Knitting, the truly portable hobby

I am an avid backpacker, hiker, kayaker, mt. biker, etc. I've done several multi-day trips, so I'm very good at packing very light. I've gone so far as to break the handle off my toothbrush. I've often gone several days without changing my socks because I didn't want the weight of carrying extra pair, and I would certainly never bring a paperback to read--way too heavy.

Last week I went kayak camping in the San Juan Islands outside of Seattle, WA for four days. It was awesome. The weather was perfect, we kayaked about 60 miles, carrying all our food, water, lodging and entertainment with us. I'm working on Christmas gifts, so brought my knitting along and I finished the project.

I was so excited when I realized that I could easily bring my knitting with me. It was SO light and can easily be squished into my backpack.

Oh, and when I finished it, I used the large survival knife that is always attached to my life jacket to cut my yarn after weaving in the ends--scissors would have been too bulky to carry.

The hat I finished is for my mom for Christmas. I'm next going to make matching fingerless gloves.

I used Swish DK in Hollyberry with an Eggplant stripe. It's a basic 2 rib hat, I cast on 88 stitches and decreased after 6 inches. If I hadn't put in a stripe, I could have done the whole hat with one skein.

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Comment by Prairiepaintbrush on December 5, 2008 at 7:39pm: My relations live on Waldron Island. It's so heavenly up there. Isn't kayaking cold? Don't you get wet? I've never done it, but I've been in that water and it is liquid ice!

Comment by baba on September 13, 2008 at 4:33am: I love the San Juan islands. I biked them for 2 weeks. I wish I had thought of knitting. I was too tired to do anything.I like your hat. I just finished a hat for my son in law and am ion ti my next Christmas project.
Baba

Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on September 12, 2008 at 7:55pm: I make nearly all of my projects portable - except for afghans and baby blankets. I keep a supply of zip lock bags. I put everything I need to finish the project -- needles (options circular work good on anything), yarn, folding scissors, a darning needle, a xerox copy of the patten (if it is complicated), a cable needle. When I am at a stopping point, I just zip it up and press all the air out of the bag - lays flat and can be carried nearly anywhere.

Comment by MarciH on September 11, 2008 at 10:00pm: OMG that is such a good story! We should start a thread to find out what the weirdest tools people have used when knitting. I think pine needles might win!

Comment by slssews on September 11, 2008 at 7:43pm: I also take my knitting backbacking. Once I was making baby booties and had to use pine needles to hold stitches as I turned around the foot. They worked fine!

Comment by Jewel on September 11, 2008 at 2:00pm: I've been kayaking there and it is wonderful, I love how the little seals will pop there heads out of the water and watch you go by. We haven't camped but it sounds great! Socks are a great knitting project to take along.

Comment by MicheleLB on September 10, 2008 at 5:46pm: Making a fire would be a terrible waste of beautiful needles!

Comment by MarciH on September 10, 2008 at 4:56pm: We landed at Friday Harbor, then kayaked to Blind Island and camped(TINY, TINY little island between Shaw & Orcas), then the next day we kayaked to Jones Island and camped then back to Friday Harbor. Then we kayaked up and down the Roche Harbor side the next day. It was amazing. How amazing it must have been to be raised on Lopez.

Comment by ktluvz2knit on September 10, 2008 at 4:41pm: When I saw the picture of you knitting on the beach, I immediately recognized the scenery. I was actually raised in the San Juan Islands on Lopez. Which of them did you visit?