Crocheting out of a suitcase

Sawadee Ka from Thailand!
How are you?

I'm quite well, as I have the luxury of travelling for quite a while through South East Asia. Having arrived two days ago in Thailand, via Laos (beautiful!), I still have many, many weeks ahead of me. Hooray hooray! Being away from home for a relative long time, left me with a big (and when I say big, I mean Big) decision to make. Made even more difficult by the fact that I like to travel light (and when I say light, I mean Light: one small suitcase, plus one carry on bag). Which (and how much!) yarn to bring with me?

So what is in that (really small) suitcase? Well ehm... See for yourself...



Oh dear, this is rather embarassing, isn't it? And this is even without the balls of yarn pictured below... Beforehand I couldn't decide which project to make. It had to be practical, but satisfying at the same time, if you know what I mean. So in the end I quite randomly took quite some cotton pastels with me (the ones I usually use for doilies) and silver grey and natural white acrylic (because the acrylic is light weight).

I still can't decide what to make of the pastels... I have been trying different things. Like the lacy circles from the first picture. I thought they would make a nice blanket. But the pattern (inspired by a Japanese pattern) is too fiddly and fuzzy when travelling. A lot of short rounds means a lot of ends to sew in, and that is just not the thing to do when travelling in a bumpy bus for hours. ('Where's my needle? Sir, excuse me, my needle is under your seat. It's my favourite needle you see. Oh dear, I think I might have fallen between those bags of rice. Would you mind removing them?') Also I think this pattern would work better with a softer cotton, like Drops or Vinnis. So this sample will end up as a doily or hotpad. (I haven't blocked it yet, so it is a bit wonky still.)

So after the blanket-ending-up-as-doily, I tried these solid squares. I think this might work out. The idea now is to make a big bag of them. What do you think? And should I throw the bright pink in too? (Pictured on the right.) Probably.

Because it needs to be a travel friendly project I'll have to compromise on my principle that even within one-colour-squares I cut the thread after each round in order to start the new round on another side of the square. Is that a weird thing to do...? It's just that in that way the first stitches are less visible as such.

Meanwhile I'm working with the grey yarn. It's going to be a huge scarf. I'm using the same shell stitch as for the pink scarf that is still waiting for me at home. Couldn't finish it in time.  Anyway, I like the stitch, and it's a perfectly travel friendly project. Especially in this very light acrylic meant for a 3 mm hook - but I'm using a 4,5 mm hook, which makes it very soft).

Anyways, quite enough of my ramblings for today, I think... I'll try to post some travel posts soon - with a yarny angle. Thanks for visiting. Have a lovely day!
(And of course I would love to hear your yarny - or other - travel adventures...)
♦♦♦