I seem to be suffering from a lack of knitting projects on-the-go (or WIPs as we call them). I am flying to South Africa on business and am trying to organise some knitting to take with me. Sofi, my Hanne Falkenberg jacket, is not really travel knitting at the moment, as I am stuck at the top-down sleeve caps which are giving me some conceptual difficulties. I can’t take my Paid in Full tank, because I have already finished it! (I will take it to wear, and hopefully to photograph, but not as a project.)
That leaves only two. First is the Highland Rogue cowl, by Kate Davies:
I have just finished the second skein of yarn out of six, so I still have a long way to go. This is pretty and is very soft and squishy, but I do not find it all intuitive to knit. I cannot “read” the knitting, and I find that the charts aren’t working for me either, so I am following the written instructions, and am still counting every row. Usually, I am a chart kind of girl, so this is pretty unusual for me. Interestingly, when I met up with some Ravelry friends at Yarnporium, two of them had knit this, and they both had the same problem. This makes it not the best travel knitting, perhaps, but it is coming with me due to a lack of options.
The second project is my next adventure in fair isle knitting, another hat. I cast it on a few days ago and think it is totally lovely:
I am finding it much easier than the last one (because I am slowly becoming used to the two-handed knitting). Stay tuned for details.
When I get home, I need to cast-on some projects! I am suffering from limited options. I hope your knitting options are healthy.
There are definitely good projects to travel with vs. bad ones, and it’s always a pain when you get caught out with nothing travel-friendly when it’s time to leave! Your cowl and hat are looking great 🙂
I never seem to have a travel-ready option at hand. I need to think these things out more carefully….
That is always hard! Sometimes there’s just nothing quite right to hand.
I totally feel your pain! I have a long term project on the needles that must be done in good light and complete silence. If I were traveling alone, I would take it for hotel knitting. But otherwise, it stays by my chair. I do keep a pair of socks on the needles at all times, just for those travel or waiting times. But in between those two there are a wealth of options, right? Sounds like you need to cast on a nice simple sweater! 😈
A nice, simple sweater is the preferred option. I would work on the sleeves on my Falkenberg, but the yarn is so dark (and they are knit in seed stitch) so that won’t work. The real problem is that I am not a sock knitter. Maybe someday, I will remedy that, but I am not ready to make the sock leap.
Lol that IS a problem! Clearly you aren’t interested because you certainly have the skills for them. How about hats? Same idea, easy mobile knitting.
It looks like the Little Tern Blanket from AYoT and that kicked my butt for pattern reading. I wound up putting stitch markers every so often and then check at each stitch marker if I was at the right spot. Gah. Such a “simple” texture pattern and yet so difficult to knit.
That is the annoying thing – everything about the pattern screams “easy peasy” but the reality is slightly different. I took out a single row 4 times on the airplane! I don’t know why it is difficult to focus on this one. Part of it is bad eyes, I suspect.
Actually, I found the Rogue quite good plane knitting. I just had to count it all out in my head. But was pleased when I landed to find out that I had done quite a few inches, so it may surprise you as a travel project. Have a good trip.
Let’s hope that works for me. I think I need a fingering weight sweater with lots of stockinette.
I hear you, sometimes our on-going WIPs are not the most portable projects. When in doubt, knit a sock. Socks for me are the best option for travel knitting, especially when you knit a vanilla sock that requires no charts, no pattern to follow, just a few figures on a piece of paper for the heel and toe shaping. Paired with a self-striping yarn, it is the ultimate travel project as the self forming stripes make it more interesting than a solid or semi-solid version. This hat looks lovely.
Having never knit a sock, I think it would take me a while to develop my “vanilla” sock version. I appreciate their portablility but have never found myself geared up to knit a sock. I’m sure that will change someday; I am usually way behind the trends.