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Vacation Knitting

I overpacked for this vacation at the beach. I didn’t overpack clothes. I overpacked yarn. Do you do this? What is it about knitters and the time/space continuum? I always think I can knit way more than I actually can so I overpack the knitting. Because a panic would occur were I to run out of knitting.

So I brought along the Mountain Dew Trekking socks in progress, yarn for my Toasty Toes socks, Hannah’s birthday socks, plus two extra skeins of sock yarn for Justin Case. You all know him, right? I also brought the Adamas Shawl and some cotton for dish clothes.

The reality? I finished the Mountain Dew socks and got about 2/3 of the way through the first of Hannah’s birthday socks. That’s it. But I had a lot of fun and the socks went a lot of places!

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The beach. Do you know what you wind up with when you sit on the beach and knit for a portion of every day?

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Knitter’s Tan. Your arm gets all tanned up, except for where you keep it bent to hold the knitting. Sort of like Truck Driver’s Tan without the diesel fumes.

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The socks went to dinner at The British Beer Company.

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And they begged to pose with Dale and Hannah while at the BBC.

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They were finished and worn by Hannah by the end of the week. Yippee!

This Post Has 52 Comments

  1. That yarn is beginning to grow on me. You were just a slacker, that’s why you didn’t get so much knitting finished;-)
    We always have high hopes and you never know what you’ll feel like knitting on any given day so best to be prepared. You did well by sticking with one sock at a time.

  2. Knitter’s tan is far better than Too-Many-Hours-Stuck-In-A-Canoe tan. Far more enjoyable to get too I’ll wager.

    Is that a Guinness the Trekking sock is enjoying at the BBC? (now THERE’s a place I’d like to visit)

  3. Even if you did pack to much yarn, at least you finished something. I always pack to much and never seem to make a dent in any of it.

  4. Of course you bring too much knitting. In case something goes wrong. How many of us have ended up at the doctor’s office, or on a plane, or in line for something only to find that we forgot the directions? Or a tapestry needle? Or a dpn? Or what if we need mindless knitting in a busy situation and only brought the lace knitting? Or vice versa? Much safer to bring several projects and cover all bases.

    Hope you had a good time!

  5. I travel with Justin Case all the time. We’re good buds. The socks look great. Well named.

  6. I’ve never heard of knitters tan. Somthing to watch out for I guess.lol! The socks came out great I’ve never seen that color of trekking before.

  7. Hey! I’ve been to the BBC while working on the Cape (well, after work… you know what I mean!). Hope the vacation was fantastic – sure looks like it was!

  8. I always overpack yarn. I’m always afraid I’ll get bored with one project and it’ll be the only knitting I have and then I won’t get any knitting done at all because I don’t feel like working on that project. Now that would be a travesty.

    I used to overpack books. I gotta say, yarn is a lot more travel friendly–it doesn’t weigh so much and you can squish it in case you, um, overpack everything else too.

  9. I always pack way too much yarn. Just last week I had to go to the hospital to wait while my Dad had a pacemaker put in (he’s doing great) and knew I’d be there for a several hours. What did I bring? The baby sweater I was working on which was 1/2 done, sock yarn to start a pair of socks, and Justin Case, some cotton for baby washcloths. That’s for 6 hours at the hospital! What did I do? I got the baby sweater mostly finished 🙂 That’s it.

  10. Knitter’s tan is awesome. I always pack too much knitting also…usually forget like pajama bottoms for the boys…Great looking socks!

  11. Hehe, knitter’s tan line.

    I took way too much knitting, too, didn’t even finish anything. I knew I had 6 hours in the car each way, but I failed to allow for the time I would be driving, or sleeping, or too hot to knit. Which ended up being all but an hour.

    Socks look great! There’s something cool about finishing a sock when out and being able to sew in ends and have it be worn right away!

  12. I do that too – overpack the knitting. But it’s just in case I get tired of a certain project! I need options!!!

  13. Yup, I overpack the yarn/patterns too. It’s hard to pack just the right amount so I choose to error on the side of overpacking rather than (heaven forbid) underpacking the yarn. No one wants to break out in hives on vacation from running out of knitting to do. 🙂

  14. I always overpack yarn, books, puzzles, and the like, because I’m always afraid that I’ll lose interest in one thing and want to move to another–but then I end up doing very little of any of the boredom-busting things I bring! And that’s no knitter’s tan–that looks like a knitter’s burn. Ouch!

  15. The socks turned out great, and the family looks like a set of keepers… posing with socks even. The brew pub sounds like the perfect spot for dinner, but looking forward to more vacation pictures. You certainly wouldn’t want to run out of yarn on vacation, after all, knitting is what we want more vacation time for, right?!

  16. I’m about to leave for the 7th level of Hell – er, I mean Florida for a whirlwind five day tour of Disney and Universal Studios.

    I’m packing four socks in progress, a sweater and my drop spindle. Do you think that’s enough? ;o)

  17. Uh, yeah. I have some of Justin Case’s yarn that has been to both Panama and Alaska and still remains unknit. At least it’s only one ball of light, laceweight alpaca! And my Sockapal3za yarn went to Panama and back too before it was knit up into a pair of socks.

  18. Knitter’s tan! I love it. I’d rather run out of underwear than yarn. You can always wash those other necessities – yarn, not so much. Glad you had a good time.

  19. LOL! Knitter’s Tan!

    The socks look great!

    For me, I take several projects, in case I get tired of knitting one thing. But then I usually only work on one project. It’s just a part of being prepared! You take extra stuff – if you don’t need it, oh well. That’s better than needing/wanting it and not having it. 🙂

  20. Knitter’s tan – love it!! And yeah, what is it with the yarn overpacking? I do the same thing – even if I’m going overnight…

  21. Right there with you – I overpack knitting to come to the hospital. THE HOSPITAL. Where I’ve knit exactly 200 stitches ever. But what if I get snowed in and all the patients magically get better? It could happen, even in San Diego, right?

  22. Hey…nice tan and welcome back! When going on vacation, I try not to pack too much yarn…that way, when I get there I need to go yarn shopping and I got lots of room to take it all back with me. 🙂

  23. nice pics of your sweetie and daughter – I love the idea of a knitter’s tan! I got me one of those too!
    Your photos are great of the cape

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