Don't leave home without it.

Your notions kit, that is.

 

Why does travel, even short jaunts bring epiphanies? We were headed to a family party, a day trip.  I decided to bring a bigger knitting bag. We get in the car and leave on time.  When we settle in to the first leg of the journey I go looking for stitch markers. Then it hits me, I don't have notions kit in this bag. I always have a notions kit. How is it possible that there is no notions kit in this bag? I feel like I'm traveling without a compass. 

 Joe offered to turn around but I think he was just kidding. He still gets points for offering. I took deep relaxing breaths.  Do I panic or approach this with the problem solving attitude of my friend, Alba. For goodness sake, she didn't let not having knitting needles get in the way, how could I complain about my lack of notions.

I decided I could live without the stitch markers.  It was just to aid in counting a large number of stitches I was casting on.  The next "obstacle", I needed scissors to cut the extra yarn from long tail cast on. Luckily I have a Swiss Army type knife with a scissor on my key chain. Crisis averted.

Thankfully, from then on the Knitting G-ds were kind to me.

Moral of the story: when I load a bag with a project, I will make sure at a minimum, I put a small crisis pack of notions in the bag.

What would go in this crisis bag you might ask?

• Stitch Markers
• Scissor (puppysnips, collapsible scissor, or yarn cutter).
• Tapestry needle a/k/a chibi
• Tape measure
• Crochet hook (fix-a-stitch)

There are several ways to carry this out.

 

Nancy's Knit Knacks, perfect notions case.

 

   

The Knit Kit 

Or the tried and true small zippered case. 

Obviously, I have several of each.  I'm going to track them down and create a shelf of ready to go mini notions kit.  Don't leave home without it.

What's in your notions kit?

As a complete aside, yesterday I was looking for the turnkey tool for the battery case on my fitbit.  I knew I had seen it somewhere.  It wasn't in any of my usual places for an item like this.  While writing this post, I found the tool in a ceramic bowl, with my stitch markers.  Of course, why wouldn't it be in there?

Waiting.

What do you bring when you visit a friend in the hospital?  Silly Question.  Basically, everything. (Note: Friend is totally fine.)

I packed my big canvas bag with snacks, water, paperwork, a book, iPad, and of course, knitting. It weighed a ton. Specifically I brought "Deadline knitting".  What better project(s) to bring when you are a captive audience.

While I was there, I finished a swatch and needed to block it. In my head flowed the following thoughts:

Good.  Finished swatching.
I need to block it.
I guess I'll have to block it when I get home.
Really don't want to wait that long.
Wait a minute, (wheels slowly turning despite massive amounts of caffiene)....
I have everything (here) I need in one form or another.

Soaked the swatch in a hospital pitcher. Then laid it out on the air conditioner vent to dry.

Voila, blocked and ready.  It's the little things that please me so.

So in the end, the knitting tally was:
1. knit, washed, blocked swatch.

2. few rows on mindless knitting when mindlessness was required. French Cancan in Anzula Cricket (DK: 80% Merino, 10% Nylon, 10% Cashmere, 250 yards).

3. finished the Squish Me Cap for the shop as a sample, knit with Anzula For Better or Worsted (Worsted: 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, 200 yards). By the way, if you've never knit with this yarn, I totally recommend it.  Besides having one of the best names I've ever come across for a yarn, it is deliciously soft and a pleasure to work with.

Waiting time used well. Patient home and recovering.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

We know nothing (for all you Game of Thrones fans) of true ingenuity.  Ok, so I'm speaking in broad generalizations; some of you may very well be quite ingenious.  For the purpose of this post, play along.

On Wednesday I had an appointment with a woman who had sought me out to help an older friend of hers who was knitting a sweater and needed help with the next step.

I asked all the typical questions.
Me: Can you tell me a little about the sweater: yarn, pattern name, the part of the directions that are giving her a problem?  Pictures of the passage in the directions would be great.
Friend: I know she said she is having trouble finishing the part around the neck of the sweater.  I'll try to get more information from her and will be in touch.

and later:
Friend: She does not have a pattern but is copying the sweater from another sweater!!!  I haven't seen it and truthfully know very little about knitting.
Me: Ok, then I definitely need to see her.

Friend: Also do you have some large round needles to bring along for her to try?  I think Alba needs a different size needle also.
Me: Do you know what size she is on?
Friend: No.

I had no idea what to expect.  It was an adventure.  I was pleased to meet Gail (the friend), Alba (the knitter), and Miriam (Alba's daughter).

Alba laid out all the pieces. The yarn was super-bulky and she was knitting it all in garter stitch. She was in fact copying a sweater from a sweater

and had made a paper pattern.  That took me back to Home Economics sewing classes.

 

As I looked at the sweater pieces and knitting needles, I did a double take.  She had knitting needles that were made from wood dowels. They were super long, shaved to a narrow tip, and had sliced wine corks for needle ends. I can't tell you how happy this made me. Alba wanted to knit and knit she was going to do.

The sweater is for her Minister.  Through mixed English and Spanish she explained that she wanted the sweater to have raglan sleeves and didn't know how to go about it.  I took gauge measurements from her knitting and finished raglan measurements from the store bought sweater and did some rough calculations. Then I wrote out instructions and reviewed them with Miriam who was also a knitter.

Miriam told me she had tried to convey to her mother that she needed to learn how to purl.  Unfortunately she had not been able to teach her.

It was then that Alba took out her practice swatch.  SHE WAS KNITTING ON CHOPSTICKS! I kid you not.  It was awesome.  I even took out my needle sizer to see what size "needle" she was on.  It was a #10.5, in case you were wondering or are ever at a loss for #10.5's.

I taught her how to work the decreases for the raglan, purl, and stockinette stitch. As she knit I would correct her in English and her daughter would relay it in Spanish.  High School Spanish came trickling back.  I also learned the word for knit: tejer.

Alba told me how much she loved knitting and all she wanted to do was knit.  When her daughter asks her if she wants lunch, she just smiles, laughs and says she just wants to knit.  I know how she feels.

While Alba practiced her new skills, I talked with Miriam and Gail.  I asked Miriam what they would do for circular needles.  Really, I was only half kidding.  I wasn't disappointed.  Miriam said that once when she needed circulars, she took the wire from a wire hanger, put cut pieces of straws on the ends, and taped them on with scotch tape. I just love the ingenuity. That was totally thinking outside the box.

The time flew by.  I'll have to brush up on my Spanish, specifically knitting terms before we meet again.  I think I will also bookmark google translator!