Category Archives: travel

Meet Michelle: Crafter Abroad

After having lived overseas for many years, I still have occasional moments where I am surprised when someone answers me or greets me in English. Thankfully, the language of textile appreciation and crafters everywhere often only requires oohs and ahhs and the proverbial thumbs up. I consider myself a generalist crafter as I grew up surrounded by creative & crafty ladies. I have pictures of me “sewing” on paper when I was three years old, and I think my love of textiles and fabrics began then. 

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Travel Knitting: My UK/Ireland Trip Sweater!

Several years ago, I got to take an amazing trip around the UK and Ireland with my husband and his parents. It was such an incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity, I decided I wanted an equally special, one of a kind souvenir to remember it by, so I came up with a plan to knit a trip sweater! And then I did it! The idea was to buy yarn in every city I visited (or as many as possible, at least), and then knit a sweater with stripes of all the yarns I bought. Also, to have the project as my travel knitting throughout the trip–on planes, trains, and backs of cars. So I started my planning by choosing ...

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Global Fiber Tour #2: Denmark!

Raise your hand if your travel itineraries start with stops that involve yarn, fabric, thread, or anything tangentially related to crafting? Oh man, me too! Last summer my husband and I traveled to both the island of Bornholm and Copenhagen for ten days. Before I penciled in any castles, gardens or museums, I had a map of every craft-adjacent institution in both places first. Tag along for my list of places I recommend stopping and the places I wish we’d been able to see!

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Global Fiber Tour #1: Japan

In just a few short years, my husband and I will be celebrating our (gasp) 40th birthdays, and we plan on marking the occasion by taking the vacation of our dreams to Japan. Since I am a hardcore multitasker by nature, I plan on adding a few work-related stops to our itinerary.

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Zippered Pendleton needle case makes travel easy

But, having a selection of Options needle tips and cables available doesn't make me any more productive. For the next couple of days, Bob and I are staying with friends who have a home just outside Vancouver, B.C. Wendie and Dave are delightful hosts.

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Cupcake Fingerless Mitts on the go

I have inched up to SpillyJane's Cupcake Mittens like they were a wild tiger. I fell in love with the design, bought the pattern and even chatted with SpillyJane on one of my podcasts. Of course, while we were still in Mexico, I didn't easily have access to Palette yarns. I decided that I could wait until I could try making a raid on our office yarn stash.

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A sock for every mood

A couple of weeks ago, Glenna C. posted a note on how she decided to keep two pairs of socks on the needles at the same time. One would be an "easy" sock while the other would be a more challenging sock. Her theory was that she would then have a sock to knit when she needed something "mindless" and another sock to serve as a mental distraction.

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Red Velvet Cupcakes Cuffs

You can tell how comfortable I wanted to be to knit Star Athena’s Red Velvet Cupcakes Cuffs. I set up my tray for a nice, quiet afternoon. Knitting, reading while staying caffeinated and hydrated. And, yes, my mp3 player for an audio book.

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Airplane Survival Knits

The key is to choose a simple pattern so you can finish it relatively quickly and it will seem more substantial. Here are a few suggestions.Emerald Starling Shawl by Hannah Ingalls. (Photo from Ravelry pattern page).Falling Leaves Wrap by Dory Brown. (photo from Ravelry pattern page).

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