Home Again

Knitting while traveling, and a follow up on comparing different increases

Photo by Natali Quijano on Unsplash

I'm home from what felt like a whirlwind trip across this vast country. I was delighted to spend time with my son in Northern California, and with my mother, my brother, and my saintly sister-in-law in Arizona.

With 4 flights in 5 days, you would think I got a lot of knitting done. You would be wrong.

Each of the flights was completely full, and I was flying coach. It seems that the airlines are now dimming the cabin lights on all flights, encouraging passengers to sleep no matter the time of day. When sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with strangers on a plane, I am very conscious of keeping still so as not to disturb my neighbor. I worry that the small but repetitive movement of my arm while knitting would become annoying.

I try to select an aisle seat when I can, so I can prevent stiffness in my knee by getting up and standing or walking. The reading lights on a plane are more or less directly overhead for window or middle seats, but not for aisle seats. The angle of the light means my hands cast shadows on my knitting.

But I did get a little knitting done at my hotel during the evenings. My two main projects (the pink marl sweater and my current design commission) are both too big to travel easily, so I prepared for the trip by digging in my stash and casting on a sock.

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The Yarn is Ryan Yarn Twist Sock (80% superwash Merino wool, 20% nylon; 400yds/100g) in the colors The Heart of Everything and Honeycomb Toffee. I bought the yarn at The Frayed Knot in Savannah when I was hosting a knitting retreat in that charming city in October 2023.

There is no real pattern for this sock. I knit socks the way I make soup—I know what I like, and I've done it so many times I do not need a recipe. For this pair, I cast on 80 stitches (I have big feet) and worked knit 2 purl 2 ribbing for the cuff, then transitioned to knit 6 purl 2 ribbing for the leg. The cuff, heel, and toe will be in the dark maroon color. The leg and foot have stripes worked in this sequence: * 2 rounds gold, 2 rounds maroon, 6 rounds gold, 2 rounds maroon; repeat from *. The socks will have a standard flap-and-gusset heel worked over half of the stitches.

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I listened to a couple of excellent audio books while in the air. I am in the midst of a lovely obsession with Commissario Guido Brunetti, the protagonist of Donna Leon's series of detective novels set in and around Venice, Italy. The 33-novel series starts with Death at La Fenice, published in 1992.

Leon does a marvelous job of conveying a sense of place. From the crowds of tourists, to the constant lapping of water against ancient stone, to the smell of the canals on a hot day, I feel like I know Venice, though I have not yet been there.

Brunetti reminds me of Louise Penny's Armand Gamache. He is devoted to his wife and children and dedicated to doing what is right despite the systemic corruption that surrounds him. Although these books have a high body count, there are very few words spent describing violent acts.

The audiobooks in this series are read by David Colacci, who brings out the musicality of the Italian proper names and place names, while never crossing the line into caricature.

I first learned of the Commissario Brunetti series in the comments section of the post about serial fiction I published last summer. Thanks to readers Ginger Boone and ML Eagan for the recommendation!

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Book titles are linked to bookshop.org, a non-profit that supports independent bookstores. These are affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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Some things that caught my eye

• If you read Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst, which I recommended a couple of weeks ago, you'll enjoy listening to editors from the New York Times Book Review discussing the novel in their Book Club podcast.

• The New York Times Style section posted an interesting article about the current trend of oversized, drop-shoulder sweaters. The author theorizes that this body-obscuring fit is a rejection of the male gaze at a time when women's bodily autonomy is at risk.

• Farm & Fiber Knits has published my article comparing five different increase methods—an investigation I should have done before beginning my pink marl sweater. It is behind the paywall, so for subscribers only. But if you’re interested in natural wool yarn and the people and animals that produce it, let me encourage you to subscribe.

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As always, thank you for inviting me into your world. I never take your time and attention for granted.

Continue the conversation: Do you have any tried-and-true strategies for knitting in flight? I'd love to hear about them in the comments.