Vacation Knitting

Vacation knitting is so relaxing! Especially when you've been mostly doing deadline knitting under pressure. I'm home now, and back at the deadline knitting- which, incidentally, is less onerous when you've been away from it for 2 weeks. Today I finished Wall-E (Wall-E 1 of 10 that is) and isn't he cute? I had to make some pattern modifications, as I said in the last post. It didn't turn out to be that complicated to make him fewer pieces with less sewing- mostly a matter of magic circles and crochet through the back loop only.

But back to the vacation knitting! I took an old project with me- the Sailor's Scarf, that I never seem to get anywhere with. I didn't work on it a whole lot, but I did get a couple pattern repeats done. Its gorgeous, just slow. and grey. and tiny and slippery, which don't go well with knitting in moving vehicles.

I brought along two projects to start on vacation- in theory one was backup in case I completely finished the other... but are you surprised to learn that I cast both on before we even left the US? That's right, on our 1 hour flight to Philly, I had already started both projects.

The first is a lace shawl, the Shetland Triangle pattern. I can't tell you who for just yet. I'm loving the yarn, and loving working this pattern again. I already made it once, in what turned out to be my giant silver shawl. This pretty much flew along for much of the first half of the trip.

The second is the entrelac socks I've been meaning to make for, oh, three years or so! As it turns out, the pattern needs some serious tech editing. Its a brilliant construction method, but I had to pretty much reconstruct a lot of the hows and wherefores for myself. I'm now really glad this project has lain in wait for so long, because when I got it I had neither the knitting knowledge nor the entrelac experience to figure out all these issues, and while I know the designer and she would have been happy to explain, figuring out that I couldn't figure it out while on vacation and without internet would have been enormously frustrating. As it is now, it was just an interesting challenge.

I bought yarn in Europe (really, no shocker there!) Ryan agreed to be my excuse in France (more on that shortly) and in Holland, I couldn't find any Dutch yarn, so I came home with German sock yarn and Swedish lace yarn- both things I at least have never seen in the US (that doesn't mean they can't be found here, just that they aren't available at any of the shops I frequent) The sock yarn will (eventually) be (shockingly) socks, while I have plans for green beads and brown lace yarn and a leafy pattern and forest-y goodness. (again... eventually)

The French yarn however! Nothing was really reaching out and grabbing me at Bergere de France, at least nothing that I could think what I'd do with it and therefore how much to buy, so I went with what any sensible person would do- I asked Ryan what I could make for him, and with which yarn. After some coaxing and reassurances that he really really really would love handknit socks, we settled on this lovely tweedy yarn (soft too!) and I promptly cast on for his socks. I call them his 5 country socks, because I knit them on the bust to Amsterdam, so they've been knit in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, the USA, and even over international waters! These absorbed most of my time in the second half of the trip and are well on their way to sockdom. They fit really well, and so far he's quite pleased. Fortunately, since the next 3 months will be full of nearly exclusively deadline knitting, its going to be awhile before boot socks will be in service again, so there isn't any rush to finish.