Traveling, whether a quick trip to the beach or a cross country drive or even an airplane flight, knitters will knit and crocheters will crochet. As someone who ends up traveling a good deal, here are my tips for on the go.
First off, I find it helpful to have a project bag to cary my projects around. A project bag can take many forms from a cloth shopping bag to purse big enough to hold a project. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what kind or form of bag you store your project in as long as you use it. I like to put my yarn in the bag while I’m knitting or crocheting. And when I’m not, I put my project inside the bag, to keep it safe. This is just something I have come to like.
Secondly, it is helpful to have a small bag or large coin purse or even makeup bag to store everything for your project. I use a small wrist purse to hold my essentials. This is helpful to have when traveling because it is small and if something goes wrong or needs to be sewn everything you need is in the bag. Mine contains:
- a tape measure
- a crochet hook or three
- a small crochet hook for picking up lost stitches
- stitch markers or safety pins
- stress reliving gloves
- a yarn cutter for planes
- a plastic or metal needle
- yarn scraps that I haven’t taken care of
- sometimes doll eye
Now when planning for tight spaces like a plane seat, it is always nice to have a smaller project. I would recommend staying away from projects with many double sided needles. Not that you would poke anyone or hurt yourself, but the chances of loosing the needles increases when traveling. Though I have not completely lost my needles, I have dropped them and it is a pain to try to pick them up again. Crochet is always fine so don’t worry about that. I always feel a bit more cramped when using longer straight needles and worry about bonking someone with them. What ever project you do choose for an airplane have it one that can be easily put away and not complex with color changes.
With driving there is a little more room. As with flying there is always the risk of dropping a double sided needle and having a hard time getting to it. I feel like with driving there is more room for a larger project. The only thing is you have to make sure you have everything you need for the project with you and not buried in the back.
If you are driving, do not knit or crochet and drive. Yes, you can knit or crochet during the long waits for the rode workers to let you through a construction area, but I don’t think I need to tell you that you can’t do both.
Now I don’t call myself an expert, but I hope the next time you have to take your project with you traveling my personal tips will help make the experience more enjoyable.