Best reasons to knit while traveling

I’ve been wanting to compile this list for a while now.  Here are the best reasons I’ve come up with to pick up knitting (or crocheting) and then to travel with your knitting hobby!

1.  Lightweight.  1 or 2 needles and some yarn makes it easy to pack into your purse or bag and you have instant entertainment!

2.  Electricity free.  Not only are you not tied to a power outlet, but you can start it immediately as soon as you sit down in say an airplane seat.  No waiting until you reach 30,000 feet which means instant gratification for all you idle hands out there!  This is also a bonus when, say, you’re without power for a week.  You can knit a lot when there is no power (although it is admittedly harder to do by candlelight).

3.  Breaks the ice.  I have met more people on airplanes knitting in the past 2 years than I ever have before.  People will remark at what you’re making (including flight attendants, and in my experience it always pays to befriend them!) and other people nearby will join in.  Knitting is a friendly activity and apparently everyone likes a knitter!  Once, a man sitting next to me starting talking to me because had two daughters that knit and crochet and we struck up a conversation.  Next thing I know we were talking about nanotechnology and I got his business card because he worked at a national lab that I’ve worked at before and we (the hubs and I) were both considering applying for jobs at!  I also met a local author and exchanged tips with other unsuspecting knitters in hiding. And if you don’t talking to people…

4.  You might as well just put some headphones on while you knit.  That’s cool too.  Once you’ve reached 30,000 ft of course.

The only downsides are that on occasion misinformed TSA agents will give you static for bringing the needles through security.  Print out that TSA information from online and hopefully that will help!

 

And for anyone who’s interested in the sweater I can put updates soon.  I have no idea how this thing is going to come together and I’ve reached a little snag that has me super frustrated but I am proud to report that I could stop where I’m at and basically have a sweater vest!  Pleading with the husband, but he seems to really want those sleeves.  Maybe I can make my March deadline after all…

New knits…now with crochets!

So first off, I knit this cool little earflap hat.  These pictures don’t quite show how wonky it is, but you can see the cables in it that were pretty fun to do.

Hats remain the most satisfying to knit.  I have like 5 more patterns I want to try.

Also, earlier this summer I decided to take the plunge and start knitting….baby things.  That’s right.  Apparently in India only women expecting babies knit (and why my roommate stopped knitting right after I taught her, to not lead her mother in law on!).  A long time ago (ok, two years) I started knitting to calm my mind and yet give me something productive to do (so maybe that is true?).  I only became productive at it once I was stranded in another country and taking plane flights back and forth to Mexico, really.  But I decided I had a few close friends and relatives giving birth and so I wanted to celebrate their children and, as painful as it would be to not knit something for my own child, at least I could pray for their child as I knit.  So maybe if I wasn’t so vocal in being happy and estatic in their pregnancies, they’d see that they still mattered and I still cared about them, just in a way that was more conducive to my situation.  Also, I could avoid an unnecessary trip to Babies R Us, aka, the land of nightmares :)

Well anyways, I forgot to take a picture of the first baby blanket I knit before I sent it off :P  Bummer.  However, the second one I did take a picture of.  Only, I also started something new…crochet!  I’ve had a few friends request clearly crocheted items over the last year and it was bugging me that I didn’t know how to do it, though its supposedly easier.  So I bought a book and I learned.  And I crocheted this in a few nights as practice.

While I starting knitting the blankets before we found out we were pregnant, I bought that crochet book the first weeka we found out.  However, shortly later is when I discovered our dropping progesterone levels and so one night while making this, I told my husband that this would be for our little one.  Some people go buy their baby something to make it real, I crocheted this little guy.

So anyways, back to the blanket…I also crocheted my sister (and my new niece) this little stuffed koala.  He’s all wonky but I think he’s adorable.  AND one of a kind!  Can’t buy that in a store! (Probably because they wouldn’t let you sell it…).

And here’s another shot of my husband modeling just how comfy that blanket was…

What a good sport.  Anyways, I better start being more productive because I keep going to the store and buying yarn but unless there’s a change in my output, my husband is going to start getting suspicious….unless he already is…