Flying with accessories

I worry about the knitting and accessories I carry when I pack for TSA.  Stephanie has a great way of putting it... see her blog.

On the other hand, I could never assume that my proximity to anyone on a plane would elicit a conversation longer than, "What are you making?"  Seldom will anyone venture a stab at naming the craft.  And when I answer, "Socks," the follow up question is, "Who are they for?" Clearly the eyebrow raising in response means I have hours of no conversation ahead, and I can continue with my complicated chart pattern.  Adults don't wear socks...(?)

My carry-on bag was re-scanned to get a better look under my yarn jar.  I love my yarn jar.

I was politely informed it would need a second scanning/screening and I realized that the second time it was on its side.  More yarn under it, I'm afraid....

Yarn and Knitting!

Got time?  I wonder if I do!
I've got a problem...

What can I say?  I even cut out a visit to "one more" yarn shop.  I figured more than 2 a day would be too much.


Our yarn crawl started near Buffalo, NY and ended with the Mecca of all: Webs in Massachusetts.  In between we hit 7 others.  Each time I vowed I would just look, but they put something in the air in yarn shops.  I swear I can resist cinnamon rolls better than yarns.


Day one:  Woolly Lamb

On a side trip to visit relatives, we stopped at Woolly Lamb in East Aurora, NY.  It's a great shop on Main Street, with New York State's Main Street at the front door, otherwise named Route 20A.  The street is wide, and brick fronts abound.  There are two doors in the front, one for the yarn shop and another for an eclectic clothing boutique.  They meet inside, so you can wander freely from one to the other.  One whole wall was devoted to sock yarns.  They are all placed in labeled drawers very much like keeping your stash at home.  One thing that prevented me from grabbing everything off the shelves was a lack of pricing.  I like to finger my yarn, look at the label and see the price attached.  Instead, I found the staff trying to eat lunch in the back, and had to bother them for the price of several items.  They showed me their "system" of clipboards hanging here and there, and then they themselves had some difficulty figuring out their method of alphabetizing.  I would like to think that should they bite the bullet and use stickers they would make the shop more user-friendly and possibly increase their sales.

I came away with MORE Heritage (Cascade) sock yarn.  Yum...

I've been looking for more solids to use for my intricate sock patterns from Cookie A....

Since it was July 2nd, we rushed back to start prepping for the July 3rd celebration at the lake.  Only one shop that day!

Day Two:  Purl Diva

After the 3rd, we drove 500+ miles to reach Portland, ME so we could sit under the stars, listen to the Portland Symphony with a noisy crowd (I estimate 5,000 in attendance) and watch the most amazing fireworks I've ever seen.  Yes, DC is supposed to be fantastic, but... I wonder how they compare?

The following day we took off towards Rockland to report in to our schooner captain Brenda, another 78 miles from Portland, all the while keeping our eyes peeled for signs of yarn.  P already knew of several, and easily found Purl Diva in Brunswick, ME.  We were indeed fortunate that they were open.  Being the 5th of July, so many businesses took the day off.  We might have been her only customers that day, and of course, I found the bargain I couldn't refuse:

P had me worried that I wouldn't have enough to do for 4 days on the ship... and I had a pattern I wanted to make with Rowan's Pure Organic Cotton.  This is a close match at !!! $2 per ball.  This was a cosy store in a beautiful cosy white clapboard house.  I'm so glad they were open!

(This is the yarn I used on my flights, not needed on the ship!  Too much to see and do, so I saved the knitting for car travel and .... see July 14 and 17.... sorry about the repeat of pictures... nice yarn!)

Day Three (to be continued)

I'm feeling pretty unlucky lately. Things seem fine then suddenly I feel like I'm playing catch up. Remember a few weeks ago when I thought I had the worst possible day of travel?  Well today is in contention for a new worst.
Maybe I admired my lovely set of three flights with one hour lay overs and the spirit of airlines future thought I could do better.
P left me at the airport this morning at 6 AM and I sailed onto the flight without a hitch. We sat and waited while our flight was re routed because of t-storms. No matter we arrived on time. Then the next flight became a repeat of two weeks ago:  Something being fixed and then "paperwork" holding up departure. We were two hours late... Missed my chance to catch my flight home. Am I lucky? (I haven't been home since May 25.) There are only two flights a day and the next one is six hours later.

I didn't bring enough yarn to occupy six hours (only one of the above was in my carry-on) but I'm doubly unlucky today because I've frogged my new project TWiCE. The first time because I didn't read the cast on number correctly. The second time during my second hour of flight on my fateful delayed flight today.
From the time I cast on 320 stitches (instead of 60) I thought it sure looked big. When I had a couple of inches knit/cabled I really couldn't imagine a one year old wearing 320 stitches. I spread it out and without a measuring tape I couldn't believe it. HUGE!  Next I removed the needles and the knitted top was easily wider than my tray table. Crap!  However there will be fewer stitches to knit--a lot fewer. I calculated that 200 stitches would be enough. But I'm hedging and cast on 220.

During my 7 hours of extra time I completed only this.  I get distracted...

No Pics!

In all my rage last night, I left no evidence:  No pictures to remind me of the event.  I guess it will go into the past tense, and I'll make the same mistake again... and again.

Knitting again, folks, so you non-knitters can tune out and go read something else.

Yesterday I thought of my impending trip home and wanted to plan my hours of knitting for the journey.  I'm precariously close to finishing my second sock (Sunshine aka Windward) and thought I might leave the rest of it for the trip.  I cast on a new project last evening to watch a little TV and occupy my hands for the next day or so.  I bought a great book of patterns in Bergen, with C's encouragement.  It's Rowan's organic cotton kid's collection.  What caught our eye was "Sonia, the Cow".

A "must have" project, don't you think?   But instead, I decided to try the "Princess" top for my little girl.  I can't find a picture of the pattern, but the book looks like this:

 Isn't that the cutest top right there?  Not in small enough size for me...
And the yarn is not Rowan, since I couldn't find it in NINE shops... (another story)

Back to last night!  I looked at the pattern, read the first bit, decided to do it in the round rather that back and front as in the pattern, discovered I should leave off the first and last stitch of the front and back to accommodate the stitch pattern (k2, p2, k4 (sometimes cables), p2, k2), and cleverly cast on 120 stitches.  I didn't even use my usual long-tail cast-on, so I didn't have to cast on 3 times (which is my average).  P is sitting across the room knitting away on her East Putney Aran for Grandchildren.

Notice the unwound technique... It was later wound into a ball to fit into her new yarn jar.

I digress (again).
Admiring my work, I thought, hmmm, how is this going to fit?  It certainly wasn't as big as I thought it should be so I started to check the gauge.  (I was a good girl, this time, and had previously made a swatch of stockinette, although the pattern gives gauges for both stockinette and cable.)  I was miffed.  My gauge was big and certainly if I used smaller needles, I'd end up with a smaller garment!  In the past I would call, email or skype my friend, P, for HELP!  This time, she's sitting in the same room, and she's reading the pattern ALOUD to me.  I'm STUNNED!  She says:  Cast on 143, 143, 162, 162, 162 (for all of the sizes, and I say:  Tell me you didn't say 162!  She says indeed: 162.  How many times do we read patterns incorrectly and wonder why they are crazy wrong?  I confessed:  I cast on 60 per side, ignoring the 100, and taking 2 off for the side stitches...  Good night, I say!  And no picture of the frogged hours.  I blame "America's Got (NO) Talent".  Gotta blame something!

But we had the best sweet corn in the world!

Mennonite grown "Fantastic".

A Knitter's Cruise

My knitting of choice:  We spent 4 days on a schooner in Maine... Not a knitter's cruise unless you consider that 8 out of 24 on board were knitters!  I chose socks at the last minute.  Stopped at Wooly Ewe in East Aurora, NY pre-cruise and looked for yarn that would be a muted colorway to do justice to the Sunshine pattern in my favorite book, Sock Innovations.  I renamed the pattern "Windward" to celebrate the cruise.

The Windjammer Sock.

Socks in Lang Aktion and baby sweater by the newest knitter.

Dog bones for the Doggy sweater.

More socks finished.

Our own "Cookie" whipped out a hat and began another hat from the "not just socks" book.

Lots of knitting was completed:

And there were lots of happy sailors!

Where I Landed!

I've landed in another beautiful part of the world:  Genesee Valley.

Morning view of Conesus Lake.

And a front porch with a view, ready for 4th of July guests.

Making a Garden

We were on a mission to find something that would represent Rapunzel.  We transported her and she is on display in Portland, Maine.