packing projects

As many of you know, I'm a west coast girl. I try to get back west to visit my family at least once a year, but every once in awhile that stretch between visits is elongated due to my kids being in a "terrible toddler" phase (aka: the time in every child's life when their irrational behavior/tantrums makes public plane travel no longer a viable option). It's during those phases that I avoid airplanes like the plague, for the benefit of my fellow travelers and my own sanity. My family usually visits us here in Mississippi during these phases, but sometimes that just isn't quite enough and you need to visit the land itself. This is one of those times. So we're road tripping! I love road trips on multiple levels. I love seeing our country and visiting new places. And since my husband loves to be the driver, the other benefit of road trips is concentrated knitting time! So I thought long and hard about what yarn and projects to pack for this trip.

This trip will be pretty epic--since we plan to visit relatives in San Francisco, CA we will be making a grand tour of the southwest following I-40. I knew I wanted a variety of projects to avoid boredom, but yet I also wanted relaxing and portable knitting (nothing huge and bulky and hot!). So that led me to socks. Lots of socks! Making a dent in my sizable fingering weight stash and knitting more socks have been two unofficial goals of mine for this year, so what better time than a road trip, right? So I picked yarn based on our locations as we drive. Starting on the far left, I chose warm "southwest inspired" colors to begin with, moving to a fun yellow-blue self-striper for California, some Vesper Sock Yarn in the "woodlands" colorway for when we reach the Pacific Northwest, and some newly acquired Western Sky Knits yarn in "rocky point" for when we head back home going across the Rocky Mountains.

To not leave my kiddos out, I've picked a few skeins that I've been promising to make them socks with for awhile now ...

And in case I get really really sick of socks, I've packed yarn for a shawlette and cowl as backup.

Think I've packed enough? We'll have a solid four days of driving on the way out, and three and a half days of driving on the way back. I know I've packed more yarn than I can possibly knit, but I think that's every knitter's fear ... to be traveling and (gasp! horror!) run out of yarn to knit with. Stay tuned for my progress updates and travelogues from our adventure!