Thru-Knitter... is that a thing?

H:

It is now!  

In this post if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about you should talk to a knitter.  They're very interesting and informative people.  

I spend a lot of time knitting.  A lot.  When we went on our bicycle adventure I decided to not knit for that time.  I wanted to focus on writing a journal and riding our bike.  Looking back I realize there was a lot of wasted time when I'd finished my journal for the day and when I was just sitting on the bike!  We were on a recumbent tandem... I rode on the back... my job was to read the map and pass snacks to Dave.  I could have knitted so much, the only draw back would have been if I dropped my yarn!  Ah well.

For the six months or so that we're going to be hiking I've decided to knit during that time.  The decision of what to knit was a challenge though.  Someone suggested a sweater that I could put on when I was done with it.  I quickly squelched that idea because I don't want to carry continually increasing amounts of yarn.  Though it would be neat, and would only be between 1 to 2 pounds... however, pounds count on this trip.  The yarn that I would knit would be sent along in our restock packages so I would just carry a little at a time. 

Someone else suggested knitting socks to replace the ones I'll wear out on the trip.  That's a thought and maybe I will do some of that.  I think that using a long circular instead of double point needles would be a must, but my mind wandered to pulling the cable out of my knitting repeatedly as I took the knitting in and out of a bag.  Hm... maybe something else.  

Someone suggested hats.  Which is a thought.  I could knit the hat but then there would be decreases and the need to switch to double points for the top.  Then again, a lot of times I finish a hat on my 16" circular needle because I don't always have double points in the right size.  Sure, it's a bit fiddly treating the 16" needle like it's a magic loop needle, but I do it.  Same draw back to the magic loop thought... floppy cable getting snagged in and out of a bag.  

I finally came up with the idea of knitting ear-warmer style headbands.  If I took a 16" circular needle I could work up headbands in the round.  Simple, easy, one needle.  I could also work them flat if I really wanted to.  If I was desperate I could turn one into a hat.    

The nice thing about the headbands would be that they're rather light in weight, a nice little extra warmth, and upon completion I could simply hand the finished object over to the next hiker I met.  If a hiker wasn't present I could leave them in the shelters or hiker boxes along the way (hiker boxes are places where you can drop off excess items you have and even find something you might want).  A fun twist would be to ask the recipient to send me an email at some point that would be about them, their trip, their thoughts on getting the object.  Their response I would then be able to blog here.  

In that vein of thought I completely justified a stop at a brand new yarn store in Muncie, IN, when we were there today.  Brand new... as in open less than a week.  Yes, I have a large supply of yarn, but a little more can't hurt, especially if it has a purpose!

The shop was called Yarn Stories and was located in their "downtown" area.  The owner, Katy, said that "every skein has a story" and she's there to help you tell it.  Nice.  Very appropriate too for my little endeavor.  So... I bought a bit of yarn...

Four 50 gram skeins of Malabrigo's Silky Merino...

A 100 gram skein of Eco Duo by Cascade...

 A little more Malabrigo... One superwash worsted and the other a bulkier superwash.

And two skeins of Universal Yarns Classic Shades...

All will look lovely when turned into a soft, squishy and very warm headband.  How could a hiker resist?  

In explaining my intent to Katy today I went off on a little tangent about Desert Island Knitting.  If you could only knit one thing for 6 months what would it be?  So... headbands... yup, and maybe hats... hmm... maybe socks.  You know... my spinning instructor did ask if I was going to take any spinning and I do have that tiny Russian drop spindle.  Hm... maybe I don't need a change of clothes and can fit more yarn in my bag especially if one of the towns along the way has a yarn store!