Since Jim has retired, we seem to spend a lot of time traveling. I have lost track of how many times we have been to my mother's house which is a long day from Arizona to Southern California usually in a lot of traffic. We have also gone from here to Utah, Wyoming and Northern California.
On all our trips Jim drives. He likes to do it and I go along with that but sometimes for me being a passenger is hard. We drive differently. I have been accused of driving like a little old lady but guess what? I am a little old lady so the label is fine with me. He, on the other hand, is a bit more aggressive and (I am very sorry) spends too long hanging out in the left lane.
To keep myself from getting jumpy, nervous and turning into a passenger seat driver I need something to keep me occupied. I can read with no problem most of the time so the Kindle app on my phone comes in handy. I do want to do more that stare at a screen so I added another activity to this weekend's short trip to see my sister. I think I have found the perfect, for me, road trip knitting pattern.
The picture below shows the progress made over the weekend on the road with some more knitting done while watching Netflix in the hotel before bed. I was working on a triangular garter stitch shawl with a 2-row easy to read pattern. Row 1 has 4 yarn overs, 2 of them 2 stiches in from each edge and 2 more on each side of a single center stitch. The part I like is in row 2. In that row the yarn overs are knit through the back loop. Doing row 2 this way avoids having holes and lets the newly done increases blend into the other surrounding stitches very nicely. The pattern is easy to read so even if I have to lay it down for a bit, I can tell which row I need to do next when I pick the project back up. Also let's face it, nothing beats the lovely squishiness of the humble garter stitch and I love soft squishy knits.
This shawl is being made with Lion Brand Shawl in a Ball on size 8 bamboo circulars. I like using the less slippery bamboo for car knitting. Those needles make it easier to not loose stitches when encountering random bumps in the road. This yarn is a machine washable blend of 58% cotton, 39% acrylic, 3% other fiber. Yes, the label says other fiber and I have no idea what the means and I have never seen something like that before. The colorway is named Mindful Mauve. I would personally just call it purple and gray.
I know the goal is to post every Monday but this week I was away, so Tuesday is good enough. Probably won't be the last time I miss a Monday but hopefully I can stick to a weekly post mostly on Mondays. We'll see.
Thanks for reading and if you are inclined, leave a comment, just a friendly hello would make my day.
Back with more again soon.
Take care and stay cozy!
