Tomorrow we head to the artic (long and photo heavy)

Today I’m cleaning and packing. Why do they always seem to go hand and hand? I think it might be that old fear of someone having to enter your home while your not there and wanting to be sure it’s clean. Anyway, I’m packing for our trip to visit family on the border between Maine and Canada. Not the US and Canada, but Maine. That’s how I grew up thinking about it, as though Maine was the center of the universe unto itself.


Google Maps charts it as a 7 hour drive. The road trip will feature The Boyfriend, Mum, Dad and I. It’s always interesting ridding together. My parents and I have years of experience talking with Mum disputing Dad’s musical selections. The Boyfriend, who is normally quit verbose, tends to sleep through these situations, which is a foreign concept to Mum. Why wouldn’t you want to socialize since we’re trapped here for the next 7 hours together? While The Boyfriend enjoys their company, I think sleeping is his coping mechanism for dealing with the long hours in a confined space (he does the same thing on planes). Also, he didn’t grow up taking car rides this long, his family maxed out at 2 hours.

So tomorrow we head north to find -32 degrees and a complete lack of knitting stores. I’ll be bringing my Gravel Point hat and he’ll bring his Boy’s hat. Oh and did I mention that per usual, packing means spending the two days before fretting over exactly what to bring for knitting projects and the last twenty minutes stuffing clothes in a suitcase? At current count I’m at 8 projects, too many…

The dilemma is, road trips are an excellent time to finish small languishing projects that I lack the motivation to do under normal circumstances. The change in scenery and stimulating conversation offer enough of a distraction that my fingers can quickly work through the project when I’m not looking and I don’t even feel a thing. That’s not the dilemma, that comes with the knowledge that if I bring too many ‘chores’ I wont want to knit at all and the excitement of travel makes it easy to just pass up the knitting in favor of horse back riding or skiing (not likely to do either in this lifetime). So I must bring the right balance of chores and exciting projects (i.e., the latest socks). And herein lies the problem and why there are 8 projects being packed right now. Quick run down of who’s in…

The Cashmere Cowl No. 2 - Lace Rib…part of the gift challenge. The HoneyCowl…for spoiled me. The Callandor cowl…part of the gift challenge, and my own design.



The Steve Zissou hat to match Na-Ate Zissou’s. Susie's Reading Mitts…also part of the gift challenge.


The Ricky Morneaux socks, based on Dad’s sweater pattern using my hand dyed yarn. The Uptown Boot Socks, which have been waiting since we picked up Lulu back in October.
And the Sock Yarn Blanket, since it’s so portable and I’m behind on my squares.


Well the good part for you, is that after 14 hours in the car, I’m sure to have made some progress and have updates to show on a couple of these.