And she’s off….

This will be my last post for a little bit, since Team Harlot is heading off for our 2005 bike adventure. It’s 360km of family bike riding, camping and visiting across Ontario and parts of La Belle Province and I’m hard pressed to think of a time when I could need unplugging from the world anymore than I do. After yesterday’s meltdown I have a chapter and a half (instead of two) written, 6 loads of laundry (instead of 9) but I did find the camp stove. (I had covered it with a camp towel. Apparently simply putting a cloth over something is enough to make it un-findable. All I had to do to get those three hours of my life back yesterday was to move that cloth. Ever wish you were smart enough not to be able to outwit yourself?)

You know you’re ready for a vacation when all you’re knitting is little tiny shoes and you think there’s nothing wrong with that.

Yellowshoes

Nothing at all. These are the “Chunky Ankle-strap Shoes” from (which you would think was the only book that I owned) 50 Baby Bootees to Knit, using Knit Picks “wool of the andes” in “daffodil” which I quite like. It’s not the softest yarn on the block, but has a nice firmness, and has a little bit of a crunchy thing going on that really turns my crank. I think it would be quite good for cables. (Cabled bootees? I have got to get a hold of myself. This bootee thing is a disease.)

For those who asked, yesterday’s bootees were from the same book, the “Slip-ons” knit out of Knit Picks “Elegance” alpaca/silk. (I like that one too…I’m playing around with the new Knit picks stuff. This yarn is quite soft…probably not the best choice for bootees, since the resulting wee shoesies (for the love of wool. Stop me.) are sort of “limp”.) The little leaf on it is not from the book, I took it from “Knitted Embellishments“.

Even though I will be blog absent until the 31st, I’m not leaving you entirely at loose ends. The very funny (and sadly, blogless) Lady Rams will be entertaining you in a couple of entries, assuming that the technology doesn’t defeat us, and I’m leaving behind a time delay entry or two. There’s also the chance that I’ll hook up with a computer on the way…so I’ll blog if I can. I’m not going to worry about it though, since I hear tell of people having rich full lives without ever knowing what I’m up to. (Hint: Bootees)

The real question, of course, is what sort of knitting does one take on a bike trip? The knitting must be:

1. Small. If you are carrying everything you need to conduct your life, from shelter to pots, underpants to coffeemaker, on the back of your bike, you really have to pay attention to size. A sweater is not going to cut it.

2. Light. See reason above.

3. Washable. This will be knit by daylight and firelight, dragged in and out of a tent and crammed in a pannier. It’s totally going to need a good wash. Now is not the time to think of the white merino laceweight (despite it fitting reasons 1 and 2. )

4. Chartless. Charts suck by firelight. Words (a few) are ok.

5. Interesting. It’s the only knitting I shall have for 10 days. Just thinking that gives me the heebie jeebies. Who only knits one thing for 10 days?

6. Lots of work. It needs to be not finishable in 10 days, or I’ll have NOTHING.

Ideas? (I’ll check tomorrow before I pack.)