10. From New Jersey's Liberty Park, all you can see of the Statue of Liberty is her backside. Her hair, by the way, is in a bun (we debated this during the plane trip from Seatac to Newark).9. Eating a Van Dyke's ice cream cone every day (almost) is a sure way to gain 10 pounds on your summer vacation. That, and the Italian birthday party for Grandpa Zac. Who knew there'd be, like, four entree courses?? and two desserts???
8. Winding your two cakes of singles from your Turkish spindle into one 2-strand ball is the best way to manage the yarn for car plying.
7. Plying is by far the most satisfying way to spend a car trip (as passenger, not driver, ha ha).6. Leaving yarn on a spindle is almost impossible for me. Bring on the portable niddy-noddy!
5. Knitting is a good way to relax my hands and arms from car spindling.
4. Stitch markers are important to remember - thank goodness I did!
3. A row counter would have been handy too, so I made an impromptu one (a pure MacGyver moment, I assure you!) ... using the tail of yarn at the start, I put one finger-crocheted chain in it for each row of the pattern (it had a 5 row repeat). One, two, three, four, on the fifth row I ripped out the chain and then started again on the next row, one, two, three four ... by the time the fingerless glove was done, the tail of yarn wasn't too over-fuzzy from all the chaining and ripping. I think this could be a new staple "tool" in my yarn basket!2. For knitting in the round, magic loop ... if the round starts with a knit stitch, bring the yarn up so it won't get hung up in the loop; if the round starts with a purl stitch, bring the yarn down so it won't get hung up in the loop. Once I figured that out, the knitting was alot more fun!
1. If you want to finish a fingerless glove, be sure you have the first one with you -- otherwise you'll be waiting until you get home ... well, it's done now!
0. (bonus!) Good things come to those who wait ... my new Pocket Wheel was ready to be picked up by the time I returned (ordered in April ... I hear the wait is 6 months now).
Click on any picture for bigger or more flickr-d details :-)
What did you learn on your summer vacation? Bonus points for knitterly or spinnerly things learned!!
6 comments:
OK.I had to laugh at #6 because I've done that too! Oddly, I can't read while I'm traveling in a car, but I can knit without getting carsick.
Did you steal my dog to take that last picture? They could be twins!! :)
Love your blog! Keep up the great work.
I love love love your pocket wheel!!!
Ah, the knee-noddy! When it's not possible to reach this tool, the elbow-noddy makes a slightly smaller but still serviceable skein.
I also tend to use a t.p.-pinne nearly as often as a nostepinne.
@liz: me too!!
@deborah: what a great name for it! Elbow-niddy doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it. This was a huge skein, so I pulled out the big guns -- it was 2.4 ounces packed on that spindle! I have a friend who uses her thumb as a nostepinne. The human body is a marvel of built-in tools!
I'm with you guys about the reading versus knitting and carsickness! I can't crochet in transit, either, and I'm sort of convinced it has something to do with the stability of the "line" we're seeing when we read or do a craft which has a set horizontal line, if that makes sense. When you knit, your eyes move up and down, side to side, and the conflict in messages isn't as drastic. At least, that's my theory. :-) And knitting is the only thing that keeps me sane during those long international flights!
For me, I learned that you really CAN wash 40 pounds of raw fleece by hand in a week. :-)
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