So we talked about the making to take part of the vacation equation. Now for the hardest part of packing for any vacation: choosing a knitting project (or three!), i.e., what to take to make. Our Florida road trips represent a lot of knitting time. There’s the 13 hours in the car each way — only half of which am I the driver — so even with naps and other distractions, there’s easily 8-10 hours of road knitting. There’s usually most of a day on the boat, during which I knit pretty much the whole time (my absolute favorite place to knit), but this time there might be a multi-day boat trip. Can you imagine all the uninterrupted deep-sea knitting? And then there are evenings and whatnot. So it’s easily the most knitting-rich scenario in my life, and I like to use it wisely. I’m of multiple minds for this one:
1. This would be a fantastic chance to make serious headway on my Channel Cardigan (take two) at long last, and it would be fun knitting for filling otherwise long dull road hours. I’ve swatched and am beyond sold on using the Clever Camel — omigod you guys. I truly can’t wait to spend hours upon hours with this yarn, but haven’t actually settled on a shade or ordered it yet. Intellectually, I believe in the investment I’ll be making for this sweater in this yarn, but it will be by far the most I have spent on a garment in my entire life. I have to work up the nerve to actually place the order!
2. The Linen Quill would be the perfect yarn to be working with in this scenario, and I am absolutely dying to cast on with the black. Only problem is I can’t decide whether it wants to be a cardigan or a wrap. Actually … that’s not true, I realize as I’m typing. All I have ever wanted in life is a sweater’s worth of the Habu yarn I designed my Wabi Mitts around, and basically here it is, refined and in skein form. So yes, it wants to be a sweater. And the yarn is already in my possession — at least, enough of it to make it through the trip — but what sweater do I want it to be?
3. Then there’s the grey marl half of the Linen Quill stash, which I have in my head would be truly gorgeous as a Slope tank. Truly. Gorgeous. But can I bear knitting fingering on 3s, even for the duration of a tank top? Cringe, yearn, grimace, yearn … cross this one off. Maybe a modified Beach Tank?
4. Ever since knitting my Togue Stripes tank, I’ve been longing and praying for Quince’s Kestrel to come in black, and huzzah, as of last week it does! So now I’m more keen than ever to knit Heidi Kirrmeier’s Flex tee. In addition to wanting the garment very much, it sounds like the construction would be a ton of fun AND I love the idea of a project that might well be completed in the space of the trip. (Plus I could finally participate in Shannon’s Tops, Tees and Tanks Knitalong!) However, is this yarn in my possession? Not at the moment. So again, if that’s the one, I need to act fast.
What to do?? What to do!!
