Shocking in this day and age, of worrying whether you have fingernail clippers, gel lipgloss, or more than 100 ml of hair gel in your carryon luggage ... Yes, Ladies and Germs, you CAN bring your knitting on a plane!
I know, I know, I was just as surprised as you! I figured trying to smuggle a set of DPNs through security would land me in a load of trouble! "Ma'am could you please take off your socks and spread your toes?" kind of trouble. Not even a peep. Last week, we ended up flying quite last minute to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the Mark-inator to attend some training sessions for work, which meant that of course, that Jobo would tag along, lol, for moral support at least! (Did you think I would let him leave me at home and miss that? um no. definetly not.)
Booking in a hurry, and knowing that we would be travelling such a distance, I was afraid that I would be quite freaked out. Flying usually does that to me... the stress of getting ready, navigating security, being cramped on an airplane, ears popping, airline bathrooms, etc... usually I get pretty anxious, and end up not feeling very well when I fly. The fact that I could bring along my knitting was a really big comfort to me. Knowing that I would be able to have a mindless craft to focus on, and take away the attention from a stressful journey. And due to the fantabulous United States Air Travel Industry, and a delayed flight crisis... we ended up requiring 5 different planes, visited 5 different airports and took a very scattered hop-skip-and-jump over North America to get home eventually 6 hours later than originally planned. Consensus, no problems knitting on a plane at any of those locations: Halifax, Nova Scotia; Chicago's O'Hare Airport, McCarron International Airport, Las Vegas; Denver, Colorado; Toronto's Pearson Airport.
But seriously folks, being allowed to knit on a plane really made my trip to Las Vegas much more enjoyable... In fact, I knit an entire pair of mittens on the way there, and 3/4 of a pair of socks on the way back. And virtually flight anxiety free too! Before leaving, I confirmed with my travel agent and with the Airport authority governing our flight path just to be sure. Instead of trying to read, or do crossward puzzles, I just knit along... not even really noticing the usually annoying things about flying. If you knit, and have to fly a long distance, I highly recommend checking into bringing along a simple project. It really made my trip.
As a welcome home gift, I thought I'd share my pattern with you for Generic Men's Socks.... the ones I made on my way home. These are a basic, straightforward, toe-up, short rows design, from worsted weight wool - so they knit up in a hurry, and don't take much extra thought. Great project for a person on the go... You could add some flare, stripes, cables if you want, this is just the basic thing. Dude, maybe you could knit 'em on your next domestic flight. really beats watching stupid in-flight movies!
I'll try and post some trip pics, and some sock pics when I get my camera back in working order.
Basic Dude Socks 2.0.pdf (57.96 kb)