Holiday knitting

Its taken a while but I have finally decided on my knitting projects to take with me to the Isle of Lewis.  A few considerations had to be kept in mind including space in the car and the difficulty of the pattern.  Space wise, despite having an average sized family car, traveling with a large dog is a bit like travelling with children.  They need space (Fizz has the boot to herself) not to mention the paraphernalia that accompanies them.  Food, treats, toys, beds, dog towels and not forgetting lots of dog bags all have to go on the back seats of the car along with our suitcase, holiday baking, wellies / boots and food for the journey. This meant that my holiday knitting projects need to be as compact as possible   I also want to take a variety of projects so garment knitting was out.


I didn't want anything too difficult. It is a holiday after all and I didn't want to be sitting there on an evening getting stressed by a particularly taxing project!  And so my following choices were made.  

Mr D has been interested in a pair of socks ever since I finished my first pair in March.  He choose the wool himself and as he only wants plain socks they are an ideal project to take.  The pattern includes and explains the maths to make different sizes so I had the joy of measuring his feet to work out how many stitches I needed to cast on.  Not something I am overly happy about and still recovering from the experience!  These were cast on this week as I want them to be my car knitting project (when I'm not driving I quickly add!).


I have chosen three other projects (there may be an additional one sneaked in at the last minute) based on the designers being super fab people and the patterns being straightforward but interesting!  The first is Victoria at Eden Cottage Yarns Dufton hat 
pattern.  I will be using Victoria's new 

Whitfell Chunky baby alpaca, which I wrote about last month.  The hat has a nice diamond cable pattern which all nicely meet at the crown of the hat.  Hopefully there will be some photos of me modelling my finished hat next month!  With the left over wool I am going to make Victoria's Langrigg fingerless mitts. This will be first attempt at thumb holes as my previous mitts have been straightforward tubes. 


Last but no means least is is Clare Devine's Vaila shawl.  Clare herself has knitted this shawl in the same Brigantia yarn as my Lush cardigan.  It just so happens that I have one skein left so it was obviously meant to be.  There are a couple of things I love about this pattern.  First, it can be knitted in any weight of wool and Claire has provided notes in the pattern regarding this.  Secondly it is perfect holiday knitting.  Due to its construction you have nice easy garter stitch with a little bit on concentration at the start or end of a row!  

So these are my holiday knitting projects.  I can't wait to be sitting in our holiday cottage looking out over the Atlantic Ocean. A glass of something by my chair and Fizz snoring away in front of the fire!