Knitting

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How to Plan Your Travel Knitting Projects

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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:

Have you read?

Stacking Stars Knitting Pattern

There are so many things I love about the Stacking Stars pattern from Frankie Brown.

First, it looks like a kid’s toy, which it totally could be, though the intent is to stack the stars into a Christmas tree bit of decor.

I love the rainbow gradient, which makes it all the more cheerful, and serves as a reminder that, while you can plan out your colors beautifully, you can also use your stash for your own brilliant hodgepodge of a star tree.

It includes patterns for nine different sizes of stars, from 2 inch to 6 inch, which makes the perfect pile to look like a tree. What’s more, these stars are worked in garter stitch, so it’s a pretty easy pattern, even if you’re new to knitting. And the stars are solid, so not only can you use them to make your own amazing stack of a tree, you can make more to decorate packages, use as Christmas tree ornaments, make a darling garland, or all of the above.

The pattern calls for DK weight yarn but of course you could play with the yarn weight, too, to make stars that are even larger or smaller than the ones shown. And the bigger ones are made by just working more repeats, so you could continue to work as established to make larger ones to suit all your crafty purposes if you like.

Frankie’s patterns are free on Ravelry, but they ask that people who enjoy their patterns send a donation to the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation. Through the years they have raised more that £26,000 for the charity, which helps families of kids with liver disease. You can donate to Frankie’s fundraiser here. They have tons of great holiday projects and other designs you can check out on their designer page on Ravelry.

[Photo: Frankie Brown]

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