Traveling?

Do you knit or crochet while you are traveling? I don’t mean while you, yourself are driving, of course, but while you are a passenger? We went on a driving trip to see our son in Seattle, Washington and I took along two projects to knit while we drove. I do not have a problem with car sickness and can read, or write, or knit while moving in a vehicle. I knit fast while we were heading out to Seattle. I had size 10.5 needles and a bulky yarn to knit a vest for myself. It was all stockinette stitch so it went quickly. We listened to an audio book while traveling so in the exciting parts of the book, I knit faster!

Do you stop at yarn stores in the cities that you travel to or through? I did! Several! The first one was in an old house and was FULL of yarn. I loved the ambiance of the shop and the owner was a wealth of info on websites. The customers were so nice and the yarn was to die for. The second shop was one that I had done on-line business with and was very satisfied with their customer service. This second shop was HUGE in an old warehouse type of building and the yarn was stacked floor to ceiling in bins with a moving ladder to reach the top bins! They had looms and spinning wheels in a separate area. I was impressed and overwhelmed. The last shop I visited was in a strip mall in a bigger city than the second shop. It was smaller, more intimate with lots of people inside. They had just finished a class and the ladies were excitedly buying yarn for the new project they had just learned about. I bought another project there to take on the trip home.

Do you look for Indie Dyers or local yarn when you travel? I found some very nice Indie Dyers yarn and fiber in the stores I visited. I also found locally produced yarn. Montana has a lot of locally produced alpaca yarn. Washington didn’t have as much.  I love seeing what other stores have in stock to understand what sells in which type of location: metropolis, smaller city or rural area.

Do you look up a store’s website before you get to that city? I do! I have found that I especially like the websites with photos of the interior of the store so I know what I will find when I get there. I also like to see a photo of the exterior of the store, so I will be able to see it when I am driving down a street in an unfamiliar city.

I love to travel and I am so grateful that my husband likes to drive! I got pretty far along on my bulky knit vest and almost done on the “new” project, a scarf for my husband, before we got home. I am very happy to be back in Rapid City the best place in the West with the best yarn store: C R Yarn!

Sue