This final part of our KYOS series for 2023 is a travel edit, specially for weekend-awayers, back packers, cycle tourers, and last-minute-trippers. These are your Green Eggs and Ham knits – good on a train, good in the rain, good in a car and good in a tree. For these are the projects that will sqoodge down enough to fit into little project bags and that you’ll be on the way to finishing by the time you’re on your way home again.
The made-to-measure perfect travel project: Let’s kick off with socks – small, interesting, useful, and in the case of Degen’s Happy Socks – good for both your sole and your soul. Any sock yarn will do but if you want Degen’s colours, check the Mondim and the Exmoor
Heirloom Quilt Cardigan by Katryn Seeburger
Brontë spotted this jacket-made-out-of-squares as an ideal train knit – as you’re only ever working on one square at a time so no need to carry the whole lot with you. Plus ohmygoodnessme, What a jacket! It’s a worsted gauge so all our Gilliatt, Dehesa, Dlana, Rauwerk faves would work but for Katryn’s lovely tweediness, it has to be one of the Donegals.
Polkagris Kerchief by Kate Davies
No purling, no magic looping, no repeat changing: the Polkagris takes untaxing knitting to a whole new staring-at-the-sunset chill-out zone. You could probably put the world to rights, read a novel, and make a picnic at the same time as knitting it. Oh, and it’s only 50g of 4ply – 2 balls of each colour of the J&S Jumperweight or 1 each of the JC Rennie.
Rad Radish Socks by Stone Knits
I’m not gonna lie, it wasn’t easy to choose which Stone Knits socks pattern to pick but there’s a special place in my heart for radishes and radish socks don’t walk my way very often. But if avocados and hard boiled eggs, dandelions, sunflowers or even cable cars are more your thing, Stone Knits socks has you (well your feet) covered.
The lace-weight version of Midori’s classic top uses 6mm needles and (depending on your sleeve choice) +/-100g of kid silk mohair. It will weigh next to nothing and pack down as small as your socks – a bit like a camping towel but about a trillion times more delightful, soft and fluffy.
Open, closed, over a shirt or nothing at all, on a train, in the rain, in a car, in a tree this super-easy waistcoat would almost certainly be Sam-i-Am’s choice and looks lovely on everyone – and most sizes don’t need more than 200g of João and a couple of silk mohairs, so will still fit comfortably in a sock sized project bag.
Plain with a hint of curly. Get past the toe and into your 1×1 twisted rib groove and keep going till you get to the jazz hands frilly bit at the end. Perfect for lazy days sock knitting. Pick a sock yarn, any sock yarn and off you go.
Brontë made her 1st dotted rays 5 years ago and hasn’t stopped making them ever since: super easy to get into a pattern-free rhythm with, pick it up and put it down and never lose your place, work it to whatever size works for you – 1, 2 or more skeins, or go fancy and follow SW’s helpful guide to working a fade. We recommend The Woolkitchen Wool Silk for extra-delicious, Kalinka for cool, or Mondim for warm and cosy.
Make friends with Tsutsu and open the door on a whole new cast of characters in your knitting life. Tsutsu is the littlee in the Cinthia Vallet’s troupe of knitted toys – a perfect bear to start with, and comes complete with a pattern for his own pompom hat and cabled sweater. Use your 4ply scraps/socks leftovers or pick a ball of J&S Jumperweight or Garthenor Number 2