Travel Knits for the Family

Copenhagen

May 14, 2018Leave a comment

It’s time to introduce Copenhagen, the third pattern from Travel Knits for the Family.

There were a few times in our travels when our accommodations were a bit on the chilly side – usually in little old British country cottages. We started to bring slippers along on those trips and they were always much appreciated. These little foot warmers are nice and compact to fit into your suitcase without taking up too much space (more room for knitting projects!)

These slippers are almost as much fun to knit as they are to wear. They are worked in 4 sections, seamlessly, using a variety of techniques to achieve a great fit and a great look.

Our trip to Copenhagen was quick and lovely. We checked out lots of Copenhagen, but didn’t take a lot of photos because it was pretty cold. We took a boat tour of the harbour, which was a great way to see lots of the city. We ate lots of open-faced sandwiches. And we met friends who lived there and visited the National Museum of Denmark together.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For more information about Travel Knits for the Family, get all the details here.

Bergen

May 9, 2018May 10, 2018Leave a comment

Bergen is a beautiful city in Norway, and it’s also the first pattern in Travel Knits for the Family.

The pattern is for a toque/beanie/knit hat/cap/toboggan (choose the name applicable for your region of the world), designed to fit from babies to adults. It features a simple cable pattern that creates a beautiful lattice effect, as well as a ribbed brim that can be knit to your desired length for folding over or not.

The hat can be worked in just about any worsted or aran weight yarn, but I have to tell you how much I enjoyed working with the Gytha Worsted from Third Vault Yarns. The colours are gorgeous and it is so soft and squishy to work with. I chose semi-solid colours to work with here – Inara, and Blue Steel – but I think the hat would also look nice in a variegated colourway.

We visited Bergen in the Fall of 2017, and what a lovely city it was! The weather was dreary, wet, and cool, but that just added to the atmosphere of the fjords. We enjoyed visiting all the little shops in the old wooden buildings of Bryggen, and walking along the harbour and sampling different sea foods at the fish market.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And of course, there are loads of yarn shops in Bergen. Norway has the most fantastic knitting culture, which seems to be embraced by the entire population. The majority of the tourist shops had racks and racks of hand knit sweaters, mitts, and hats, as well as other woolly goods. I wanted to buy everything, but settled for 3 gorgeous skeins of Rauma Prydvevgarn and a gorgeous wool blanket.

For more information about Travel Knits for the Family, get all the details here.

Travel Knits When You Least Expect Them

April 5, 2018April 5, 2018Leave a comment

As some of you know, it’s getting to close to the publish date for my upcoming book: Travel Knits for the Family. I feel like I’ve talked about it a lot on other platforms, but haven’t discussed it on the website much at all. So now I will!

The book contains patterns for all those things I think you need to throw into your suitcase when you’re heading somewhere cold (there will eventually be a second book for when you’re heading somewhere warm). There are sweaters for everyone in the family, hats, mittens, slippers, and a travel knitting project.

We just got back from another family trip, this time to Grand Canyon and Death Valley (with a brief stop in Las Vegas). Now, you may be thinking that Arizona, Nevada, and California in the spring wouldn’t be considered traveling somewhere cold, but we packed our hats, mitts, and slippers anyway. And I’m glad we had them!

Because, while there were lots of days like this…

There were also days in the Grand Canyon where it was really quite chilly. Even though most of Arizona is quite warm and even hot this time of year, the Grand Canyon is carved through a plateau at an elevation over 7000 ft, where it was dipping down below freezing overnight. So we started our day exploring the Grand Canyon wearing our hats to keep warm.

Once we got to Las Vegas and then Death Valley it was well into hot summer temperatures, and the hats and mitts stayed tucked away in our suitcase. We enjoyed exploring the desert and swimming in the pool, and avoiding the winter back home.

But although we hoped spring would have finally sprung by the time we returned from our break, it was still very cold in snowy when we arrived back in Calgary. So we changed from our flip flops and shorts to shoes, jeans, and jackets. And we dug out the hats and mitts again.

The moral of the story is – you never know when you might need those Travel Knits!