If you’re like me, you basically never leave the house without at least one work in progress. As summer draws near, it’s time to start thinking about what projects to take for summer travel. Whether it’s a trip to the park or a trip across the country, it’s nice to have something to work on while you’re on the go.
I was thinking about what makes a good travel or on-the-go project, and here’s what came to mind:
- It should be small enough to carry with you easily, so one or two skeins or maybe three.
- It should be easy enough that you can pick it up and put it down without difficulty. That means not a lot of lace or anything that requires a lot of counting.
- If it’s something to wear, it should be light enough that you can actually wear it when you’re done, so probably sock weight for summer.
- It should be interesting enough that you don’t die of boredom.
Did I miss anything? If I did, send me an email and let me know what you like to knit or crochet for summer.
With all that in mind, I thought I would share a few travel-worthy patterns and some yarn to go with them. The yarn photos are on the different sock-weight yarn bases.
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Mitered-Square Blanket
This really is the ultimate easy travel project. At least that is true if you make the squares on the go and assemble it later. A few months back I mentioned that I am making a mitered-square blanket using all of the 2024 club colorways, but a lot of people make them using all the scraps that one accumulates as a fiber artist. This has become my go-to car project while I’m waiting to pick my husband up from work or watching one of the little boys’ soccer games. There are lots of different ways to make mitered squares, but here is the one I settled on.
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Knitting by the Pool Ponchette
Here’s another great project for travel knitting and summer wearing. It’s my Knitting by the Pool Ponchette. The only time you need to count is when you are casting on and for the lace edge. Other than that, it’s easy-peasy, and the assigned pooling keeps it interesting without being difficult.
You need one skein of a sock-weight assigned pooling colorway and one semi-solid or Splashed and Speckled colorway. Here are some combinations that I have in stock right now:
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Silver River Shawl
This next pattern is one I have been admiring for a long time. It’s the Silver River Shawl by Helen Stewart, and she gave me her permission to include a photo so you can see just how lovely it is.
This does have wrap-and-turn short rows, so it’s not a completely mindless knit, but it’s also easy to memorize once you get going with a minimum of counting. It calls for two different skeins of sock-weight yarn, and again I think it’s best to stick with semi-solids or Splashed and Speckled colorways and avoid block variegated colorways that might pool. Also, I think this would be a great one to mix bases–like one skein of Sock Perfection or So Silky Sock and one skein of Sparkly Merino Sock.
Here are some colorway combinations I thought would look good together. The links below each photo will take you to the colorway on all the different yarn bases so you can pick you favorites.
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Two More Patterns for the Yarn Above
While we’re on the subject, all of the sets of two coordinating colorways above would also look fantastic with Down East Slide by Michele DuNaier (crochet) and with Grandling by Taiga Hilliard (knit).
One-Skein Patterns
Last autumn I created a list of great patterns of all sorts for that one special skein. Not all of them fit the criteria for travel projects, but many of them do. You can see that list right here. And then of course I left out the most obvious travel project of all for a single skein–socks. Since I live my life either barefoot or in Birkenstocks, I tend to forget about socks, but I know they are the go-to project for many of you.
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The June Club Colorway
For the June club colorway, we are continuing our journey through art history. We’re gradually moving forward through early Medieval art right now. This time I’ll be using a page from the Paris Psalter as the colorway inspiration for both the yarn and the art batts.
This page is known as David Composing the Psalms. It combines Judeo-Christian themes with those of antiquity during what is known as the Macedonian Renaissance. Despite its name, the Paris Psalter was created in Constantinople sometime between 900 and 1000 AD and later moved to Paris. You can learn more about it right here.
If you’d like to join the club or make any changes to your club, you can do so right here. FYI, the app I use for the club subscriptions just had a big update. You can now log into your account via an email link, so you don’t have one more password to remember.
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Fresh from the Dye Pots
This week I dyed up three different colorways. They are Eggplant, Monet’s Water Lilies, and Liberty. You can see the first two in some of the colorway pairings above.
Eggplant is one of my core semi-solid colorways and goes with so many variegated colorways in my shop. Here is a closeup of Eggplant on Stained Glass Sock:
I also made a fresh batch of Monet’s Water Lilies this week, which you can see here on Sock Perfection:
Monet’s Water Lilies is an assigned pooling colorway, and awhile back I knit up a little sample using the bobble stitch from the Metamorphosis Shawl and the double-elongated stitch:
I also dyed up Liberty just in time for Memorial Day or with time to spare for Independence Day. Here it is on Sparkly Merino Sock:
Liberty looks great with Cherries Jubilee, and both are in stock on Sock Perfection and Sparkly Merino Sock right now. Even though Liberty is not technically an assigned pooling colorway, it is dyed in thirds with the white section in the middle on both sides, so the white section is really just the right length for assigned pooling. It would be so awesome to take Dawn Barker’s Float pattern and use the white for assigned pooling that looks like the stars from the American flag. Kimberly with Knit for Brains made an awesome crocheted shawl, and that would work great for this too. She has a tutorial for it on her youtube channel right here.
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A New Art Batt Colorway
When our oldest daughter came up for our younger daughter’s college graduation, she had an idea for a new art batt colorway. She created this cheerful and beautiful colorway called Sundrop. Here that is:
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New Silk Scarves on the Way
I have a big order of undyed silk chiffon scarves and habotai silk scarves on their way to me, and I’ll be dyeing them up in a variety of different colorways. If you have particular colorways you would love to see, email me and let me know.
Have a wonderful weekend!