How much yarn does it take to go away from home?

My friends know that I stash yarn based on this theory:  how much yarn would it take me to get through a bird flu epidemic or other disaster, where I was shut in at home, yarn stores weren’t open, and even *gasp* internet sales were unavailable.  This approach to life pretty much covers a multitude of sins and justifies lots of needle purchases as well (more on that below).

This week, though, I faced a more subtle inquiry.  How much yarn does it take to go away from home?

I’m up in Connecticut to retrieve our #2 son from school.  This is a process that apparently requires me to take him out for sushi and donuts at every meal, while attending teacher conferences and parent meetings in my free time.  It’s a five day trek.  I brought this along:

That would be the Noro Hat, Sea Silk Feather & Fan Scarf, Lizard Ridge, The Adventure Bag, and Rowan’s Anise Sweater.  I thought that would be enough.  (And yes dear, that is why I took the BIG suitcase).

On the plane, I hunkered down with Anise.  The back now looks like this:

The yarn is no end pleasing to knit with and the double seed stitch pattern is fun (and surprisingly easy to keep track of without a four year old on my lap).  On the plane, I sat with a woman and her mother, who had Alzheimers.  The mother sat next to me, and was delightful.  We chatted about my knitting and she really enjoyed touching it and feeling all of the yarn.  Fortunately, three of my projects were in my carry on bag so I was able to bring them all out and she got enjoy the texture and the color.

I also knit the base of the Adventure Bag and picked up the stitches for the sides.  The Bag pattern is written for three different sizes, and I’m doing the medium size.  I’m a little bit sorry I didn’t do the biggest size as I can already tell I’m going to love this bag.  I haven’t knitted to felt in what seems like eons and I’m happy to be doing it again.

If you look carefully, you can tell by looking at the cable on the needles that these are not my usual beloved Addi Turbos.  Instead, this is the first time I’ve knit with my new Knit Picks set, and I’ve got to say, it’s LOVE.  The needles are smooth and fast and easy to put together.  If I can just find a good way to store the set (I’m not overwhelmed by the little notebook it comes with), I’ll be overjoyed.

After flying into Hartford, I got to meet a friend from Sewing Mamas, Deb, and her son at Creative Fibers in Hartford.  The store was really cool — lots of different  yarns from what  I see in the South, along with some  of my perennial favorites.

I felt like it would be wrong not to tithe to the yarn gods, and besides, I was worried I hadn’t brought enough yarn along with me in case of emergencies, like a 10 hour flight delay on the way home.  (You laugh, but I have been there before and did not run out of yarn due to careful planning.)  I finally settled on this:

I owe you a better picture in good lighting, but I just had to share.  The yarn is:

• One skein of Blue Sky Organic Cotton.  The store had a sample of the sweet little baby sweater from One Skein Wonders knit up, and I though it would make a great present for a pregnant friend.
• One skein of buttery soft chunky baby alpaca from Misti Alpaca.  I can’t even begin to describe how soft this yarn is.  The minute I touched it, I wanted to insert my entire body in the skein and  R-E-L-A-X.  It is that soft.  Teddy needs a winter scarf and this will probably be it unless I decide to keep this skein to fondle.  I really should have got two skeins.  Darn, we’re going to have to go back when we drive up to Hartford.
• One skein of Madelinetosh sock yarn.  I have no idea who Madelinetosh is, but I intend to find out.  I kept finding really unusually pretty skeins of sock yarn in the store, and every time I picked one up, it was by this dyer.  This is someone with a real knack for getting color onto yarn.  I had to negotiate with myself to buy just one.

I also got two patterns.  One is a cute little baby sweater (I have lots of pregnant friends) in Koigu by a local designer named Julie Cashin who Deb has taken classes with.  The other is a great felted bowl pattern called Autumn Duo by Carol Bristol Designs.  I’ve been meaning to start a felted bowl and this is just the shape I had in mind, plus it has a cool option for inserting beads near the top that I would not have been clever enough to figure out on my own.

In a few minutes, I’m off to breakfast and then a morning of knitting outdoors in the beautiful Connecticut fall weather teacher conferences.  So far, I’ve seen wild turkeys and a deer in the woods between my hotel and the school.  I’m looking forward to what today brings.