If you follow me on Instagram, you know the saga of my week and why I was AWOL from the blog yesterday. Tuesday morning I was scheduled to fly to Seattle, arriving in the afternoon and launching into a few days’ photo shoot. As I was walking out the door, I got a text message that the flight was canceled and I would need to rebook, and for the next 6 hours I praised the universe for my good fortune. The rebooked flight would still put me into Seattle at a reasonable hour, but meanwhile I got SIX WHOLE HOURS that didn’t exist before. So what did I do? Lots of things. But what I did first was repack.
Due to lack of time to edit, at that moment I had two big suitcases in the back of the car, and I fervently wanted to only take one. I never, ever check luggage but packing for a shoot meant I had no choice, so I at least wanted to enjoy the benefits of that act. The second suitcase had been a last-minute, early-morning act of desperation. I’d woken up frantic about things that didn’t make it into the first suitcase, about whether that suitcase would survive being checked, and most of all about the fact that my beloved, irreplaceable Sawkill Farm yarn was in there. So I’d packed the second suitcase, intending to carry it on.
The do-over was a gift. After pulling everything out of both bags and whittling it down, I had what I wanted: one suitcase to check and one backpack on my back. Hands-free travel, with perfectly organized knitting. My plan was to have my most immediate knitting in my Field Bag in my backpack. (With backup knitting in the suitcase, obvs.) Upon boarding, I would stash my backpack in the overhead and keep the Field Bag with me. I’d done all the planning to cast on my Sawkill sweater in flight, but I also had myself convinced I needed a new extra-warm hat for this trip and might knit it on the plane. So in my trusty Field Bag, I had my swatch; a wound skein of yarn; all the necessary needles; waste yarn; my tool pouch; balm; kleenex; a random extra tape measure; and eventually nuts and cookies handed to me by the flight attendant. Five more skeins of the Sawkill were bundled up in a large linen Bento Bag in the bottom of my backpack. But because I’m neurotic about having options and had also convinced myself I needed a new bulky hat for Seattle and might knit it in flight, I also had a (leftover) triple-wound skein of Lark and all the needles needed for the hat, tied up in a small Bento and tucked into the Field Bag along with the rest. I like to take a Russian-nesting-dolls approach for maximum organization: projects in bentos in a Field Bag in a backpack. Dreams come true.
It’s good that I managed to get so organized because I wound up being in transit for almost 24 hours (not counting the six from the first delay). I got to Seattle a full day behind schedule, after spending the night in Denver, and launched right into the shoot. So it’s been a bit of a week. But it’s also been a great one — I’m here shooting the holiday goods with Kathy and can’t wait to show it all to you! And I’ll be at Tolt this weekend for the anniversary party and book launch. Are you coming?
IN SHOP NEWS: The sparkly winter issue of PomPom arrived yesterday, along with additional copies of the fantastic fall issue that sold out so quickly — you can get your hands on either or both at Fringe Supply Co.!
Happy weekend to you all—