
Do you knit lace? Like shawls and things? Because 4 oz of lace can get you through months of knitting, and even the needles aren't that big. If I was so tight on space, I'd pick a gorgeous heirloom-type pattern, grab 2 - 4 oz of a luxury laceweight (alpaca or silk or cashmere, whatever really thrills you) and a circular needle and have at it. (Then I'd also bring a very simple stocking stitch sock or something that I can do in the car, because knitting monogomously scares me so much I couldn't even hit submit on this comment without thinking of an alternate knitting choice.)
BSA Alpaca and Silk is what I made my wedding clapotis with. I used size 8 needles, which was fine with the DK weight because I knit really tightly. I made the width as written in the pattern, but added a few repeats of the straight part of the pattern so that it would be longer. I probably should have considered the fact that alpaca stretches because it turned out REALLY long. Anyway, I think I used 7 or 8 skeins, so you should be okay with the 10 that you have.
I'm watching The War too. So very impressed with it.
Enjoy your trip! It sounds lovely.
I hope you feel better! Your trip sounds like it will be lovely. I love the bar harbor bag...I'd make that one!
I've never really knit lace. I did sign up for the secret of the Stole, but I'll already be over when the first clue comes in, without internet access! Am going to the LYS on Tuesday morning, though, so I might see if they can suggest anything easy... lace would be a good one!
Have a great time! I'm so jealous! I'm bad at packing since I tend to pack everything so no suggestions from me!
Have a wonderful vacation - it looks like a very peaceful place to go. If I were you, I would bring Clapotis. Simple repetitive pattern and it is so much fun tyo let the stitches drop.
Love the Bar Harbor bag, especially the name. Bar Harbor, and Maine in general, is a favorite place of mine.
Luckily, yarn is very squishable and you can get a lot of stuff packed in small spaces. Don't forget to take advantage of spaces like inside shoes you pack (stuff your socks in there and you'll have more room for yarn). Have you thought about sending stuff over ahead of time, perhaps to Adam's parents' house?
Also, you might want to check and see if there are any local yarn shops within driving distance of where you are staying. You can always try to pick up more materials when you're there, and then there's the added bonus of a very meaningful souvenier from your trip if you make something from the yarn you purchase there.
Pack a sock! They are small and portable, and no end of entertaining, and you have to do two of them. Print out some instructions, grab some sock yarn, and you're good to go! Well, needles. You do need those. :)
I've been watching The War too - great show. I have cried a lot.
have a lovely time and a safe trip! It's never easy travelling with so many people ... otherwise I would suggest that you pack a sleeping bag!
Thank you for letting us know you'd be away - I know I would have worried if we hadn't heard from you! It sounds like it will be a lovely, if cramped, trip - I hope you'll feel well enough to enjoy it.
As for the knitting, I might not bring the bag project (I type this as I am drooling over that awesome pattern - how cool!), simply because the wool for that will probably be a little bulkier than everything else.
The lace idea is a good one, and maybe you could use the trip to get started on your socks, too? Those don't take up too much space.
I'll be excited to see your progress on all of your projects when you get back.
Looks like you're up for a lovely time in Normandy! I hope you enjoy yourself.
My only suggestion involves a matching hat for an entrelec scarf. The closest I've seen is the Short Row Hat by Veronik Avery (it's in Ravelry, and it's a free pattern).
I hope you'll feel better soon, well enough to enjoy yourself and have a wonderful time!
I don't have much brain power these days, so I don't have anything original to suggest. But I can say that last time I had to pack for a trip, I took a sock project (my first socks). It's small and light, can be mindless, and can keep you busy for a while. And, if you finish, you can wear them too while on your trip!
Bon voyage, Annie!
Ask somebunnyslove on Ravelry about adapting the clapotis for the alpaca and silk. The woman has knit so many she has it down to a science! Also, there's a Rav forum for the Clap.
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