Preparing my knitting for travelling

[janestarz]

I'm sorting through my projects and my needles and my patterns and my yarn. What yarn, what project, am I going to take along on our upcoming holiday? I print patterns I like to put into a sea-wind-safe folder (pages can fly off over sea, a full folder probably won't).

So far, this is the Knit-List. May be subject to change.

Co-pilot - a cowl. I'm over halfway and it's addictive, so I'd like to finish this [on the plane, if they don't confiscate my needles].

Coexist - a mystery sock pattern. It's supposed the be the One Sock To Rule All Fandoms -- each part of the sock is knitted according to a fandom (from vampires to 80s movies) but the charts do not really represent the fandoms very well and it might take some work to make all charts connect well to one another. It might be a bit ambitious to pick up as a "first real sock" project.

Bubblemania - a wrap/shawl. I wanted to knit this in a tiny cotton but with 154 stitches on needles 3mm with yarn that is only slightly thicker than sewing machine thread, it's more torture than a hobby. I might want to do this in a wool instead. I am loving the texture of Copilot, so maybe take along a pink Opal sock yarn for when Co-pilot is done and do it on the same needles.

Half-fingered gloves - to go with my new winter coat, I found the perfect shade of self-striping sock yarn. Will require the same amount of fiddling and test pieces as the Coexist or any other pair of socks, but much easier to knit.

I'm thinking I can bring pretty much everything, but there will have to be time for swimming, island excursions and I also need to bring clothes and a camera, so suitcase space is limited.
Knitting on airplanes is a tad unconventional. There have been scare stories about needles being confiscated, but I'm planning to stow mine, with yarn already attached, in a pencil bag. It all shows up as organic matter and my wooden needle tips will look like pencils. *fingers crossed*
Any spare needles (in case said needles do get confiscated) will go in the large suitcase that will be checked in, along with oodles of sun tan lotion.

My main concern isn't whether the needles will be confiscated but more: how much time will I have to knit? Will I only create more UFO's or can I make a serious dent into a project I've been meaning to tackle for a while? We'll find out.

Comments

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

I took my 8 mm crochet hook in a pencilbox on the airplain to America, and no-one even noticed.
I did some crochet in the airplain and the stewards didn't even care. So give it a try, I think it will work.

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

I will take along all my (wood/bamboo) sock needles, because I don't know what gauge I'll have. I'll bring along the glove pattern and a simple-ish sock pattern so if they do confiscate my pencil bag, it'll cost me some 35 euro... But that said, wood, bamboo and yarn (wool superwash) will all show up as organic matter in the scanner and they can see exactly what it is. Scanners are really good these days. I sure don't expect any problems, but there's this little nagging voice in the back of my head.