So here is the main problem for me with any and all travel: decision making. It is the only time that I have to commit to one or two or even three specific projects. There won’t be any other options. Once we hit the airport, that’s it. I can’t decide that my gauge is wrong on the sweater and that I need new yarn. I can’t throw the sock project into a basket and start a different one out of boredom. Nope. I am stuck with the decisions that I made the night that I packed. On Wednesday morning I head off with the hubby to Seattle for a friend’s wedding. We will be gone for six days. If you take the number of days on vacation and divide by two, this is the number of projects that you can take with you. (i just made this up…play along). So that means that I get to take three projects! The first one will be a baby blanket project for a friend. She is in England so I wanted something to match her sheep and nature themed nursery that also had a nice “English tweed” look to it. I decided on this color from Berroco Remix (her nursery is all neutrals). The Remix gives me tweed with the softness and machine washability of cotton. Perfect! I am going to make her the Wool Leaves pattern from Jared Flood. (you could say that I am on a Jared Flood pattern kick lately) This is another one that we carry at the shop and the pattern is one that we use for our intro to lace class.
This is going to be my “mindless” project. I have to have one of those. The problem with this one is that it is large…which makes me think that I should also take a mindless ribbed sock with me. Purse sized projects on key while on vacation. You never know where you will need a project to fit into a small purse. Luckily there is a lot of sock yarn in my stash that needs some attention (or even recognition of its mere existence or some memory of how it got there in the first place.) So I am thinking that a hank of sock yarn and some tiny needles will get thrown into the suitcase as project number two.
Now for the third project…I wanted to knit this from Teva Durham from the new Loop-d-Loop lace with Acadia from the Fibre Company. The problem is that I could not get gauge with the yarn. Not at all. And there isn’t another yarn jumping at me for the project. It’s like I decided that Acadia and this sweater were a match made in heaven and they quickly divorced and now I can’t possibly imagine them with anyone else. I don’t know what to do. So I am plotting something else entirely. The new Wool People magazine has me intrigued. I don’t think that an Olga B. pattern is vacation material even though I am in LOVE with her design in this magazine. (that is a LOT of cables) I am thinking that the Sullivan pattern would be lovely as my first Shelter sweater, but I also really wanted a pullover. It seems that I just don’t have enough pullovers in my life. So I guess before I leave, I will have to decide between the two…or throw a random third option into the mix.
UPDATE: tragedy has struck and my yarn for the baby blanket did not arrive today. Now I have no idea what to do. I think I am headed home to gather a sweater out of my WIP bin and a hank of sock yarn and possibly some yarn for the Olga B. pattern…decisions decisions