How to Plan Your Travel Knitting Projects

I have written ab out traveling with knitting before in the context of making a travel knitting kit and whether you can fly with your knitting.

But I haven’t really covered exactly what you should pack in terms of travel knitting projects. That’s probably because it’s so personal for everyone, depending on how long your trip is and how you are traveling (you’ll have more knitting time if you’re a passenger than if you’re driving, for example), your skill level and knitting speed and what you like to knit.

I like to take a few projects so that I can choose depending on my mood. Socks are great for travel knitting because they are small and take a relatively long time to knit on a relatively small quantity of yarn. So are shawls, but I also like projects that are relatively simple, with repeating stitch patterns, so no complex lace for me on vacation.

Usually I will take at least three projects for a week long vacation (and, if I’m being honest, two for a weekend away, if I ever had such a thing). One would be something small and easy like a sock or a shawl. One is usually a sweater or summer top.

And then it might just be whatever I was already working on, or a long neglected project I think I might work on if I have no other choice. Sometimes I will take a new project to cast on, but only if I’ve already done my gauge swatch or don’t need one, because swatching is way too much effort for vacation.

How about you? Do you plan your travel knitting projects or do you just grab whatever you’ve been working on? Do you plan to visit a yarn store and start a new project with the yarn you buy on the way? Do you remember vacations based on the projects you were working on? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

(Pictured is my vacation sock from last year. I still haven’t knit the second one.)

Next Pattern:

Stitch dictionaries are a fun way to learn new-to-you knitting stitch patterns or to take a deep dive into a particular technique. Debbie Tomkies offers 100 cable stitch designs and thoughts on how to incorporate them into projects in her Cable Knitting Stitch Dictionary.

Each stitch pattern is shown in a large swatch photo and with written and charted instructions. Any special stitches are included on the page. The stitches are rated on a difficulty scale of 1 to 3, and the pattern notes also indicate how many extra stitches you should add to a project if you’re going to work this cable (since cables pull the fabric closer together you need to compensate for that) as well as how many stitches and rows are in the repeat if you want to design a project yourself.

The cables are arranged into sections: classic cables, combinations, all-over panels, creative cables, motifs and panels and cabled edges and borders.

It’s fun to flip through the designs to think about projects you can add a single cable or two to or make with an allover cabled design. Or you could make swatches of different cables and sew them together into a pillow cover or a throw.

At the back of the book there’s a section on general cable knitting techniques, reading charts, working swatches and avoiding errors (though it mentions working the wrong number of rows between cable turns, it doesn’t share how to count rows between cables to avoid this mistake).

It also talks about how to design your own cables, combine cables in a project, choose the right yarn and needles and determine how many more stitches you need to cast on when working cables instead of stockinette stitch. There’s also a glossary of symbols and abbreviations you may find in cable knitting and other patterns.

The book provides a good overview of things you can do with cables, as well as some fun things you might not have tried like infinity cables and horizontal cables. It’s a great book for a designer who likes to work with cables or a knitter who wants to play with different stitches in their projects.

About the book: 176 pages, paperback, 100 stitch patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $26.99.

Next Pattern:

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