It's that time of year again. The time of year when fiber people and crafty people face one of the most challenging questions in life: "what projects am I going to take on my journey?"
If your summer travels consist of throwing stuff in the back seat of the car and driving to a gorgeous place which is within reach of civilization, including yarn stores and fabric stores, you have it easy. Suppose though that you are going away for a month or more, by plane, to a place where to the best of your knowledge there are no yarn stores and no fabric stores and you can't be sure what exactly you will find. Since I am deeply embroiled in this puzzling issue right now, I'm going to share some of my thoughts on packing for traveling. Choosing which projects to bring is a profoundly difficult issue for some of us, worthy of plenty of discussion and hand-wringing. Today, however, I'm going to talk about how to arrange the crafty stuff you take with you. Projects you might think are hopeless candidates for travel can sometimes be made to behave with a little organization. (This also helps me procrastinate on the packing I need to do, see?) There are expensive bags and totes specially designed to carry knitting supplies, crochet supplies, keep embroidery threads in order, whatever... you know more about it than I do. My feeling is that first, I don't want to take a pricey bag just to face the possibility of it getting lost on the way; second, it won't fit in my suitcase anyway; and third, why spend a lot when you can organize cheaply and have more money left over for the important stuff like yarn and thread and fabric?
My theory of project packing boils down to a few precepts:
1. Plan ahead.
2. Organize.
3. Plastic is your friend.
Planning ahead means that you can spend the weeks before you leave fluttering about through your stash, making swatches, looking for free patterns on line that might match yarn you have on hand, and learning to tat just in case it turns out that tatting is really the thing you want to do this summer. Once you narrow down what you are going to take--the final decision is never made until you are on the plane!-- do the prep work. Make copies of the patterns you will need.
Put them in a folder, along with graph paper, sketching paper, or other appropriate aids. Gather together the supplies you will need to complete your project. Bring enough yarn to finish the sweater; bring measuring tape, crochet hook, yarn needles, trims, sewing thread, etc. Think through the project. Don't forget things like needles a size smaller for the ribbing; ribbon to back a button band; thread for hemstitching those napkins after the embroidery is done. You get the idea.
Ordinarily I'm as organic as they come, but when traveling, I admit I rely heavily on plastic. The office supply store is the source of many good things. First, sheet protectors! You must have a good supply. One full-size sheet protector for each project: the project directions get slipped in, and are protected from spills and tears. Sheet protectors with two pockets are good for smaller things such as hanks of thread, ribbons and trims, and small fabric pieces. Here are some sheets I put together for a trip about a year ago:
This particular package was for sewing tiny clothes. Each pocket holds the pieces to one garment, along with the trims if any. On a small slip of paper in each pocket I noted the intended finished project and any details that might not be obvious (eg, "gathered skirt with three tucks at hem, ribbon trim"). That's the organization part. All the sheets are tucked into a plastic accordian file case
which has a slim profile, a secure closure, and will fit easily in a backpack or the bottom of a suitcase.
Another thing that would fit nicely in such a file case is something like this:
An embroidery kit! I am really excited about this, the colors are scrumptious and I'm looking forward to starting the stitching. It's nice to have such treats to take along. While we're speaking of sewing types of things, the humble cosmetics case has a lot of potential.
The clear pockets are perfect for supplies. One side holds needles
and the middle pocket is just the right thickness for spools of thread. (Note use of address label in photo above. Love address labels. Stick them everywhere. Inside, outside, everywhere.)
The pocket on the other side holds safety pins and scissors. By the way, empty medicine bottles make great containers for pins and buttons.
My traveling weaving kit lives in an oblong tupperware container about 9" long.
Room enough for shed sticks, sturdy nails for warping (the nails are stuck into the ground or a mud brick wall), dowels for the beginning of the warp if you are making a wide band, and a bundle of linen thread for heddles. Two-ply linen is my preferred thread for heddles because it is very strong, doesn't fuzz, and takes a crease. If you use loop heddles the creasing property is useful, as it helps keep the heddles from slipping all over into different sizes. A small pair of scissors can fit in here too, if you don't have one on your pocket knife or elsewhere in your supplies. You can carry your weaving yarn in a little handwoven bag like this
Tightly twisted weaving yarn doesn't compress much, but if you are having trouble fitting in all the knitting yarn you want to take, I strongly recommend those vacuum space-saver packing bags. Again, plastic, but I can't tell you how useful the are. They enhance the organization because you can collect all your skeins for one project in one bag; but better than that, they really do work to smoosh down the puffy yarn into a flat little package that will slip right on top of your folded jeans. (Well... depending...I mean, you weren't really going to read that book anyway, were you? Not when you could knit instead!)
Finally, if you've made it this far, a note on traveling to less developed countries. If your trip is taking you to a place where you expect to encounter people who lack many of the advantages you take for granted, consider packing extra supplies and leaving some with them. I don't know much of the world, but in places I've traveled, the women are always grateful for
--good scissors (to them, the $5 cheapies are better than anything they can get!)
--non-prescription magnifying glasses
--yarn needles with blunt tips and large eyes
--regular needles, thread, needle threaders
--ordinary or not so ordinary buttons, ribbons and trims. If you have children's plastic buttons in different shapes, they will probably love them!
--sets of double pointed knitting needles in small sizes (metal)
--small bits of accent yarn in bright colors or soft textures
No doubt you can think of more possibilities along the same lines. And even if you don't bring any crafting supplies, be sure to bring postcards of your home town to give away. You won't believe what an event the sight of a postcard can be until you try it.
Happy travels everyone!
