Crafting on the Go: Where, When, and Insider Tips
July 15th, 2008 in knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting
Daphne Adair, contributor
no recommendations
Monkey Socks (pattern by Cookie A. from Knitty.com)
Photo: Daphne Adair
Use your time wisely--make all your time crafting time! Knitting, crocheting, hand-sewing and embroidery can go anywhere if you plan ahead; if you hand-piece your quilts, even they can come along with you. One must be wise about both when to craft on the go and when not to; the key is to not mind if everyone at the party, on the bus or at the coffee shop wants to know what you're making. Here are some of the places I've successfully crafted in public:
Parties large and small—Keeps my social anxiety at bay.
On the train—If you haven't taken a train for a weekend trip lately, I'd recommend it. It's worth the ticket price for three hours of knitting, reading and relaxing, and no gas stations. It also gives me a few more hours to finish up gifts for the people I'm visiting at the other end of the line.
On the bus—When my car died last December, I wasn't too upset, as I got a bus pass and got an extra hour of knitting time daily. Here's one of several pairs of socks I whipped up on the bus this winter.Photo one: Monkey Socks (pattern by Cookie A. from Knitty.com)
At family gatherings—Generally keeps me from going batty. Must knit simple project to avoid making mistakes.
At coffee shops and restaurants—It's hard for me to put the needles down and start eating, but somehow I manage.
Sadly non-ideal craftertunities:
Work—Especially right in one's cubicle, though it seems to be okay to take a break and show someone else how to knit occasionally!
Work meetings—Oh, how I wish, but I think my coworkers would feel threatened by my pointy sticks and/or sharps set
Behind the wheel—I admit, I've done it. Foot on the brake, waiting to get to the light, fumbling DPNs and tumbling balls of yarn... but I cannot recommend it. I bet you could get a ticket, not to mention impaled on a knitting needle!
On a bike—I haven't tried it, but I must admit I want to. All the more reason to get a tandem bike (and offer to ride in the back!).
Tips for crafting on the go:
Airplanes: The official rules for knitting on airplanes is that it's allowed by the TSA, but I've heard way too many stories of confiscated needles to trust that I'll be able to knit on the plane. I haven't heard horror stories about darning needles, crochet hooks or embroidery needles being banned, but I wouldn't rely on these either. I'm afraid my best tip here is to pack your knitting and pay the $15 fee, or mail your project to your destination. To sooth the savage beast, try bringing pattern books and designing your next project on the flight.
Car trips: Bring a project that doesn't rely on good light. I learned this lesson the hard way last Christmas, when I brought along two projects to Portland: a scarf for my brother and some pre-cut little birds from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts. I knitted and knitted and knitted on the car trip down through a rainy daylight trip, and knitted and knitted through before-dinner chitchat, after-dinner gabbing, and post-pie family fracas... and I was done with the scarf. This was a good thing until we climbed into the car to drive home at 4 pm on nearly the shortest day of the year, and all the crafting I had was hand-seaming. I could hardly thread a needle in the light that was left and was forbidden from turning on a light in the back seat. I persisted, clenching the tiny flashlight on my keychain in my teeth and stitching by feel for about an hour and a half. When I got home, I found the ornament was a little wonky, but I stuffed it with catnip and gave it to Max and felt better about it. But lemme tell you, I should've just tried to sleep in the back seat that day. If I'd thought ahead, I would've sewn in daylight and knitted in the dark.
Photo: Luckily the cat doesn't care too much about the wonkiness of this little bird.
Busing it: Knitting and crocheting are natural for the bus, particularly if you like to make socks, which take up very little room, even when they're finished. One co-busser I've ridden with crochets string bags on the bus--brilliant since she's probably got a collection by now and can stop at the store on the way home daily and never need a paper or plastic bag. If you're hand-sewing or embroidering, remember to cut your threads a little shorter so you won't have to stretch your arm out too far... you don't want your seatmate to think you're a textile terrorist, scratching and poking people. Sitting with your working arm next to a window is preferable, anyway, and you don't want to bruise yourself.
Technical tips:
Use a project bag: Many yarn shops carry super cute project bags for knit and crochet goodies. You can use them for any craft, though, and it's a good rule that if it doesn't fit in the bag, it's not all that portable. Here are two of mine, holding two current, portable projects.
A flowery bag holds a shawl in-progress.
A silky bag holds a toy turtle in-progress (a million little pieces waiting to be sewn up!).
Prep a tool kit: My hand-sewing tool kit came together around when I took the ill-fated pre-cut birdies along with me on that December car trip. However, it's been very handy whenever I'm hand-sewing or hand-quilting, as I invariably drop needles and thimbles and can't find them again until the stitching session is over. It's got needles, thread, beeswax, thread ships, thimbles of various types, and needle-pullers. It's roomy enough that I threw in my hand-piecing work for the trip
My hand-sewing tools are neatly held in this free bag from a cosmetics company.
Bring a small headlamp: If only I'd given my partner his gift of a small, battery-operated headlamp, meant for reading in bed, as his "early-open" gift for Christmas, I'd have been able to stitch happily in the car, and who knows how much better the rest of our holiday would've been? Nevermind the looks people might give you; you'll be glad for your headlamp in your mother-in-law's dim living room, or when your sweetie turns down the lights for the film (and you want to keep working!).
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Comments (4)
Posted: 5:03 pm on September 30th
Posted: 12:30 pm on August 13th
I have recently started knitting on airplanes and haven't hit any problems yet, but I always bring needles that I won't be heart broken to part with on board, just in case.
Knitting on international flights is especially productive. I can't tell you how far along I got in my sweater between San Francisco and Heathrow!
Posted: 3:30 pm on July 16th
Pretty much all of the "horror" stories I've heard actually occurred in the few months post 9/11. For a while I put my projects and supplies in a mesh project bag and tossed it in a bin along side my shoes, but lately it hasn't mattered. In fact a couple of weeks ago my carry on got pulled for a bag check, the project bag (complete with scissors) was of no interest -- the dried apricots and block of cheddar, however, needed to be swabbed for explosive residue.
Another thing about air travel is to keep in mind that if you are traveling internationally TSA rules apply for your outbound (and the switch to domestic after Immigration & Customs) but that wherever you are boarding internationally will have their own set of rules and guidelines. For example while TSA seems to be fine with small scissors these days, security in France was not. A quick check of the posted guidelines on the airport website, let me know to slip the scissors out of the project bag and into checked luggage for my return flight. Actually taking the time to read the guidelines has saved me numerous headaches.
For confined spaces, I recommend circular needles or double points. A thread cutter and/or small nail clippers are useful for when scissors are not allowed/appropriate. The other knitting accessory that I consider mandatory for traveling is a yarn bra; not having to worry about my yarn tangling in my project bag is invaluable. If I'm working on a project on double points, I also use a keeper (two end caps joined by a piece of elastic) to prevent my project from sliding off the needles in the project bag.
Posted: 2:37 pm on July 15th