Congrats to Anne G who was randomly chosen as the winner of the giveaway!
The Glaswegian sweater was designed for the Deep Fall 2017 issue of Knitty. The cardi is named for an unexpected detour taken with my friend Thea Colman (designer of the Clover Club, the Rye Cardigan, and the Baby Cocktails Patterns) on the road to Shetland.
This sweater was knit on while traveling on a 13 day trip to Scotland. I left with the stitches for the body and a sleeve cast on and carried it with me everywhere I went for 11 days—on planes and trains, on ferries and in cars. Ístex Plötulopi, which we’ve just begun distributing in North America, is a perfect travel companion, the cakes of yarn weigh practically nothing, and they smoosh down nicely into a suitcase as well. Long stretches of stockinette stitch for the body and sleeves make for a pleasant companion for watching scenery roll by on the road. The finished garment dried in no time, making it possible to wear on the return trip home.The ample yardage of each plate (328 yards to 100 grams) meant that even when the second sleeve was lost on an airplane (mid sleeve!), I had more then enough yarn to knit a third. Added bonus—a knitting bag stuffed with all the cakes doubles nicely as a pillow during long layovers and unexpected detours. Like when we found ourselves flying to Glasgow instead of to Edinburgh.
Fortunately Glasgow is a short train ride away from Edinburgh, and the misadventure gave us the opportunity to do a little exploring in a beautiful city that we would have missed entirely. The sharp-eyed will notice that though the pattern includes instructions for adding buttonholes, this sample sweater doesn’t have buttons. On the 12th day the sweater was finished but had no buttons. I had hoped to finish it while still in Scotland and I was determined to photograph it there, and I did! Without buttons. I’m still hunting for the perfect buttons and hope to have them sewn on in time to take the sweater with me on my next adventures.
To celebrate this new-to-Berroco fantastic yarn, as well as the 15th Anniversary of Knitty, we’re giving away the yarn to knit a Glaswegian cardi to one lucky knitter. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. In keeping with the theme of the design, tell us a story about a travel adventure or misadventure that you had (or nearly had). Comments do have to be approved, so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up right away. We’ll choose a winner on Friday, September 29, so you have until 11:59 pm EST on Thursday, September 28, to leave a comment. This giveaway is open to anyone in the world ages 18 and older.
For another chance to win, be sure to follow the Knitty blog—they’ll be hosting their own giveaway for this cardigan very soon!
Such lovely yarn and a timeless pattern. Thank you for this opportunity.
The cardigan is luscious!
My travel story is simple. I traveled from Florida to Philadelphia in the wintertime. Being a Florida dog, I was concerned she’d be cold, so by the end of the flight she had a warm, cozy sweater knitted by me.
The cardigan is luscious!
My travel story is simple. I flew from Florida to Philadelphia with my little dog under my seat in the winter. Concerned that she’d be cold as she was a Florida dog, I knit her a lovely warm sweater on the trip.
I have never lost my love for this timeless design.
Really lovely looking sweater and yarn. While on the way to Hawaii, had a 3 hour layover in California, didn’t really feel like going anywhere, so was a perfect time to pick up my knitting
This sweater would travel well to any destination. it looks so comforable and looks great with jeans. I’ve always taken a liking to Fairisle knitting since using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s book “Opinionated Knitter.” My husband and I had the privilege to travel with our daughter to Zell am see, Austria for her Triathalon Iron Man 70.3 World Championship Triathalon. . While there in a little shop I saw a Scandinavian Fairisle Yoke Sweater which I would love to try knitting..
An interesting yarn to add to knitting skills inventory.
Lovely! I just returned from a trip to Iceland this summer and was inspired by the beautiful sweaters I saw that were way to pricey for me, but did buy some yarn- in the “plates” described and added to my stash. Planned on using them to make something for myself and really appreciate the info on how to use Lopi yarn.
Love the sweater and the story. I take my handwork along with me everywhere, but I don’t really have any stories to tell. Thank you.
That’s such a gorgeous cardigan. My travel mishap was we went from Budapest to Vienna for the day and took a late train back. We didn’t know that Budapest has two train stations. One on the outskirts and one in center of town and the only one our train was stopping at was the one on the outskirts. We barely realized it in time and was lucky enough to find a cab driver willing to take us to the apartment we were staying at for the little bit of cash we had on hand.
Road trip to CA with a 1 mos old and his 7 siblings. Between 2 destinations the road looked straight on the map … it was not. Two year old’s juice box she just drank came back up all over me. I managed to keep it off the brand new vehicle upholstery, but I had to make a wardrobe change roadside. I did almost get a Grace cardigan finished on that trip tho!
I was 19 when I took a pair of dpns with me on my vacation trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia. The idea was to buy a skein of yarn in each place that I would be visiting, and knit garter squares – for which I don’t have to look what I’m doing – while sight seeing. The plan was to assemble those squares upon my return home into a bed spread for my dorm.
So I did.
I still have that throw, more than three decades later, patched in several places by now. It has moved thousands of miles with me and is full of sweet memories …
That is so cool!
I have no mishaps to tell- knock on wood! I carry my yarn and either hook or needles with me everywhere. Before work and at my breaks I can be found knitting or crocheting!
I love that idea!
Camping in a windblown provincial park in Saskatchewan and having the tent blow away before it was staked down! I did a lot of running.
When traveling I love to visit yarn stores, of course. When visiting Alafoss in Iceland we also explored the other small businesses in the area and happened upon an amazing workshop and store making and selling handmade knives. We never would have found it without a yarn quest.
I would love to knit this sweater as it would remind me of Glasgow. My daughter and I went there a number of years ago working on finding family roots. We travelled by rail most of the time but had to rent a car going from Glasgow to the coast to the castle my ancestors worked in. As we travelled on the “wrong” side of the tiny roads we had a couple of encounters with locals coming at us and patiently waiting while we sorted out the left and right turnings. We did survive, thanks only to good luck and those lovely people!
When I was in Ireland, my cousin drove out onto a drive-on beach, but we sank into the sand and got stuck. There was no one around and I ran back into the town to look for help. A little old man was riding by on a little tractor, and he immediately agreed to help. I hopped on the sideboard thing and we triumphantly rode across the sand to save the day.
I don’t really have any yarn adventures. But a few years back coming home from SC we decided to stop at The Natural Bridge and Foamhenge. It only ended up being a 3 hour detour on our 11 hour trip home
A few years back my husband and I took a road trip to deliver my sons car to him in California (we live in IL). It was late July. I figured it would be a great opportunity to knit a gansey style sweater in the car during all the hours on the road. Little did I realize that it would be in the 100s most of the way and knitting with a pile of wool in my lap was not super comfortable. I managed until the car engine got too hot in Arizona and we had to turn off the air and open the windows to take stress off the engine. Needless to say, I didn’t finish the sweater until we got home although I was able to work on it during the flight home at least.
Wow – gorgeous! Travel story – being mocked by my kids for knitting on the beach in Mexico. I quite like that my wrap smells vaguely of sunscreen!
What a lovely sweater!
I took a trip to Dubai & Abu Dhabi with my husband, and during the trip I worked on a beautiful emerald green scarf that a friend asked me to make for her. By the end of the trip I’d finished the scarf, and when we returned, I regaled her with all my stories while she marveled at her new scarf.
My most epic travel misadventure was when I was stranded in the Brussels airport for an extra 12 hours (pre-knitting!). I went in an out of security for food, magazines, etc., and I tried to rest but was unsuccessful (I’d already been traveling overnight by the time I arrived there, and I had a full day ahead of me after I left there, to get home.) I’d been with companions to this point, but their connections weren’t missed, so I was alone now.
Thank you for the giveaway. I take my knitting with me everywhere. I don’t have any great travel stories to share. We did go on one trip and I packed all my knitting and a few extra projects carefully. The next day I realized I had forgotten to pack any underwear and my toothbrush. That was a hard one to fess up to my husband!
This pattern is lovely and I don’t blame you for waiting until you find just the right buttons! The description of the yarn is intriguing. I’m dying to rub it between my fingers!
In 1992, a group of us returning from a tour of Israel overnighted in a hotel at Gatwick between planes. About midnight, I discovered that several had never been to London. So what else would an elderly lady, an 18-year-old woman and I do but jump a train to London, then hop into a London taxi and instruct the taciturn driver to take us on a flying tour of the sights. He was obviously unimpressed with this idea. As we flew through the city during the early hours, I described the sights. Finally, the driver could no longer stand me messing it all up so he took over. Once he did, he took us through alleys and all sorts of places to see sights others seldom see. What a delightful whirlwind! Naturally he got one whale of a tip — and, no doubt, an amusing story to share with his mates at the pub. Well worth a night’s sleep!
In my mid-twenties I left my home in South Carolina to attend the University of Glasgow for my Master’s degree. I had always wanted to study outside of the USA and I was so excited for my new adventure. After my plane landed in Glasgow and I had my belongings, I anxiously stood in a queue for a taxi daydreaming of what my new life would like in Scotland. Once I was in the cab, the driver asked me where I was going and I suddenly realized I didn’t have an address or place to give him. Bless his heart for driving me around that morning until we found the right place for to check in.
Thanks for the great giveaway! Two years ago I went to Senegal to visit my daughter; the return flight from Dakar was delayed so I ended up spending an extra day in Dubai. I had a lovely day in a bird-filled garden working on my fingering-weight cowl. Whenever I wear it I think of all the amazing things I saw on that trip!
Thanks for the giveaway! I would love to win. I don’t have any travel adventures having to do with yarn. Only getting lost trying to find yarn shops in Chicago (so many one way streets!!). And on other travels having my companions groan at having to trek with me to yet another yarn shop.
I play with a regional orchestra based in a local college. The entire music department (orchestra, band & choir) got to participate in a 10 day performance tour of Italy a few years ago. I diligently planned my project for travelling; a grey wool sweater, mostly stockinette with a few random cables on the cuff and yoke. We had an 8 hour layover in Heathrow and I managed to lose my cable needle in a chair. Fortunately a travel companion had a small pencil that I used the rest of our trip. I completed the sweater shortly upon our return home.
I lost my cable needle too during a trip and replaced it with a small plastic coffee stirrer… it was just fine, even though it was looking a bit weird looool
Well traveled wrap!
A few years ago I was making my yearly summer trip to Sweden and of course you need a project to work on so I started a moss stitch gradient wrap a couple of days before my trip. Starting in Minneapolis, MN I had a lay-over in Washington DC on my way to Amsterdam, Netherlands (to visit my daughter) but due to bad weather I missed my connection and was now booked on a flight going through Dublin, Ireland. After a few days later it was time to fly again, this time to Gothenburg, Sweden via Frankfurt, Germany and of course knitting is happening in all of the airports and cities I visit. When it’s time to fly back I have another 3 leg flight (not my favorite) so starting out in Gothenburg, Sweden I make my way to Copenhagen, Denmark and then off to Toronto, Canada to finally arrive in Minneapolis, MN. The only mishap in this story is that I had to go to Ireland (which wasn’t that bad) and this also added another spot that I worked on my wrap so every time I wear it I think about how well traveled it is. I don’t have any other garments that have been to 7 countries in their WIP stage!
When my DH was stationed at San Vito dei Normanni, Italy, he had to go to Germany for a medical appointment. Rather than hang out in Specchiola waiting for him, I boarded a train bound (I thought) for Frankfurt. Nearing Milano, I offered to share my candy with two little French boys. They commented that a passenger was “un imbecile” (a fool). I asked where they were going, and they replied “Paris.” I said “I’m going to Frankfurt.” “But this train is going to Paris!” I flagged down the conductor, who told me that, indeed, the part of the train I was on was bound for France! In Milano (at 2 am!) one conductor grabbed my suitcase, the other took my hand, and we all raced back to the part of the train that would separate and head for Germany. Yes, I made it to Germany — where my DH was NOT there to meet the train. But that’s — another story!
Would love to knit this. Would have been perfect to knit on while trying to get to Chicago from Cincinnati, Ohio. Due to a cancelled flight had a flight with a change in Columbus, Ohio. The connection from Columbus was cancelled. The airline booked a flight through St. Louis and bought me dinner. Took longer to fly than to drive. Spent a wonderful six hours knitting in airports.
I don’t have any travel mishaps, but my three boys were embarrassed when I bought my knitting to their sporting events, until I explained that it would keep enough of my brain occupied, so my mouth would be shut.
Great giveaway! No stories, just that I am never without yarn and needles.
What a beautiful sweater! Have always wanted to make one of these, a win would certainly make it possible. Love the part about about how soft and swuishable(into a pillow) this yarn is!
Beautiful sweater and design!
My husband and I were in Costa Rica. We had a full schedule and barely set our bags down in Monteverdi when we had to get ready for our night hike. Although we were exhausted, we decided to go for it. Then the clouds came rolling in and the downpour was amazingly beautiful. Lightening filled the sky over the rainforest and rivers of water rushed around our cabin. Of course, we were notified that the hike had to be rescheduled. We were perfectly happy with that. We sat and watched that beautiful storm go by and listened to the rain hit our metal roof. In the morning, the forest was fresh and alive! We experienced an amazing hike that will always be at the heart of our trip there.
Wow! Beautiful! When I lived in Europe, I traveled a lot by train and planes and I loved Ireland and Scotland as well as France and Russia and, like you, I was knitting all along the trip (I traveled a lot between Canada and Europe too). I never lost a sleeve but drop many, many stitches as I was dropping my knit to rush for my camera. I always knitted simple garments when traveling so I could look outside and enjoy the breathtaking views through the train’s window while keeping my fingers active.
That would be great to knit this sweater to link with your experience and memories of a trip dear to my heart. Just hope that, one day, I will be able to go back to visit what is left of my family and to do a pilgrimage of where I went several years ago.
Thank you for your story that reminds me so beautiful times.
Forgot to say too that I always travel light so, little roller suitcase and my knitting bag but… I always have to buy a cheap big suitcase (or two) to come back as I can’t resist buying wool from other countries… wool that are sooooooooo beautiful and often (at least in that time) not available where I live.
How many sweaters, shawls, scarves, gauntlets, etc. are still in my closet (yes, I still wear them)… sometimes, when I don’t want to wear them anymore, I unknit them and do something else with the yarn. I don’t want to give them away as, for me, those yarns are wonderful memories of a past I miss soooo much.
So ready for fall and sweaters like this!!! Misdadventure… not really but we were scheduled to go skiing over Spring Break. The weather didn’t cooperate that year so we went to Greece instead and got to enjoy the outdoor market and culture instead of snow, skiing and cocoa.
What a lovely cardigan. I am very curious about this yarn and would really like to try it out. I’ve had a lot of misadvertures traveling. The adage that if you don’t have a story to tell, you had a boring vacation… My most recent has nothing to do with knitting… I intended to spend a week bicycling in Oregon this September but the trip was cancelled due to the forest fires which have overtaken the state.
I lost one of my sock DPNs down the side of my seat less than an hour into a six-hour flight for a business trip. I spent two hours trying to contort myself to find it but to no avail. I spent the rest of the flight paying a fortune for in-flight wifi to search for a yarn store at my destination and rescheduling meetings so that I could buy new needles. I wasn’t going to be unable to knit on the flight home.
The furthest I’ve traveled is to visit a friend in England. That was a wonderful trip! We would love to go back and make it up to Scotland next time as well. A recent travel misadventure was when we finally had our car all loaded up to drive up into BC, Canada, and we discovered that the back tire had gone completely flat! A race around to get a new tire and we were on our way. 🙂
Beautiful! And I don’t think it even needs buttons.
I’m so happy that you are bringing plotulopi to North America! I am in a Lopi knitting group on Ravelry and have been watching with envy as many of the European knitters turn out wondrous creations from these mysterious wispy plates of fiber. As I understand it, the fiber is quite delicate to work with but the fo is quite durable. I have not had the opportunity to travel often since becoming a knitter, but I am grateful that I can enjoy so many armchair adventures learning about designs and fibers from cultures all over the world.
I spent an Alaskan cruise knitting a shawl for my sister. It was made from a bamboo/wool mix that tended to get caught on everything, leaving little swirls everywhere. I decided to felt it just a little to tighten up the knit and take care of the snags. I got distracted. Now I have a useless rectangle that has no stitch definition and the pattern is totally lost. Ugh.
Your story about this cardigan is very intriguing–and the design compelling. I’d love to knit it!
I love this sweater and as a Scot born just down the coast from Glasgow, I am especially drawn to it! Though I live in Canada, I have been back to Scotland many times. On those and other trips, my very patient husband and I travel out of our way to allow me to visit yarn shops. My purchases fill all the corners of both our suitcases! This knitting is the best souvenir of our travel and has brought me a lot of joy!
I love to knit when I travel. When the airlines didn’t allow knitting needles I just put them in my hair bun and was able to knit all the way to Tahiti.
My favorite driving adventure was driving my husband’s car, pulling my SUV with 4 cats in carriers inside, & my son driving a movie van when we moved from CA to Oh. We bought a set of very walkie-talkie for the trip & had a great time sharing those 5 days of traveling our beautiful country. Went from 85deg 10/26 to snow by 10/31 in OH.
What a great travel story and such a beautiful sweater! I usually have some knitting project with me wherever I go. My husband prefers driving to riding so when we travel I can knit to bide the time. I make simple ribbed hats for charity and I don’t really need to see what i’m doing so I can watch the scenery and i can even knit them in the dark if we travel at night! My biggest problem is that I usually run out of yarn before the trip is over! LOL
Lovely sweater!
We travel in a motorhome and do not have any mis-adventures. But my good friend who is a full time RVer had an engine leak into the compartment where her yarn stash was stored. Ruined it all….so sad.
Knitting related disaster while traveling, not really a disaster but it felt like it at the time. Was when I boarded the plane and then promptly broke one of my double pointed needles so couldn’t knit on the plane for the 16-hour plane trip. Always take a spare…
Great story! I always taking knitting with me when I travel – it’s great for long car trips or long plane rides. Once, when I was still knitting socks on dpns (now I use 2 circulars), I lost one of the dps. I was able to make do for the rest of the trip using a bamboo skewer that was fortunately the right diameter…
When I was 19 (back in the 70s) I back packed through Europe with a couple of friends. Back then you could do it on $10/day, and it was one big adventure. Back then I wasn’t an avid knitter but since then I often seek out wool shops when I’m travelling.
Beautiful sweater and intriguing yarn! One yarn adventure involved a transatlantic voyage aboard the Queen Victoria. There was a “knitting hour” each afternoon so we could all talk yarn and patterns and see other people’s projects–great fun! One lady needed a bit of help with her project, which I was happy to be able to provide, and she was so happy with the results that she invited my whole family to drinks at her home in Edinburgh which we were going to visit in the course of our trip. What a wonderful memory!
Beautiful cardigan, I would love to knit one for myself.
I visited Scotland in 1999. What a beautiful country. Enjoyed seeing all the sheep; in fact, when I smell sheep in the country even today, I say it smells like Scotland! I’m just SO sad I hadn’t yet become a knitter when I was there. I would’ve definitely come home with yarn. I did buy a beautiful sweater there, however.
Boarded a plane for a long trip – 16 hours – probably broke one of the double pointed needles for my current project and was unable to knit for the trip despite trying to use pencils and other things as a knitting needle. Always carry a spare!
Love to travel with a project but always concerned with weight and bulkiness. This looks perfect! Would love to make a trip to Iceland and try this sweater in action! Thanks for the opportunity to enter.
Was in Pakistan with my family visiting a nomadic family they would spin the wool sheep/goats they herded. But that people never knit. They would weave with their yarns.
Love this new sweater design!
On a road trip to Utah from California for a wedding, I thought I could finish a shawl and wear it with my dress. I’m a slow knitter though, and didn’t finish in time. Fortunately, I brought a backup cardigan. The project is still a WIP 5+years later.
Love the sweater. Scotland and Iceland are on my “wish list”. My travel adventure: My first trip to New York, spring time, there I am in a red raincoat, when everyone I saw was dressed in black or beige, plus I was always headed against the crowds of people on the street. Everyone could tell I was an-out-of towner. My visit to NY Chinatown…there were rabbits (with fur still on), hanging in the market window. I could only think……….they killed the Easter Bunny!
Thank you for this opportunity. The sweater is lovely and the new to U.S. Lopi yarn looks really nice.
A flight home was delayed once because an overhead bin wouldn’t latch shut. The crew had nothing to put in the latch hole to secure it so I offered them my lollipop stick – minus the lollipop. They popped it through the latch hole, twisted it to secure it & called the captain to inspect. He approved the “repair” and we were able to take off. No one makes fun of me traveling with snacks anymore!
Beautiful sweater & the yarn sounds dreamy!
I learned the hard way why you are supposed to camp on high ground. One torrential downpour later, my cousin and I awoke to find the bottom of our tent felt like a water bed… and the water was slowly seeping through the nylon into the tent! We spent the majority of the day using the dryers at the laundromat and had a good laugh about it
beautiful sweater! warm yet lightweight is perfect for a southern california winter.
Like most air travelers, I’ve had flight delays. One of my most memorable was flying back from my sister’s wedding in Kansas City. My parents gifted me with a flight, because I was the maid of honor. Patty and Bill’s wedding was on April 24. A wacky snow storm hit the Midwest on the 26th. I was scheduled to transfer flights in Chicago, and as we circled over O’Hare, the pilot said that we had to go to St. Louis or we’d run out of fuel. This was back in the days when airlines would put passengers up in hotels. I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m. And remember the mad dash through the airport to compete for rescheduled flights. The irony was that my parents were in St. Louis and Chicago when I was there. I only got home 2 hours before them–and they drove to Michigan.
My daughter would love a sweater out of this yarn, her family are hiking fanatics.
On a flight home from New York where I had been visiting my son, I was knitting a plain vanilla sock with some then new self patterning sock yarn. The man sitting next to me kept looking at my knitting and finally asked how I got all those colors. When I took out the ball of yarn he was amazed and a bit embarrassed that he did not realize that’s the way it was dyed. At least he knew I was knitting and thought it was interesting I would do socks.
Lovely pattern and he yarn looks perfect for it.
Traveling with knitting is the best. My favorite road trip was from NC to Texas knitting while my daughter drove. I almost knitted a whole sweater while we talked and listened to This American Life podcasts.
Ages ago, I was away on vacation in Italy, and was contacted by my work to assist them with training a customer, who also happened to be in Italy. It was a Navy boat, and as fate would have it, one I had just obtained a guest pass to visit the next day, as a friend was serving on it! A lucky coincidence that finished with my office offering to expense my travel costs, making my trip all the sweeter!
I would love to knit this sweater! My worst travel adventure was landing at LAX at midnight (3 am EST) and heading off in a rental car towards my hotel. Instinctively I headed east (AWAY from the water on the east coast). Didn’t figure out my error until I ended up in rather sketchy dockyard neighborhood! I will only knit this sweater before midnight, I promise!
This is such a lovely yarn to knit with! I have made a hap shawl with it and am constantly amazed at how weightless and warm it is!
We recently moved cross-country from Miami, FL, to Boise, ID. It was a four day dash across the US with three kids, two dogs, four cats, a guinea pig, and two gerbils in tow, along with enough belongings to last us through the little while until we get the rest of our household goods back. At least three of our bags blew away off the roof of the car – gone for good! – on the way, and the gerbils had literally chewed themselves out of their temporary cages by the time we got to Idaho. We had to carry them in our hands for the last leg of the trip! I would love to win this beautiful yarn. Thank you for the chance.
I would love to try this new yarn and the sweater is beautiful. I can remember going camping with a good friend of mine at a beautiful park with a beach when I was 16 or 17. We both took knitting, and knit at our hidden campsite out of view of other campers because we thought it was uncool.
My projects are also well travelled! On a long overnight 13 hour flight, I pulled out my knitting (a baby blanket) and the woman beside me moaned ” I didn’t know we could knit on a plane”. Well, being prepared, I had lots of birch needles and other yarn in my carry-on, handed some over, and she happily proceeded to knit a cabled hat. As the hours went by, she taught me Continental Knitting, and I taught her English knitting. We exchanged new stitches and techniques. She gave me back the completed hat, but I insisted she keep it as a souvenir. What a great flight!
On a trip to visit relatives I made a big mistake in my shawl. Being a novice knitter I was stumped but found a wonderful knitting shop in a town we stayed. The proprietor gladly uninitiated and fixed my mistake and I was able to continue knitting on our long drive! Knitting shops are wonderful! Love the Glaswegian sweater! Hope to win the kit!
So many good travel stories! My own involving knitting: headed to Vienna in November and only when onboard the plane in DC did I realize I had packed hats for everyone…except me. So I pulled out my backup knitting (flight knitting was supposed to be a sock), ignored the carefully picked shawl pattern, cast on for hat, knit like crazy through the night flight, and cast off just as we landed. Whew! Turned out to be one of the coldest weeks ever in Vienna, but I was toasty warm in my new hat!
My favorite travel misadventure did not begin as travel at all. When I was seventeen, my father returned to college. This required all of us to move, including my somewhat frazzled mother and my youngest sibling who was two at the time. Although the move was only about a hundred miles, it put us across a state line and out of a small, rural village into a mid-sized Midwestern city. This was pre-GPS and my mother, who is famous for her lack of a sense of direction, was nervous about driving.
On our first trip to the grocery store, we left armed with a hand drawn map and high hopes. Two hours later, when we crossed the state line into our home state and out of our new state, my mother said, “Look, kids! It’s a state where I know they have groceries!” We stopped at the nearest grocery. After shopping, my mother found a pay phone and called my father. He drove the straightest route that covered the 93 miles we were from the new house. We followed him home.
This year I made an Icelandic cardigan out of lopi yarn. Then I had the pleasure of taking an Alaskan cruise and using my new cardigan. I was excited about the chance to check out the local yarn stores to find more lopi yarn. While I was there I learned about qiviut yarn! A beautifully soft yarn made from the musk oxen. Ahhhh so many yarns, so little time! Would love to make this Glaswegian sweater for my next cold weather vacation! 🙂
I say “Abandon the buttons!” and start a new trend: Open-Front Icelandic Cardi. Oops…make that Scottish Cardi in this case and you are on your way. I want one!
I found my first post about buttons versus no buttons on this great cardigan, but not the second one about my skirmish with Turkish security in the Istanbul airport regarding my circular needles. Did it vanish somehow?
We were at a NY airport to pick up our eldest grand daughter, listening to various announcements over the pa system telling us that the plane would be late. They were finally given the okay to stop circling the airport, oh, wait, no. There was too much fog so they would go to Philadelphia and there was to be a bus bringing them to NY . So we waited and waited and the bus arrived minutes before the plane landed after all. Thank you for this give away, which I hope to win. I knitted this type of sweater for my boyfriend (now husband of 56 years) while my mother knitted one for me.
I just got back from visiting my son in North Dakota. His girlfriend had business in Fargo, so my son and I went to join her. On the way we found a fiber mill that had a camel in residence. Not only did I see and pet the camel, but I came away with a private tour of the mill and a hank of the camel yarn.
My greatest misadventure is tl:dr, but involved frequent-flier miles, a lighting storm in Australia, SARS in HK and shock and awe (seriously). I could have used a good knitting project on that trip to soothe my nerves!
Hi, from Glasgow, Scotland! Now that I’m retired, I have plenty of time to knit…..except, that is, on a recent short break to Portsonachan Hotel on Loch Awe, miles from anywhere. I’ve returned to knitting the POP Blanket from Tin Can Knits (started in 2015!) so took my yarn and needles with me, along with the pattern instructions on my Samsung tablet. But………..no internet connection in our lochside apartment! Duh! I didn’t want to waste time on knitting squares and maybe making mistakes so no crafty stuff for me. Fortunately, the weather was good so we were out and about touring round the Western Highlands. Fabulous.
I have been very lucky to have very few mishaps while traveling – I do have an inordinate fear of running out stuff to knit while I travel so I usually pack a few back up projects – this sweater sounds like the perfect travel project – thanks for having the give away would love to try the new yarn
Beautiful yarn and pattern. I don’t have any amazing travel stories, but I take my knitting everywhere and on every trip I go on. I specially like knitting on planes because it’s uninterrupted knitting time. Both of my daughters also knit, and we often have KALs on vacations. I take a new project each year to the beach in the summer, and I love to sit on the beach and watch the ocean and knit!
Loved my time traveling in Iceland with my Mother who speaks the language. In fact we were mistaken for natives while flying inter island. Our best memories include purchasing Icelandic sweaters from the hand knitters association. Love the beautiful color ways. Linnea
Beautiful yarn & sweater!
The yarn looks lovely, as does the cardi.
The most adventure I’ve had traveling was on a group trip to Costa Rica. On the return trip a handful of us had booked an earlier second leg, not realizing that we’d all have less than an hour to debark the first plane, pass through customs, and race across the airport to the second domestic flight. At some point we also had to pick up our luggage and drop it back off – the employees there told us we’d need to run(!). We nearly had to beg to jump to the front of the security line in order not to miss that second flight and just barely made it!
Beautiful sweater! My traveling tip is to always pack the project first. People will wait for clothes, but grumble about knitting
Feeling drawn toward knitting a patterned yoke sweater; this might be the one!
I took my first ever flight this past summer to my son’s wedding and I knit on the flight to help me keep calm as I was very nervous about flying. Knit on the shawl the whole week and the return flight and a week or two after I got home I unravelled it and knit socks from it. It makes much better socks than it did the shawl. I’d love to win the yarn and the sweater is lovely.
Beautiful sweater and the yarn colors are some of my favorites.
When traveling solo to meet my mother (at any age from 14 going into NYC, through to age 30, meeting up with her to visit cousins much “older” than myself whom i’d Never met or seen, my flight was repeatedly delayed until it was actually cancelled!
With hotel and meal vouchers in hand, I was freaking out.
All in all, my relatives were in the travel business, knew of changes, and as I debarked into a totally unrecognizable d’Orly Airport, (expecting the “Charles DeGaulle” Airport) Again freaking out, I heard sweet, soft, kind melodious tones singing out, Marywin…You are in Paris now!!!!
I dragged myself and my precious bunched Up in my sweaty hands – knitting bag containing a gob of knitting needing immediate ripping out due to KWD (Knitting While Distracted) major errors !
That night was followed by a string of crazy making adventures! It was always a scary sort of fun adventure traveling with my mother! I miss it since I’m so much more adventurous now!
I love the cardi. First sweater I ever knit was Lopi for my dad forty years ago. My travel story: After several missed connections in southern France my family and I made it to the Marseille airport. We were attempting to fly to Paris and from there board a flight to Los Angeles. The airport was packed with frustrated travelers as CDG was closed due to a snowstorm in Paris. Nothing we could do but get inline with hundreds of other stranded people attempting to rebook and get home. How long was the line?? Long enough that I cast on an adult size hat and completed it before I got to the ticket counter. Thank goodness for knitting!
Oh my, this sweater and yarn are lovely! We traveled to Iceland this summer and I coveted all the beautiful sweaters I came across. My birthday is at the end of this month and winning would be a wonderful gift. Thanks so much for offering this contest and free sweater pattern.
Thanks for this giveaway! I really love this designs and your choice of colours. I had a travel adventure, back in July, when I was lucky enough to win a free ticket to Pomfest, in London. I live in Bristol, a few hours away, and don’t drive. As I was determined to go to Pomfest, because I’d never been to a knitting event. So, I got the bus, on my own, to London, and then had to get the Tube (subway) to get bear to the event. Once I got off at the right Tube station, it was only a 10 minute walk to Pomfest. Now, the “adventure” came, as a result of the fact that I hadn’t been on any tube or subway, since before my kids were born (my oldest is nearly 15!). Luckily, I didn’t get lost at any point during my trip to Pomfest and back to Bristol. The hardest part was buying the ticket for my tube journey, there and back. I really didn’t have a clue, but there was a lovely, helpful man who was staff at the busy London Victoria tube station. I also was saved from becoming lost or any other embarrassing mistakes by the City app (I can totally recommend it!). It was a wonderful day, and I’m eager to have another adventure soon.
Beautiful yarn! My worst travel blunder was on a car tour of Ireland. I had brought a GPS unit I could use in both the USA and Europe. Unbeknownst to me the GPS unit was set to “No Uturns”. If I made a wrong turn, which I did a lot, the GPS unit simply rerouted me instead of telling me to turn around. Of course, it didn’t mention that it was rerouting. I ended up on some pretty scary one lane roads with two way traffic and a several hundred feet drop off on one side. I also never found some of the sights I was looking for. Sigh.
I’ve been eyeing Icelandic style sweaters for a while and have a whole ravelry bundle of favorite patterns. This one is certainly getting added.
As to travel adventures, I take my knitting with me as I’ve traveled around the States and the world. Luckily I haven’t lost any knitting, though I did lose a mostly completed needlepoint project once, as well as my Ravelry water bottle, but those hardly qualify as misadventures. I usually stay relaxed and go with the flow trusting to get where I need to be, eventually. There was the time I traveled from Brussels (after stumbling upon a yarn store and buying some sock yarn) through London to Washington DC and my original flight was so late that I got escorted through Heathrow to my second flight, but my luggage didn’t get such treatment. I showed up the next day at my meeting wearing the same suit and very little makeup.
Beautiful yarn and a beautiful sweater!
One of my favorite things to do when I travel is seek out the local knit shop and look, touch, and take my time finding the most wonderful yarn. I have to say my family is very understanding. When the Mama is happy everyone is happy!!
Loved reading your story, good luck finding the perfect buttons.
Lovely pattern! I really don’t have any mishaps, however I do recall when we chartered a cataMaran in the BVI’s, and I was trying to knit my second pair of socks, toe up, 2 at a time. A simple eyelet pattern that I couldn’t keep straight no matter what! By the time I finished those socks I’m sure I actually knit 2 pair or more with the amount of ripping out I did!
I was in Iceland this summer and was introduced to the lovely plutolopi cakes. What a beautiful yarn and lovely pattern.
Lovely sweater. I’ve learned not to take double point needles on airplanes, because I always drop one and then have a difficult time finding them.
I love Lette Lopi, but have not knit with Pluto…….
This would be a great opportunity to knit with it.
I love knitting while traveling, short car trips or long, doesn’t matter. When the scenery gets boring it keeps my hands out of the potato chips and saves me from road rage when traffic slows down. Colorwork is the best for this because you don’t have to count as often and it is easiest to spot a mistake. The new Lopi yarn looks lovely to work with, requires my favorite needles as well.
I’m a Disney knitter. My yarn travels with me daily to the parks and on the rides. No fast passes for me, that’s knitting time. Love to give this light weight one a try. Sounds like a wonderful to pack for vacations.
Such lovely yarn and it makes a warm, cozy sweater. It would have been great for that canoe trip up in northern Ontario on boxing day 2015, when the water was open, clear and cold, but the weather was fine (as long as you stayed on the water, not in it!).
I have very fortunate to not have any real travel misadventures. However my husband and his family have had tons of them! The first one comes to mind is they missed a connecting flight and had to spend the night in an airport. It just so happens that it was the same night the airport had to test their alarm system. The fire alarm went off every 30 minutes. All. Night. Long.
What beautiful yarn and pattern! I don’t really have a story, but my worst travel experience was getting stranded by an airline in Albuquerque last year for three days. All of us who had been on the same plane were miserable and tired and not getting any helpful information from the airline. But as we were going from luggage carousel to carousel looking for our luggage a stranger said with relief “Oh, you were on my flight. I recognize that beautiful shawl. Did you knit it yourself?” She was relieved to find a fellow traveller, and I was comforted to talk about something I love (knitting) amidst a very trying time.
What a lovely sweater, and such an interesting sounding yarn. Appreciate the opportunity to try both.
About 30 years ago my husband and I traveled to Brazil with a group tour. Everything was fine until we got ready to return home. Somehow we managed not to have our papers properly stamped when we entered the country and we were there illegally. Fortunately our tour leader knew someone who could get us out of our predicament. Some money changed hands and we were allowed to leave with our group.
p.s. And here’s the adventure part: A few months ago, I had a layover in Istanbul, on my way to Israel for a combination history highlights/anniversary trip. Enroute from Boston to Istanbul, I got food poisoning which resulted in a miserable flight. But I did manage to get some knitting done. Landing in Turkey, I was sleep-deprived and washed out from my spate of illness and now too fatigued to even knit on my beautiful sweater which was steadily building up from a bottom-up cast on of 300+ stitches. When it was time to board the next flight to Tel Aviv, a pop-up security check appeared just in front of our gate. And what do you think happened? The gruff bag snoopers went ballistic over my metal circulars. They insisted that they be confiscated and I had to tearfully remove all those thousands of stitches on my needles. The garment was almost a foot long by now. At this point, I was reduced to emotional rubble and still feeling infirm. I pleaded with the security staff to reconsider their harsh approach and explained that I had no other knitting apparatus and that meant my free time for the next twelve days would be knit-free. A true traveller’s dilemma. Finally the airport’s security chief was summoned to the gate where he heard my story and could certainly seel that events had not treated me well for the past day or so. He ultimately offered to pull my bag from the hold of the plane and if I was able to identify it and willing to open it in the presence of a team of police, I might be allowed to put the needles in my checked baggage. I readily agreed and my husband and were escorted down the ramp where a team of Turkish military officers and airport henchmen awaited us, looming over my bright red suitcase. I hurriedly claimed ownership, opened the bag and held out my hand for the confiscated needles. In the wink of an eye, I had them safely tucked into my luggage and the case was closed. I thanked all in attendance for the reprieve (but not for the earlier harassment…) and clutched my rapidly unravelling sweater to my weary self. Bottom line: I cheated knitting death and was able to knit throughout my tour of Israel. Amen!
You are an intrepid knitter. The knitting I prefer for plane travel is a pair of socks, small, and, if I finish them, using the toe up method, I can wear them on my trip. Road trip, I’ve done sweaters, crocheted afghans, and hats. This yarn looks really enticing, and there is motivation to learn a new knitting skill too!
Wish I had a story to tell.Love to take trips so I can spend time knitting as we drive.ENjoy it if I can just knit and look out the window. That sweater is just gorgeous!WOuld be so warm for the winter months.Hope I win!
I think knitting with the soft roving yarn would be delightful! What a great cardigan it would make!
I have been fortunate in all my travels to have plenty of adventures but few misadventures, even when traveling with my kids. Our latest trip to Peru was one of my favourites – people knitting everywhere! With the most beautifully soft alpaca yarn that had been hand-dyed with indigenous plants. Such a glorious tradition of stunning textiles of all kinds. It was hard not to buy another suitcase to cart home all the yarn I could lay my hands on! Our biggest misadventures usually result from our youngest getting carsick… but we’ve gotten wise to his ways since he vomited inside my nice new leather bag on the way to the airport. Never go on a car trip without plastic bags!
Thanks for this contest. Living in Saskatchewan gives us plenty of opportunities to snuggle into our warm handknits all winter looooooong.
My favorite travel memory is wandering around Venice with my cousin – so many twisty side streets, that sometimes have a watery dead end! We got lost, of course, but didn’t mind one bit 🙂
I’ve recently returned from a 7 week camping trip in the Canadian Maritimes. The wind seemed to always be blowing while we were there. We spent three nights in Meat Cove at the very upper tip of Cape Breton where the wind blew so hard we were forced to take our tent down and sleep in our van–and even that seemed to blow in the wind all night. All good and fun despite the wind. I do tend to overestimate the amount of potential knitting time when I pack for a trip, too. For this trip I packed 4 projects. Never finished the first one and never touched the other three!
I know just which socks I was knitting on 9/11 when we were staying in a remote cabin on Kangaroo Island in Australia on a trip from the U,S. We had no radio or TV so didn’t know about current events until we got in the car the next day and heard about sports events being cancelled all over the U.S. Finally a recap of the news came on. My socks are linked to that trip!
Such beautiful yarn. For a few wonderful summers I went to the G bar M Ranch in Montana. I would spend a wonderful week riding, eating, knitting or crocheting and just plain relaxing.
When I saw this sweater, I immediately remembered climbing the Green Mountains in Vermont one summer, maybe ten years ago, and thinking what a perfect garment this sweater would have been. We went to Vermont for a week to, among other things, escape the humid, hot, sticky summer of Baltimore. The weather in Vermont was crisp, sunny and dry most of the week, until we decided to climb one of the peaks, I don’t remember which one right now. What I do distinctly recall was the cold and blustery wind that we encountered at the top of the mountain. What a difference in temperature and overall weather conditions! The people who knew what they were doing had the right outerwear with them, but I only had my t-shirt. I remember not wanting to add much more weight to my backpack down. This cardigan would have been an easy option. It’s visually appealing, and it offers the tactile enjoyment and cognitive engagement of knitting with multiple strands of colors. Yay!
Beautiful pattern and yarn. I took my first cruise to Alaska this year. What beautiful scenery!
My travel story is pretty tame. When I go see family and friends , I always take yarn and needles for socks. I leave a little bit to finish before the toes so I can “customize” to their size and leave them a hand made thank you gift.
During my first trip to Ireland in 1984, I rode the train & was amazed at all the knitters on the trains, talking away to each other while unbelievably complicated patterns poured off their needles, seemingly without them paying any attention. Now, years later and having honed all my knitting skills, I often receive comments from other people when I am knitting in concerts, “how can you knit without looking?” and I am so happy to have joined the ranks of those knitters I admired so long ago.
I found out several years ago that I have Russian cousins in Moscow. My son and I went to visit them, and we were taken all over Moscow and environs. My favorite was just getting to stand in Red Square. Having grown up during the Cold War, it was amazing to me to be able to do that.
When I was in college, I flew from Madrid to Costa Rica. My luggage showed up 3 days later and was stamped in Japan–a long way from my route! I love to carry knitting when I travel.
The travel that seems most appropriate for this blog is the time my husband and I flew to Germany and had to make a stop in Iceland. We weren’t there long and I confess I don’t remember much about it, but I bought a beautiful Icelandic wool coat, scarf and mittens. They are now long gone, so it would be wonderful to have authentic yarn to make replacements for them.
My strangest travel accident was when I was flying to Australia from Vancouver, BC and they lost the plane for several hours. To this day I think they still don’t know what happened to it.
While I don’t have a travel misadventure to share, I want to thank everyone involved for a great giveaway. I love the pattern and the above story made me think about the great TV series, Shetland, on PBS and Netflix.
Love the cardigan. About 10 years ago we had flown to Switzerland and I boarded, needles and knitting in my carry-on, no problem. When we were at the gate, ready to board for the homebound flight, I was called up to the counter. The Swiss TSA didn’t appreciate that I was carrying knitting needles. They did allow me to continue, but it was a little disturbing to think my hands might have been idle for all those hours!
My mother and I had the craziest time in November 1989 while traveling in Europe. We had a Eurail pass (do those even still exist?) and we were on the train from Vienna to Lodz–no one else spoke English or Italian, all we knew. Historic note, it was while we were traveling that the Berlin Wall “fell”. The people in our car asked where we were going, and then managed to convey that our train didn’t go to Lodz! We showed the computer printed train ticket; they were unimpressed. So we had a magnificent few days in Warsaw that were unplanned but what an amazing city! There were other mixups, frequently related to the fact that we just didn’t speak the language and at that time English wasn’t very common. After Poland and Budapest we made it to Italy, and at least then when things went sideways we knew how to handle it. Good humor, good manners, and a sense of adventure helped save that trip!
Took some yarn and a plastic crochet hook on a trip to Spain but lost hook on bus. Like to try the Glaswegian Cardigan
Some years ago now I visited a friend in Goldendale, Washington, USA. It was my first vacation in 40 years and I had a wonderful time.
I flew from Albuquerque, NM to Portland, Ore and my friend and her husband picked me up at the airport and the trip was about 2 1/2 hours to Goldendale.
If I remember correctly the plane was an hour or two late. I had to wait in the Las Vegas airport for my connecting flight.
I ended up staying 10 days instead of 7 but don’t remember why. Possibly the weather as it was March during spring break.
I was knitting a scarf with Plotulopi in natural black sheep in Brioche stitch on the trip and I finished it while in Goldendale. I got to wear it all during my stay and then gave it to my friend’s husband just before I left.
She is also a knitter and I purchased yarn for her to knit her Mom a shawl that she liked at a local yarn store as a thank you to them both for letting me stay with them.
I would move to Goldendale in a heartbeat, it is beautiful there.
When I travel with my husband we seem to always be running to catch our connecting flight. I dropped the ball I was using and didn’t know it. No one stopped us to tell me. I left a trail through the airport in Atlanta. By the time I figured it out we were going to be the last people on the plane. I had to break the yarn and leave it behind.
Returning from Scotland to the States. Plane lands in Manchester and sits. Finally we are herded off to be fed as we await the mechanics to fix the poor plane. All around people are grumbling, fuming, pacing in impatience. Me? I’m knitting. One pair of socks completed by the time we landed. Love the Glaswegian cardi from Knitty Deep Fall. Would be thrilled to win the yarn. Equally love working with unspun Icelandic fiber. So versatile. Thanks for the opportunity.
So pretty! I was traveling home from Bangkok Thailand to California. The flight was delayed for hours out of Bangkok, so we were told to go get some dinner. After dinner we checked and still had at least 4 hours until the flight was to depart…so we went to the spa at the airport and got pedicures. While in there, one in our party went to check the board again and our flight was gone – not listed anymore! She asked and they said it had boarded – so she came to get the rest of us and we took off out of the spa – toes still wet – running down the airport. I felt as if we were in some sort of commercial or something – we ran and ran – dashed through the security, then down soooo many long halls to the furthest gate possible. Each time we rounded a corner someone would cheer for us and say “keep going, you can make it!” About halfway down the last long hallway a couple of us gave up and walked…decided we’d rather miss the plane than die! Finally made it to the plane – we were the absolute last ones seated and they shut the door after we got on. The pilot came out and scolded us for being late. Apparently there had been an announcement made that we didn’t hear while we were getting our toes done. So in the end we all had socks glued to our toes with wet nail polish and a great story to share!
Knitting for others when in public places when traveling invites conversation with strangers into the project and the occasion: a birthday gift, a shawl for someone grieving, or a new baby. The stories make the knitting and sharing special.
I love how lightweight this yarn is! I would love to knit this cardigan for my daughter!
First time out in our new-to-us motor home this past weekend, we were fussing with some water issues and discovered a flat tire! Got to try out the new roadside assistance too!
The sweater is beautiful and I will be knitting it for my daughter who has become a backpacker in rainy Washington State, similar climate to Skye.
I liked that there were no buttons! If you must, maybe sheep horn/hoof/bone,maybe with loops.
Ahhhh travel…I believe my favorite travel adventure was when I volunteered to drive a van (left side with manual transmission:) for a school trip for Colorado high school students. It was a literary tour of England, Scotland and Wales. Each student was assigned an author. A book list was given to all and we read one book of each of the authors. We traveled to their home or village or the setting of their books. At the author’s environs the student would report on the life of the author. It was so enlightening when you saw their inspiration come to life.
I’ve been back to Scotland a couple of times chaperoning school bands and just on my own wandering the glorious countryside.
Thank you for inspiring me to relive those wonderful times.
Sue goz as often as she can…
No knitting on this adventure, but 7 month pregnant, traveling with an 18 month old, sat on a runway for 5 hours, only to have the flight canceled due to an ice storm in Dallas!! UGH! Now I never leave home without a knitting project and snacks…lots of snacks!!
I would so enjoy trying to knit the sweater, such a classic, with the unspun yarn. I knitted a Father Christmas in a vintage pattern and in all my years of knitting I never had so many questions and comments. I intarsia’d the year under Santa’s coal so I can consider it an heirloom for my family.
Gorgeous design and it looks so cozy! Cannot wait to try it myself.
Travel trip advice . If the sign at the roadway reads Misery Bay…believe it. Don’t go there. We did. The dog got sick, daughter got sick, the trucks transmission broke. But the rest of the trip was lovely, very memorable. Kids still talk about it after 28 years!! We can laugh now!!
Cardigan is beautiful.
I just returned from a safari trip in South Africa. Another Knitty pattern (cowl) was my trusty companion on long plane/bus rides. Small enough to stuff in a purse or back pack. Luckily no travel mishaps, just many miles covered.
I am not a great traveler but I do love this yarn and project. I would love to visit Italy one day.
My most difficult travel story was when I flew with my 9-month-old baby from my hometown up to Canada where was husband was waiting. It was 3 connecting flights with a cranky baby strapped into a carseat that detached from a stroller while managing feedings and diaper changes. The idea that I could do that was absolutely insane, and I’m amazed that I made it through that day without losing my mind.
Some of the fun of travel is finding people making things, especially with needle arts. Whether the beautiful sweaters of Iceland or the musk ox wool in Norway, the rolling hills and sheep of Scotland or the Irish cliffs and many shades of green, I always find some inspiration. One of the hardest parts is trying to determine what project I can bring with me and what I should leave out of the suitcase so it can come with me. 🙂 I love to bring knitting but have also taken tatting and Hardanger work with me. My sweet husband always helps me find a local craft shop so I can enjoy looking at the yarns and patterns and bring home new projects to create. This one looks like it would be a lot of fun to make and would deserve a quest for the perfect buttons!
My travels have been lucky; no big misadventures. But I knit everywhere I go and each item reminds me of the place where it was knitted. During my daughter’s chemotherapy for breast cancer, I knitted constantly at her side to ease the stress. Mostly I made shawls. And I wear each one with gratitude that she is still with me…
One evening, several years and states ago, we were on our way to have dinner with friends when we stopped at the grocery store to pick up a dessert. A tornado rapidly approached while we were shopping, and everyone was herded into the refrigerated section of the store to wait for the tornado to pass. Although at that time I was new to yarny pursuits, I thankfully had a project in my purse to work on to calm my nerves. Now, I always carry one because you just never know!
This yarn looks absolutely lovely and soft. Something to wrap yourself in on a cold day in winter for fall. I just came from driving home from the beach with my husband. Working on a beautiful shawl done in 4 color blocks that gets repeated once. I worked on this the entire ride there (3 hrs) What else would you do in the car when the yarn is calling for you in your knitting bag? And, of course I had to find a local yarn shop to visit. And somehow this beautiful purple finger weight yarn was waiting for me for the next project. I was more than happy to take more yarn home.
My traveling yarn (sorry, couldn’t resist) doesn’t involve any woolly stuff but it was certainly a misadventure. Our extended family were all flying from various cities around the US to Miami to embark on a Christmas cruise. Our family was flying from Wisconsin, and that year there was a terrible snowstorm. We were stranded in Milwaukee, and the ship left without us! Happy-ish ending: they flew us to Jamaica and we caught up with everyone there.
I would love to knit with this beautiful yarn!
What a beautiful cardigan. I usually knit socks when traveling, but would love to take a trip and work on this cardigan!
This is a very lovely sweater. I don’t really have any travel mishaps but I can say that my yarn projects always go with me when I travel. I think sometimes my husband gets jealous of my activity. He will sometimes make me drive so that he can have relaxation time instead of me.
Every year we have a weekend trip with my husband’ s family to
Lexington, KY. After dinner everyone sits around to talk. I take a project with a simple pattern so I can knit and partake in the converstions
This is by far my favorite Knitty pattern this Fall.
So pretty. When I wear something I knit during travels I remember that time.
I think your sweater is beautiful.
My husband and I lived on a sailboat for 7 years. We traveled from TX to Nova Scotia during that time, stopping along the way to explore cities and towns. We met some wonderful people and saw some beautiful sights.
My trip to Iceland was awesome. We toured the Istex facility! I was very apprehensive about knitting with unspun. But with this beautiful pattern, I am ready to take the plunge! And speaking of plunge, when you do find yourself in Iceland, go to The Blue Lagoon!
I love this sweater. I really don’t have a knitting travel story, but my most memorable trip was to Italy with my 18 month old twin grandchildren. As you can imagine there are countless stories including one when we were trying to get dinner and one of the kids was very fussy so one of the waitresses took him out to the patio and entertained him while we ate.
Ohhh travel misadventures??? I’ve had a few! Most most recent was in June 2017. A friend and I decided to go on a cruise. My third, her first. The weather was beautiful as we left port. During the night it started to rain and didn’t stop for 6 days. A bit of a damper but we tried to make the best of it.
It was quite a wild ride down to Nassau.
In the middle of the night, the ship was hit with a ROGUE wave and the entire ship listed to the side far enough to toss balcony chairs and tables into the ocean, smash dishes and glasses in the dining areas, empty out all the pools and hot tubs flooding the floors below them. Items were thrown off counters, dressers, etc. It was even strong enough to roll people out of bed and a TVs came off the walls. People were panicking, grabbing their life jackets and heading to their muster stations to evacuate!!! Chaos ensued!!!
We finally made port and our journey continued with”liquid sunshine” aka: rain. We toured the islands and did a bit of shopping all the while looking like drowned rats!
We headed north for home but our adventures weren’t over yet! The storms were back – back with a vengeance! The waves were huge and the wind was really wicked. The captain announced he was cancelling ALL the exterior activities and closing the exterior decks and passage ways for our safety due to the Level 1 Hurricane!! Say WHAT??? We had quite a wild ride and enjoyed the challenges of trying to walk, stand up and eat all the while swinging and swaying!
All in all…. a fun vacation – just the way it should be! Now I can say I experienced a cruise ship rolling over on it”s side and surviving a level 1 hurricane at sea!!!
I wonder what my next misadventure will be???
Beautiful and timeless pattern. And the yarn is intriguing!
Back in the Mapquest printout days (2003, pre-GPS phones), my best friend and I drive from the Washington, DC, area to Toronto and back for the World Science Fiction Convention. We had our Mapquest printout and snacks all ready.
We took Route 15, the rural non-superhighway road, to enjoy the late summer scenery. My friend’s Geo Metro had no working stereo, so as we drove I read to her–“Bellwether” by Connie Willis, a delightful science fiction farce. So delightful, in fact, that somewhere in beautiful rural New York, we completely missed a turn. Probably the first required turn in hundreds of miles.
We were oblivious, so we went on until midday. We found a fantastic roadside burger and ice cream joint and stopped for lunch. Shortly after that, we realized we’d made a navigation mistake. Eep! We stopped at the first gas station we found, and my friend went in for directions while I filled up the car.
She came out with directions provided by a nice local (basically, “go 5 miles and turn left,” to start). A man came out behind my friend–a stereotypical looking kind farmer type of middle aged man–and said, “It’s not that far out of my way. I’ll lead you there.”
He led us to the turn, pointed out his window, waved, and pulled a U-turn. We carried on our way, charmed by the kindness of a stranger and grateful to find the right route.
We were more careful about turns (and being distracted by funny books) after that! We made that same road trip 9 years later with Google Maps and Apple Maps at our fingertips. When we got to the general vicinity of our unintended detour, we both lamented that we had no idea exactly where that excellent burger and ice cream joint was.
I hiked Mt. Eldon alone, in November, in Scottsdale, Arizona, and was lucky to not have run into mishaps! It’s pretty ice-whipped up there. Fun!
I used to travel for business frequently but did not take along my knitting for fear it would be considered unprofessional. I was especially sorry to have made this choice one year when we were unable to fly home to Philadelphia for almost a week because of a major blizzard. After that I never made the same mistake.
My friend and I were going on our annual trip to Florida. A blizzard was coming and we confirmed with the airlines that our flight would still be in our connecting airport. Of course they said yes but it left without us. We ran through terminals at OHARE airport and flew on a different airline and made it to Florida. Unfortunately our luggage didn’t make it. We were getting ready to go out shopping because it was 2 days later and no luggage and guess what got delivered – our luggage.
I love theyarn, the pattern and the colors of this cardigan! Last year I traveled to Iceland and fell in love with the sheep, the wool and the knitters I met. I brought home quite a lot of Lopi wool for the friends in my knitting group. I knit some wonderfully warm mittens with lopi plus an alpaca lining, and several felted bags from the Icelandic designer Harpa Jonsdottir. In fact my desire to travel to Iceland came from visiting her pages on Ravelry of wonderful knitting and scenery of Iceland. I believe that knitting helps s me connect to new parts of our world.
Lovely cardigan.
Had a layover in Copenhagen and decided to explore. Don’t recall my planned destination but I got lost. But my favorite memories are of the discoveries made while wandering lost through the neighborhoods.
Great story, beautiful cardigan. Excited to try the newest Lopi yarn available to us here in North America!
A knitting project is always part of the adventures and misadventures . . . I don’t go anywhere without something in my bag to knit. So, I’ll say the adventure is yarn packing – what to take and how much to take (at least I have the daily yarn to carry around figured out – it is more the flying and extended leaves that I are trickier)!
I LOVE this sweater!
Love to read all the comments and travel stories. Mine doesn’t involve knitting, but does involve 5 kids and a breakdown of our van in Georgia in the middle of summer. Luckily the van was new and we were reimbursed for the motel we had to stay in overnight. Thankfully the motel had a pool!
Love the look of the sweater- haven’t done a cardigan yet so this would be a great place to start.
Oh my goodness! My camping story: one of the kids threw my wood sock needle in the fire!!!! I did not have extra…. I used a shish kabob stick !!!! ( sport weight yarn ).l
During the first camping trip my fiance and I took, it rained the entire time. So much so that on the second night, we slept with an umbrella over our heads because our tent was leaking. Didn’t sour me on camping, have done many trips since then and always have a good time.
I can’t wait to knit this beautiful sweater. The wool looks Yummy and I like the fact that the yardage is so substantial.
The sweater is gorgeous! And what a great travel story; I’m a little envious!
In 2013 I took a 3 week trip from where I live in Texas to a high school reunion in suburban Philadelphia. Except, it wasn’t really such a direct thing. On the way I visited some friends in Kentucky, then went to Harrisburg, PA to do some genealogical research. Then to the reunion. After the reunion I went into Philly for more genealogical research (9 days!). When I left there, I went through Virginia to visit some other friends, and stopped for an overnight stay in Tennessee in a city I had lived in many years ago. There were no real misadventures. Well, except my cell phone tanked halfway through my stay in Philly and I had to get a new one. Oh, and I got stopped for speeding as soon as I got on the Arkansas side of the bridge that leaves Memphis and crosses the Mississippi River; but, I fortunately didn’t get a ticket.
Flying out of Avignon during a period of heightened security, my knitting (a sock on 2 circulars) was snatched by the young female security agent and subjected to intense and suspicious scrutiny. She pulled me from the queue and summoned her supervisor muttering to herself about how the needles were, or SHOULD be forbidden. Her young male supervisor took one look at me, glanced at my knitting and said the French equivalent of “For Pete’s sakes”. He grinned, said “It’s a sock. My grandmother knits socks. And it’s a nice sock!” When I laughed, he bowed, and passed me on. The only sensible encounter with an airport security agent which I have ever had!
I camped and traveled from Calgary, Alberta to Halifax, Nova Scotia this summer with my husband and 2 kids. It was wonderful. I even got some knitting in while we traveled.
I love this yarn. I have knitted a few Lopi sweaters earlier in my knitting life. I buy yarn on most of my travels away from home. I try to get a yarn made locally and love to visit yarn shops. I knit in the car, on the airplane and also at my destination. This sweater would be neat to knit with such a glorious yarn.
This would be a perfect sweater to knit for my granddaughter who will be studying in Edinburgh winter semester!
Serendipitous, that is what I call my misadventures. Sometimes you find the most amazing places. This is such a lovely cardigan. Thank you for the opportunity. Liked and shared.
My husband is asking how yarn can be this light. We’re currently in the car on our vacation with friends and while it’s super warm outside it was supposed to be cool, which would have been perfect for a sweater. I have a big scarf along with me. I don’t think I have any super fun adventure stories except to say that I so want to go to Scotland. I’ve been to Ireland and need to go back. This sweater would get me a bit closer.
Magic! Or it’s just so light because it’s super lofty—if you are able to watch the video from today’s KnitBits, you can see how airy the yarn is and why it would be so light. But since it has both the inner and outer coat hairs of the Icelandic sheep (which all Ístex yarns have), Plötulopi is still really warm!
Wow – what an incredibly beautiful sweater – no travel mishaps here, but I must say that since I started knitting socks (summer 2016) I never ever travel without a sock or 2 in progress. I do the cast on and a couple of rounds of ribbing and then I can knit knit knit and knit …….. I usually do 2 cast-on’s so that I don’t have to think about the heel while I’m travelling. Heels can be done at the hotel and then we’re off again to plain and simple knit knit knit. 🙂
Love the color combination. My travel story is crocheting a little crown during the flight because you always come across a little princess at the airport or on the beach! Thanks for the opportunity to win this lovely sweater pattern and yarn…jojo
I don’t have a travel/yarn story yet–but I hope to! We leave for Ireland next week, and am hoping to get re-inspired for winter knitting projects. Cancel that thought (not the trip)–because I can’t wait to try this “new” wool and the pattern. Beautiful!
Beautiful yarn…..I have Iceland on my bucket list!
Lovely! You make it look easy. I like it without buttons.
We were moving from Chugiak, Alaska to West Point, NY (military family), camping our way down the Alaska Highway with 6 kids under 14yo, a black lab and 2 cats in a minivan hauling the tent camper and a pick up truck hauling anything that didn’t fit in the van (including a box of yarn and my Bernina sewing machine). We were packed up and ready to leave the Liard River Hot Springs campground when we realized a cat was missing and the ferns were rustling suspiciously. After 45min of unsuccessfully stalking Tarzan the cat thru the ferns, my husband said the cat had decided to become a Canadian and we had to get on the road without him. I tried one last time to herd Tarzan toward the van as my oldest did a Superman leap out of the side door and, amid much thrashing of ferns and yowling, he emerged triumphant (and a bit scratched and fern smeared) with Tarzan in a stranglehold and we were able to continue our epic road trip. Except for a twig or 2 in the yarn, a mosquito attack in Michigan and a detour to retrieve a forgotten credit card at a gas station in ND, the rest of the trip was as calm as it gets with our traveling circus!
Beautifully written! You should be a writer when not herding family and friends.
Such a gorgeous sweater, and beautiful yarn. I try to incorporate knitting in all my travel now. I recently visited two amazing yarn stores in Montreal: one in the English-speaking section, and one in the middle of the French-speaking Plateau neighborhood. Both were lovely, welcoming, and offered a wonderful variety of fibers. Next up – Ireland! But the trip I’m saving for my next milestone birthday is the one highlighted in this post – Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Shetland Islands, including Fair Isle.
I knit a cap for a friend being treated for cancer during a flight to Germany in pastel variegated yarn. Passed the time quickly and she called it her Happy cap because of where it was made.
Beautiful yarn!
This yarn looks amazing, would love to win the yarn to make the sweater. I don’t have a yarn/knit/crochet travel story as I am unable to travel. Thanks for the opportunity to win this bundle.
That time I camped at White Sands National Monument when it was 104 degrees and a 2 mile hike in over the dunes with my backpack full of gear. My knitting included!
One of the best travel stories I have is from a two week long family camping trip. One evening we were sitting quietly near the lake shore enjoying the view of the forest and lake. As the sun set over the lake to our left, the full moon rose over the lake on our right. It was beautiful and magical. Even the kids watched in amazed silence.
My daughter and I travel a lot together, always taking our knitting needles and a project in case we are delayed in an airport or find a great yarn in a LYS. One of the most beneficial of our misadventures occurred at Seatac Airport on a night when many flights all over the US were delayed because of weather or mechanical difficulties. After several hours, we had finally boarded a plane to go home to Vancouver when the flight attendant asked for 4 volunteers to give up their seats to passengers who urgently needed to be in Vancouver asap. The airline offered a return ticket to anywhere in the US to each volunteer (Those were the days!). After a quick discussion, we volunteered, flew home on a later flight and used our tickets to fly to NYC later that year. Needless to say, we saw the sights and went to all the yarn stores we could find in Manhattan, including the famous String.
On our way to Denmark my husband and I had a four day stay over in London. I was determined to see the Templar Church and we only had a street map as to where it was but when we got there we could not find any way of getting onto the church ground. There was no indication on the map showing any way onto the grounds. After several failed attempts going through little alley ways we accidentally found the way in only to find a wedding going on. We waited (I was soooo determined) and when the wedding party finally left, I snuck in behind the minister who was chatting by the tiny side door. When I got in another obstruction…they were doing work right where the knights were buried. I was told I was not allowed to be in there, but I pleaded and cajoled and finally they allowed me in. I was in heaven!
More than fifty years ago I landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the Peace Corps to join my soon-to-be husband. As a newbie knitter I wanted to knit him a sweater. Unfortunately I didn’t have a pattern, and so I didn’t know how much yarn to buy. We finally found a store that sold yarn, I bought some and we went on our way to our home in Gondar. I never did finish that sweater, but I still have some of that yarn floating around in my stash (even though I don’t have that husband).
I am now a much better knitter and that lovely Icelandic yarn would be perfect for my present husband. Now I know how to knit it.
I love the colors in this sweater!! My travel misadventure was when traveling from London to Edinburgh on a post college trip, we were in a train accident. The door on one of the cars was open and hit a southbound train. My friend got hit in the head with glass. So our first stop in Edinburgh was the emergency room. After that to a B& B on the street where Prome of Miss Jean Brody was filmed. Had a wonderful visit!
When traveling to Arizona one year we stopped in an RV park on the plains of Colorado. In our haste to leave the next day my Afghan I was crocheting, and storing in a plastic bag was inadvertently thrown in the dumpster. I called back to the park and they had found it not knowing who it belonged to. The next year the owners happened to travel through Illinois when we were there and met us in the interstate to give it back to me! Now that’s friendly service!
Your pattern is beautiful. My travel misadventure happened last February, when my trip on Amtrak was cancelled midway due to flooding on the rails. I waited years to take the train trip from Portland, Oregon, to LA. Near San Francisco, we were told to leave the train to board another train to Bakersfield, where we would take a bus to LA. This was the first time in the history of Amtrak that the train couldn’t run due to flooding. Usually, California has had problems with drought, but not this time! We missed the most scenic part of the trip, but we arrived home safely.
This is a beautiful pattern and I’m really intrigued by the yarn! I love smooshy yarn that easily fits into suitcases; it’s exactly the kind of yarn I look for when I go shopping for yarn when traveling (especially when flying)!
One of my favorite trips I’ve ever taken was a solo car trip to Maine from Michigan. I drove through Canada, stopping for a couple of days in Montreal before heading through the Northeast on my way to Deer Isle Maine for a friends wedding. Its one of those lovely towns on the coast, and there was a mixup with my hotel reservation. The hotel was sold out because of the wedding, so in the end, the family that was hosting the wedding on their farm offered to let me stay in their house. Turns out that I got the best bed there was! The hotel was right on the water, and many people were apparently woken up with horns from big ships early in the morning; being a little farther inland, I couldn’t hear the horns at all. And my hosts were fantastic! I got a ton of great food (including fresh blueberries and lobster) and I got to go out on a lobster boat (got a little sunburned which was very evident in photos from the wedding) and I had a wonderful time at my friend’s wedding 🙂
I would love to knit this sweater!
My travel adventure was driving cross country with my daughter. All her belongings packed in the car. Just room in the front seats for us. I remember the talking and laughing we did more than any of the sights we saw
Travel everywhere with my socks, would love to travel with this sweater. Beautiful job! No travel stories yet, will knit on…
My craziest story is when I was a teen and flying to Croatia with my mom and we had to change planes in Zurich. It was a small plane (Russian I think) and I had a window seat. l was worried about my luggage which had everything in it – including my knitting and crochet (have always been a knitter/crocheter). As they were loading the bags on the plane, the pilot came over and walked up to one of the baggage handlers. They talked and then got into a fist fight! The pilot then got back on the plane and we took off! I could only hope he still had all his faculties working. (Meanwhile I LOVED my trip some years ago to Scotland and I love this yarn and sweater!)
I’ve been to Edinburgh and it is indeed a beautiful city. As is the cardigan you’ve knit. My adventure story would have to be two years ago when my entire family and spouses, 10 in total, went to Costa Rica. It was a packaged tour holiday that had many planned outings. None of the other nine people read the entire itinerary, and failed to notice that on our first day there, we were booked to go extreme zip lining. And zip lining in CR is like no other place. By the way, the youngest of our group was 58 years old, the oldest 71. Let’s just say, it was an adventure never to be forgotten, and is still talked about when we get together.
I’ve been planning a trip to Glasgow ever since I started listening to “Celtic Music Radio” — a volunteer-run station that can be heard over the air in the city and online around the world. If I could wear this sweater when I go, so very much the better!
I love knitting when traveling. Sometimes I even get a fair amount done, but I always like to be prepared. Never leave the house without cellphone, water and knitting! And as a side benefit, I remember the trips whenever I see that garment or sock! I knit sweaters now, so they do seem to be a bit more of a challenge to pack along. Thanks for the wonderful trip kudos for the lopi yarn making a wonderful traveling companion!
This sweater is lovely. Travel for me is about self discovery, each place I visit helps me open my eyes to delight…both grand and small.
Last year I traveled from the states to Europe with my sister and brother in law. Drove from Barcelona thru France to Germany to visit another sister, her husband and new baby. Then we took a side trip to Belgium. This is when the car acted up and we spent half a day in a car dealership. So glad I was working on my Drachenfels shawl because it helped pass the time as no one felt like talking! Ended up getting a different rental car and still had a lovely trip. But that was the quietest day!
Such a lovely sweater. We recently went hiking in the Pisgah National Forest and were lucky enough to reserve a room at the lodge that night. What a beautiful area. We hope to go back soon.
I love this sweater would like very much to knit it. Unfortunately i do not have a story to share
I was one of the chaperones for my niece’s high school band when they went to England. We were going in March and were told that England would be cold so to pack winter clothing. When we arrived England began to experience a heat wave and it didn’t get cold one time the entire time we were there. Also, when I tried to find a shop to buy yarn nobody could tell me where i could buy any in any of the towns we were in.
Thank you for the opportunity to win this yarn. Sounds intriguing and would love to knit this cardigan. Yes, I too have waited to get just the right buttons for my knitted cardigans. As for travel mishap, I remember when I was in Riverside, CA, and went to the Ontario Airport bright and early to catch my flight back to Toronto. Needless to say, the flight was delayed, first one hour, then longer, until the announcement said well, we’re waiting for a replacement part to be flown in from Huston. Oh, the mad rush to get to the ticket counter!! This was before smartphones, of course. Well, i managed to get a flight, but from LAX. No bus arriving for the transit, so back to the counter. I finally got a taxi chit and went all the way from Ontario Airport to LAX in a taxi. I was worried that I would miss my new flight, since I only had a short time to catch it. Luckily, it was Memorial Day,so traffic was very light for LA. I got the last seat right at the back, but I made it home well before my original flight.
My grandparents immigrated from Glasgow, Scotland to Canada – so it would be so make fun to knit this sweater! Love the Icelandic yarn! Thank you for the opportunity to enter.
What a beautiful sweater! Except for socks, I do not usually look at anything that is fitted, but I will definitely make an exception for this cardigan. Several years ago I visited Istex with Mary Jane Mucklestone when we sailed from Copenhagen to New York with one of the stops along the way in Iceland. Great memories.
My partner and I are notorious for wandering far afield from the interstate whenever we travel. A 3 hour trip routinely takes 8 or more hours, and about 90% of the time we end up in a swamp without planning to (she has an affinity for them).
The sweater is gorgeous and the yarn is intriguing.
I lost a knitting project, bag, pattern, stitch markers and all, as I was leaving on a cruise through the Panama Canal. When I got home to Wisconsin, I called the hotel where we stayed, but no luck. A couple of weeks later, I thought about San Diego International Airport. Sure enough, they had a lost and found department, with real live people answering the phone. They had my scarf, (a k-nitting bag, the woman described it) and the Fed-Exed it to me. That is customer service!
My travel story was going to NY for the first time VK Live. Like any good knitter does, I was taking my favorites to wear and show off. I had washed one before going but it still wasn’t dry when I had to leave so I threw it in the dryer on air fluff – no heat and threw it in my suitcase without looking when I left the house. Big mistake. It sort of partially felted – you could still see the stitches – but it also fuzzed up. Thankfully it wasn’t all wool, I think the silk in the blend saved it. Laid it out on the bed in the hotel room and steamed and stretched the areas that fuzzed up. Picked off all the pills by hand. Sweater is fine now. And lesson learned – heat or not never ever put anything I knit in the dryer again
I love to knit while traveling, and my husband is always afraid TSA will confiscate my knitting or a flight attendant will make me put it away. Neither has happened – they admire my knitting! I have always wanted to knit an Icelandic sweater, and I would love to win this giveaway so I can knit this beauty. Thank you!
Hi Anne! You’re our winner for the Glaswegian giveaway—please check your email!
Glaswegin is beautiful…I went to KY to be with my daughter and my yet to be born grandson Beau…I knew there would be a lot of time to knit while I was there a few months and figured this would be the perfect way to destash. I packed my Tahoe and it was filled up window high (you know how it is with being able to chose the right colors 🙂 ). Well, months (joyfully) turned into a year and on my return home, I couldn’t see out the windows of my truck, thanks to all the wonderful fiber festivals and lovely yarn stores there lol. So much for destashing 🙂 PS I made my grandson and my daughter’s neighbors afghans, hats, shawls and cowls while there 🙂
When I was in high school, my family went camping in Colorado. I set off trying to find water, and got lost. Of course, it was evening. I managed to find my way downhill to the ranger station (no rangers there) and hitch a ride back to camp. My family had already found water much closer and safer!
I don’t have any knitting mishap adventures yet but I plan to travel to the U.K. next year and take along my knitting. Let’s hope I won’t experience anything too drastic!
Beautiful sweater. My main souvenier from a trip to Germany was yarn, that I knitted into a sweater for my mom.
I would like to make this for my daughter who is the traveler in my family. Next month she is going to Japan, I don’t think I could have it ready by then. But definitely for her next trip…Ireland, Scotland or maybe Australia!!,
I lived and traveled outside my own country for over 15 years. In fact, I met my husband while traveling in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. It’s a long, crazy story but briefly it involved a guest house, a cafe, boiling hot porridge, cafe proprietors who were tri-lingual despite being deaf, and a bus out of town that we almost missed. That was 28 years ago! There was no yarn involved in that story, but a couple months after this, I did drag him to a woolen mill in Australia.So he can’t say he wasn’t warned!
My husband and I traveled to Italy in April twenty years ago and made no hotel reservations. We used the tourist desk in the Rome train station to arrange a room. Once we settled on a hotel, one of the workers promptly picked up my luggage and walked us one-half mile to our hotel – I didn’t know what to think!
Beautiful sweater and I have been looking for a new yarn to try that is not so heavy to wear. I will definitely give this a try! My girlfriends still laugh at me but I got lost on my own street where I lived years ago so I really do not travel too much. I do but just make sure I have back up upon back up to know where I am (and still get lost)…..
This past summer, we were traveling to Florida in our RV trailer for the first time ever. Unfortunately, we hadn’t correctly secured the roll up awning and in the middle of a rain storm, we had to pull over on an interstate highway to try to safely secure it — all with traffic and large semi-trailers zooming by way too close. And just as we were getting ready to pull back onto the highway, another RV pulled off the road ahead of us with a flat tire — and we noticed his spare tire was completely shredded, so although we were tired and drenched from the rain, we felt thankful that we had been able to resolve our problem relatively easily.
I live either in Chicago, IL or in Shanghai, China, due to my husband’s job. As someone who is unable to sleep on flights, I spend the 14 hours in flight on knitting projects. I seem to be entertainment for fellow travellers and flight crew once they realize I won’t use my needles as weapons. I would love to have an opportunity to use knit this sweater for my daughter who just took up hiking and mountain climbing! Ah, to be young again…
My travel mistake is that when I visited Iceland several years ago, bad weather on our bus tour shortened our visit to the yarn shop. I just did not buy enough yarn because I couldn’t make a decision about what to buy. Then to make matters worse, I did find some lettlopi lace weight(?) yarn at a small grocery store at one break, bought several skeins of three colors and did not buy enough to make a shawl. Now I will be able to find some here in the US.
By the way, Iceland was awesome and I would love to visit again!!!
Returning to the US after a knitting tour to the UK, the plane encountered headwinds, forcing us to stop at Gander for refueling and making the flight late arriving in LaGuardia so that we missed our connecting flight back to Washington, DC and had to sprint through the airport pushing a luggage cart loaded with suitcases full of yarn in order to get the last flight into Baltimore. We arrived in BWI in a snowstorm, rented a car, and finally got home at 3 am – exhausted, but still clutching our bags of yarn.
When I was a little girl we moved to England. Our airport was fogged in where my father was meeting us so we were forced to land at another one. My mother had never left the US before and was faced with taking a taxi and three small children to address that she was given. Unfortunately the address failed to say whether or not it was a street, a court, a road, etc. We drove around London for hours in the foggy dark night looking for the correct location. Our taxi driver graciously stopped at each possibility before he found the correct place. I was quite small but I still remember the strangeness of everything, how long it took for us to find our new home and how nice that taxi driver was.
I just love this sweater as it reminds me of the first sweater I ever knit…and that was with Lopi Icelandic wool. I would love to try this new yarn out!!! I take my knitting with me no matter where I go, except when traveling overseas. Then I buy some wool at my destination and knit something to remind me of our trip, much like the author of the blog. My husband and I used to do a lot of commuting every week – we had the best selection of socks back then!
I take two or three knitting projects with me on every trip I take! One sweater reminds me of Bryce, Zion, and the Grand Canyon! And a scarf that reminds me of the month we spent in Palm Springs!
I love the Fair Isle sweater you have designed! Gorgeous!
Here in NOVA a sweater always makes good outerwear. I would love to go to Ireland or Scotland someday. My DH keeps telling me I need to find a knitting (crocheting/spinning) retreat there. Every time we travel and see a yarn shop he pulls over for me. Even on our wedding day.
One of my biggest misadventures while traveling happened on a move from Ohio to upstate New York. My husband drove the rental truck loaded with almost everything. I drove our car with a few things in the way back and the two cats in carriers in the back seat. The whole 6.5 hour drive, the cats yowled and yowled, to the point where one of them was too hoarse to meow for three days afterward. It took my ears about the same amount of time to recover.
I’m always very careful to choose my travel project carefully. On a trip to Mexico, with kids in tow, I needed something portable and not too detailed patternwise. I ended up taking a couple of patterns and yarn for booties for a friend’s baby due to arrive shortly. Of course one had to be angora and the other cashmere. Arriving at our destination, I realized I’d not only had my wallet stolen by the passenger that sat behind me, but they also knew luxury yarn when they saw it. The booties went missing as well.
And, P.S. I’m aching to knit this sweater!
I picked up a very bulky, very heavy wool sweater on an 8th grade trip to Scotland, years before I started knitting. I always loved that sweater, but this new lightweight yarn would be lovely to try. During a trip to Iceland last summer, I marveled at all the lovely sweaters but couldn’t justify buying one when I know I should just try to knit one myself! Thank you for opportunity! 🙂
Beautiful! Thanks for the giveaway! I don’t have too many crazy travel tales to tell but I am reminded that traveling from FL to the NE in the dead of winter definitely requires multiple layers of clothes to be added! Haha.
I love this sweater especially the sleeve detail. And the yarn just adds to its appeal.
Ah, yarny travel adventures, which ones to write down! The flight from Seattle to Washington, DC for my son’s wedding and the shawl that became a scarf because I had dropped a stitch in the lace and didn’t know how to fix it. The yarn ball that decided to stay behind, but remain attached, when we moved to the dining car on a train trip from Seattle to Portland, OR!
Carefully smuggled my knitting needles onto the plane entering Ukraine, and then forgot they didn’t allow needles on the Ukrainian planes on the way home and so had my precious Addi needles confiscated.
The last time I flew, I was working on my own sweater when the flight attendant asked if I could help her with a baby blanket she had started years ago. She had noticed a mistake but had no idea how to fix it, so had just stopped knitting. I fixed it right up and she gave me free drinks for the rest of the flight. Win, win.
A travel mishap from many years ago: we were visiting the beautiful Northern California coast and I took pictures of the impressive redwoods, wild rhododendrons, etc, only to find when we got home that my roll of film in my SLR never engaged on the sprockets so no pictures! Never have to worry about that anymore!
Lovely sweater, intriguing yarn! One of our travel stories involves arriving at the airport without our luggage. We had left it on the front porch of our home! A helpful agent rebooked us on a later flight and we drove home and back to the airport in record time. We still haven’t told our children about this lapse!
Just returned from Iceland where I purchased Lopi yarn. I am anxious to start and enjoyed your video on the played yarn. So happy it will be available here soon. I have been knitting since I was 11 and am always eager to learn new ways of enjoying this hobby
I travel a lot for work and always take my knitting with me. On my last trip as I settled in at the airport to wait for my outbound flight I reached in for my knitting but wasn’t careful enough and one of my DPNs snapped! At the start of my trip and the hotel for that night had Netflix. I was gutted to miss out on so much knitting time.
I always take some to knit along with me when I travel. Sometimes I even buy wool at my destination. I like that the yarn used here is light and very packable.
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Lovely design and nice travel story.
I love the idea of a warm sweater that light for hiking! My near mishap story is of a paddle boarding trip in British Columbia. On the third night we stayed on a very small beach and pulled our boards up past the high tide line…but high tide that night was unusually high and our transportation home was in danger of floating away when my hubby’s keen ears saved the day. Now we always always check the height of those late night tides!
I was touring the modern art museum in Paris with a college group and wanted to buy some postcards to take home for a scrapbook. I gave the cashier 20euro, and received a bunch of change in return. I walked down the counter and tried to make sense of the coins (still getting used to $1 and $2 coins instead of paper money), and realized I’d been shortchanged about 15euro! After broken English/French conversations with management and not finding extra money in the till, I went back to the hotel thinking I’d never see that money again.
One of my classmates told me that a man had called the hotel, looking for me and wanting to meet right away. She asked, “Are you making a date in Paris?!” (We were with a Christian college group-this wasn’t allowed.)
It was the museum shop manager, calling to say they’d found my money and wanting to meet up so he could return it! He took time out of his Sunday to meet me and make sure everything was right.
TLDR: I was cheated in a tourist shop and almost had a date in Paris.
I always take a knitting project when traveling. Usually, it is socks that I finish and wear on the trip. I remember fondly a trip with my mother through Sweden where i knit while watching the scenery on the long bus rides from Stockholm all the way to the northern border where the reindeer live.
Love the sweater. My husband and I took a road trip to Arizona, we live in Ca. Our first stop was the cute town of Flagstaff. Great places to eat and people watch. While walking in town I spotted a yarn store. I went in and was talking to the owners, I was a fairly new knitter and I asked if they offered any classes? Boy did I luck out, I got to take a class and learned how to knit a hat using circular kneedles. What a fun afternoon. I had my souvenir to take home. Now I always check the places we are going to find the local yarn shops and I do my souvenir shopping there
The yarn is beautiful! Can’t wait to try it.
My travel story: My travel story is an every day event. Everywhere I travel I have my yarn. Have yarn will travel 🙂 People are always stopping me and asking questions about what I am working on and I always offer to teach them. Traveling with yarn is a great way to meet people and recruit potential yarn addicts!
Traveling from New York to Florida by air, I brought back a small gray cat I was adopting. Rather than buy an airline under-seat carrier, I used a small straw picnic basket, with tape added to help keep it closed. You guessed it: the cat chewed through the tape, escaped and ran around under the seats meowing. Fortunately, it was friendly enough to be caught and so I held it in my arms until the flight ended.
As I was returning home from a yarn crawl in Japan, I had (apparently) bought way too many needles and crochet hooks and packed it so tightly in my carry on that it appeared to be weapons upon checking in through security. It took me nearly 15 min to explain that I knit and crochet only to end up having to put all my knitting supplies (including the needles for my socks that I was working on!) into my luggage. It was the longest wait to board the plane and THE longest flight ever! Lesson learned!
Lovely yarn for lovely projects!! Needs some time to adjust to the texture when knitting for the first time, but then it just flows! My biggest travel adventure was when I tried to bring my knitting project on a plane in Spain and the police examined ALL of my luggage after having found the knitting needles in my bag… even though those were made of wood.. . being investigated by approx. 5 uniformed policemen with guns making fun of me was not at all funny for me, but they let me pass WITH the needles in the end!
I am on the train going to Aberdeen then by ferry to Shetland for Shetland Wool Week. SO EXCITED! Hat all knitted from this year’s pattern and really turned out well.
Hoping for no travel hiccups!
It makes me want to try Lopi yarn again. The Glaswegian sweater is gorgeous.
Travelled to India with an extremely short stop between flights. We had to run to make the change, but our luggage couldn’t do that. It got lost. We were in a small village in India for seven days without our luggage. Only one set of clothes… I had to borrow everything (including underclothes) to be socially presentable. I now pack at least one full set of clothes, several changes of underclothes, and personal care products in my carryon when traveling to a foreign country. Everyone from India felt it was a miracle that we ever got our luggage. Usually when it goes missing, it stays missing…
I love this sweater. The yarn would be a new adventure as well. I would be thrilled to make this sweater.
This sweater is beautiful. I always have what I call my travel project . It does not require intense attention and it can take a while to complete as I only work on it when traveling . I will sometimes travel to the west coast to visit family (I live on the east coast) just to finish a travel project
I travel to work every dsy and I take my knitting or crocheting with me. My husband knows no sudden braking while I work! This project and the soft yarn would fit nicely im my traveling schedule :))
My husband and I once had a rough airplane trip with a baby who got sick. In the end, they told us to keep that airplane blanket. Beautiful colorwork!
I have traveled quite a bit and have always brought my knitting (or in younger days, my needlework). I have found that Knitters connect all over the world. Even if there is a language barrier, we have a universal language of stitches and yarn. I can recall that my most exciting knitting day was in Paris, for International Knit in Public Day. The whole city was alive with Knitters and their craft. My friend and I went from store to park to a final massive knit-in at the Palais Royal.
I don’t have any exciting adventure stories! But I was biking in Chicago during the eclipse and looked at it with my eyes!
Gorgeous yarn and a lovely cardigan! I love super lightweight warm sweaters 🙂
I’ve used Lopi yarns for years and have made several sweaters as gifts. I’d love to try working with this new yarn, the pattern looks simple but stunning. I travel for work so I’m always on the lookout for local yarn stores. This past week in Lake Ozark, Missouri i had to extend my stay from 3 days to another week. Trip to buy yarn and started working on Moogly’s Snow drops cowl crochet pattern. Packed up my things realized I left my project bag somewhere between there and home. I hope it’s a blessing to whoever found it!
I was refused entry to the courthouse for jury duty when I tried to carry in my knitting. I knew we faced hours of waiting while jury selection went on and had come prepared to wait PATIENTLY while I wasn’t involved, but the security officers didn’t agree … thank you for this generous giveaway.
My travel adventure is my era of knitting socks and made a number of pairs while sailing the Great Lakes on our sailboat. Fun times riding the waves and knitting. Love the yarn in this sweater. Learning colorwork now so would love to knit it.
We planned a day trip to a recent football game with our adult son and his girlfriend. They were to ride with us and we arranged a departure time of 5:30a. Hubby and I joked about what time they would REALLY arrive, but by 6:00a were truly getting antsy. Hubby called our son on his mobile…and woke him up – LOL! Parents: waking children up for 28 years!!!
The yarn and the sweater are lovely. Sorry about lost sleeve. I try to buy a skein of yarn each time we travel and generally to knit with it on the plane-ride home. I have a little table mat made from a ball of New Zealand wool knit on the way home to Indiana from Auckland. Great memories of a lovely land.
LOVE this sweater & would love to try knitting with this yarn!
I always take my knitting when I travel. Sooo many stories! There is blocking the knitted silk shrug to wear to my son’s wedding in Taiwan on the bed at the Grand Hotel in Taipei.
Or
Making my hubby drive into the “wilds” of Ireland when visiting my daughter going to school there in search of a truly HANDknit sweater (not machine knit). Finding a shop in the middle of nowhere (on a dirt road with sheep wandering across it) with a ancient loom and the owner & her mother both knitting…I treasure that sweater.
There are lots more stories…
But I will stop & cross my fingers that I could somehow win this yarn..
My travel story involves socks. I was backpacking through the UK, and I bought sock yarn and a basic pattern in a shop in Wales. I had no idea how to knit socks, but I cast on and got going. A woman on a train I was taking pointed out gently that I had holes appearing in my socks and told me that that’s because I kept switching directions when knitting on dpns. With my permission, she ripped out the whole mess and started again. “Take these away from me, please! They’re addictive,” she said. And then on every train I took, I knitted away. Kind travelers taught me how to knit and turn the heel, how to add sewing thread when knitting the heel and toe to strengthen them, how to Kitchener stitch the toe. When I finished the socks, I truly felt that it’d been a work of many friends. That was many years ago, and I still have the sturdy socks. They’re very worn, but I treasure them.
Thanks for sharing that story. Very cool!
I have a husband who does all the driving on our road trips while I crochet or knit. I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I finished my granddaughter’s knit afghan (it was such a boring knit). He even listens patiently while I explain things to him, even though he doesn’t understand what I’m talking about, LOL.
Son #2 and I made a road trip from Colorado to Chicago to see Son #1 graduate from A School (Navy). Son #2 indulged my need to find yarn stores along the way for souvenir yarn, and even went into the stores with me. I returned the favor by taking a side trip with him from Chicago to Green Bay to go to Lambeau Field.
When I saw this sweater I KNEW I had to make it. It touched a knitting memory/happy nerve that has me committed to making this sweater. In college, I spent many an hour during lectures making a fair isle Icelandic sweater that I was so proud of. Years later, When a neighbor’s house burned with all of their possessions, I passed the sweater on to her. I don’t regret the gifting but I have missed the sweater. This is top of my projects.
I would love to try Lopi yarn! …My travel story from several years ago, before I had taken up knitting again after a too-long hiatus: I was on a train from New York City to Chicago, a 13-hour journey. That evening at dinner I sat across the table from an interesting young man. We had a lovely conversation for a little bit, when suddenly, he started taking balloons out of his pockets, blowing them up, and making balloon animals. He gave several away to children, and I got a small blue and red dog! Most memorable train ride I’ve ever had!
This is a beautiful sweater and giveaway!
Oh my goodness! Such a beautiful sweater!
I always am the driver if travelling somewhere, so I take my knitting when walking, hiking and backpacking. It makes the few people I meet so curious! (I still haven’t figured out how to snowshoe and knit though.) Great reads from other posters!
Driving from San Francisco to Camp Pendleton via Las Vegas to report for my first post-boot camp duty I left my girlie turquoise wallet on the roof of my pastel turquoise VW bug at a gas station in the desert.
When I arrived bleary eyed and road weary at the main gate all I had for ID was my change from the fill up, my car registration, dog tags and a lot of un-soldier like tears.
Thank goodness I was armed with my knitting bag as it took several hours of phone calls and stand-by to sort it out. This was 1975 and I have since kept my ‘forms of ID’ separate so I always have one somewhere!
We have an annual girls hike up to My LeConte. We arrived right before to dinner only to discover we had no reservations! We took a bad situation and had the best time! Dinner consisted of bagels, cream cheese, and trail mix. We slept on cots in their office and had the best time. Needless to say we placed a different person in charge of reservations the next year. We are getting ready to hike back up next week. ❤
I rarely go anywhere without my knitting. It isn’t always easy to remember to have simple knitting for sightseeing trips, so you don’t have to choose to look Or knit.
When I was 13, I was traveling by myself and had a layover in Atlanta. What I didn’t realize was that my watch did not reflect the time difference between my home time zone and Atlanta’s new time zone. I missed my flight and had to spend several more hours than I should have in Atlanta. I finally made it to my destination safely. Too bad I didn’t have my knitting with me on that trip! I’d love to win this yarn.
After several days of rain on our camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park, we took the kids and headed out. I couldn’t take another night in a tent in the rain. We drove east and ended up staying the night in Nebraska. The next day we found we were fairly close to the Brown Sheep Yarn Company and Scotts Bluff National Monument. We visited both under sunny skies!
The Glaswegian Cardigan is fabulous! Thanks for the chance to win.
I love working with all lopi yarns, and it would be a treat to win and make this sweater! I don’t have a lot of travel stories, but most recently I was in NYC this summer. I really wanted to visit Purl Soho before leaving, but at the time we would be driving by, it was two hours before they opened. Maybe next time!
Thanks for the giveaway! My travel adventure took place in 1988, in England. I had a weekend with my friend and we were all, “Edinburgh or Brighton?” As the Scotland trip would have taken 8 hours by train (one way), and it was a unusually hot summer, we opted for a quick trip to the seaside (we drove from London). The beach didn’t have sand, but rocks! Very different for this American. Beautiful seaside Victorian town.
the cardigan is so colorful!
my adventure happened last year, while traveling to Florida for my Dad’s 95th birthday…I had my knitting project, a seaman’s earflap hat, in a plastic baggie with my circular needles…I was hoping to finish it on the plane. The inspector noticed it, and asked me to take it out. Uh Oh, I thought…here’s where I lose my needles! But, she admired it, and let me keep them. When I returned the next week, she was again on duty, and remembered the hat! When she found out I finished it, she asked me to wait 15 minutes for her break, and then she bought it!
Awesome!
The cardigan and yarn are both beautiful and I would love the opportunity to win the yarn and knit it. If it doesn’t fit me it will certainly fit my daughter who is always pleased to wear whatever I knit for her. She happily wears my hand knit socks at college, and I have also made mitts for her and her roommate. My only travel mishap was leaving a favorite knitting bag under the seat of a rental car when I returned it. The project was just a cotton dishcloth – so no huge loss, but the bag was one I bought during a trip to British Columbia and I still miss it.
So neat to see another Lopi yarn! I was first introduced to Lopi when I was in college in 1980. Recently, my 21-year old son took a trip to Iceland and on his return, he pulled out 3 skeins of Lopi wool he purchased for me there. I am planning on knitting some of this wool in a sweater for him for Christmas this year.
This Icelandic yarn looks so fascinating! And how beautiful it is knitted up in this cardigan! Well, I use to travel a lot for work and always took along socks on 2 needles to knit on the plane. I’d been given a luscious wool & alpaca blend in my favorite colors – this pair would be for me after knitting at least 10 pairs for others. Sadly, I must’ve dropped my small bag on the plane when disembarking because it wasn’t with me when I got to my hotel. I wasn’t able to replace that luscious yarn in my favorite colorway but did finally knit a pair of socks for myself months later.
What a beautiful sweater! I think it looks great even without buttons and could make a great open cardigan if someone did not want to put on buttons.
My travel misadventure was fun, especially since I also had a companion to share it with. I was 20 and teaching English in Japan and living with a Japanese family. Another American friend and I went shopping in a nearby city, but got on the wrong train to get home. The train went right by our stop–it turned out to be an express train rather than the local we needed. We had to get off at an unfamiliar stop and try to identify a train to take us home. We were successful (although somewhat late getting back). My Japanese home stay mother said not to worry, she sometimes caught wrong trains home, too! It made me feel good to be able to have a mishap in another country but be able to easily recover from it, even not speaking the language well.
I just love this sweater. I would not dream of travelling without my favorite pattern and yarn. It also keeps my fingers limber and lessen my arthritis.
Many years ago I participated in a “Seven Countries in Fourteen Days” whirlwind bus tour in Europe. I recall one evening when we had stopped for the night in a small German town. After dinner, and in the dark, a travel companion and I decided to head out for a walk to enjoy the narrow cobblestone streets and quaint village atmosphere. However, after deciding to turn around to head back to the hotel, it soon became apparent that we were lost. Every road looked like the next and our lodgings were nowhere in sight! The streets were deserted and neither of us was equipped with a cell phone as they were not yet commonplace back then. Just as panic was about to set in, we lucked upon a solitary pedestrian, and fortunately my German skills were good enough to make our plight understood and we were directed back to our hotel.
I haven’t done a whole lot of travelling but her travels have definitely given reason to name her pattern Glasgow. I remember having a similar sweater, I had it for the longest time and it was the warmest sweater I ever owned. Unfortunately, my mother in law being helpful kinda threw it in the laundry and I’m sure you all know the rest. I was truly upset because it was my favourite sweater, but I didn’t blame her as she was only trying to help. It’s been my wish to make something to replace it but I haven’t quite got there yet, my family has taken prescidence, but I have just started knitting for myself so I will get one made.
Beautiful yarn and pattern. My travel story is about leaving home without a knitting project. I went to visit my sister who lives outside of LA. I was returning home and because of rain in San Francisco, my flight was cancelled. After trying various flights to other cities they finally got me on a flight to SF and from there I flew to Chicago and finally home to Baltimore. With all the delays and layovers it took me exactly 24 hours to get from the airport on the West Coast to the airport on the East Coast. It was a very long trip and not having something to knit made it even longer.
Traveling around the country alone I accidentally took the loop around New Orleans instead of heading straight across! It was scenic though! <3
I love this design and would love to knit with the yarn.
I always have yarn while travelling. I knit while others drive. Once I ran out and since then I make sure I have yarn and needles. Sometimes more yarn than clothing.
I love to knit and this would be a fab sweater- I was 16 when I learned to knit over50 years knitting it’s my zen time. I used to enter my sweaters in state fairs and won a blue ribbon on a fair isle pattern in wool
I have knitted one Lopi sweater a long, long, time ago. Ready for another try! My current knitting project, and Endless wrap, key work “Endless”, but I’m almost finished has traveled with me from Boston to Cambodia, DC, Montauk, Ohio, Oregon, Seattle, and Vancouver! One skein/ball to go! It’s a very well traveled wrap even before I begin to wear it!
My husband and I moved to the USA 14 years ago.We have been on many road trips,plane rides and trains.I always have a couple of projects in my bag.My husband looks for yarn shops for me.Washington state seems to have the most yarn shops as everywhere we went this Summer a yarn shop happened to appear.He thinks I planned it.
Saw a space shuttle launch once by default while on a road trip.
I’ve been wanting to knit a cardigan out of Icelandic wool, but am sensitive to scratchy wools. It sounds as if Plötulopi would be a good yarn for me to try, with its longer fibers.
During my last cross-county flight, I was fortunate to be seated next to a woman crocheting a blanket while I worked on knitting a shawl for my aunt. It was such a pleasure to talk about our projects!
Travel misadventure a few years back when taking a toy my niece had given me to keep me company. Was taking it around Scandinavia and photoing it in various locations. Something inside the toy set off airport security and I had a giant glass box come down around me from the ceiling. Quite the event.
While on a stop-over in Iceland I bought a huge bag of Lopi wool so I would have plenty of options when I got home to knit a ‘fair-isle’ project. I usually take a long time deciding colours but time was short so I went a bit crazy! It eventually turned out to be a fitted sweater dress with an icelandic style yoke for my adult daughter who loves it.
I grew up in a military family, so we traveled a lot. One of our more memorable trips was when my mother traveled with my younger brother and me to England to join my dad, who had already been there for almost a year. When we arrived at the little terminal, the first thing my two year old brother said (in that great loud two year old voice) upon seeing dad was “Daddy, you’re bald!” I’m sure my mother was mortified. This happened quite a few years ago, but I will never forget it.
I love this pattern and look forward to making it in the new Lopo yarn.
I have managed to knit on 5 different continents so far, and guess that I need to plan on traveling to the other 2. My favorite knitting travel project was “The great shawl of China” worked during a 2 week tour and it was quite interesting to see how many people stopped to admire it.
That is amazing looking yarn! My knitting is always in sight….Hence, I have not (yet) lost my work while travelling – and I always travel with something to knit – be it to the Doctors office, abroad, or in the car on some journey.
Wonderful Sweater. Wish I would have had it with me while travelling to England. I was always a little cold. Misadventure because I took with me an (un-hand knit) cotton sweater that decided to grow during the two week visit – and grow and grow. I finally abandoned it in a hotel in London because the sleeves just wouldn’t stop!
I’d love to try out this yarn for a sweater – it looks like it would be a good fit.
While staying in Sardinia, Italy, I took a ferry to another island for a night of dancing and drinking with my friends. At 10pm I took the last ferry home. I remember being topside and leaning over to rest on a bench. The next thing I remembered was a dog licking my face. The Doberman was the ferry’s security system and woke me up at 2am. I had fallen asleep and had to find the old Italian man, who ran the ferry, to lower the ramp to let me off. He was not happy. 😕
This is lovely, and the story with it as well! I fell in love with a sweater in Northern Ireland whilst on an errand for work—and I had to have it. I hadn’t knitted in years, but loving the pattern and color and wool of this sweater brought me right back to my needles and now I can’t stop!
once on a cross country road trip to Western Massachusetts, a crucial highway interchange was missed and not noticed until driving into NYC…..
Love this sweater!
I have a knitting travel misadventure. I accompanied my husband and his students as a chaperone on a trip to Spain. I worked on socks in a cheery bright pink/orange yarn on new double points. As we began the trip home, Madrid airport security made me empty the contents of my backpack into a tub, and took the tub away for inspection. Later, on the plane, I went to grab my knitting, and I no longer had it. Somehow it vanished during the security check. Oh how I cried in that airplane!
Beautiful and thanks for the giveaway! Decades ago I studied abroad in Poland and bought a beautiful hand knitted sweater from a woman standing outside the market.
I’ve been intrigued by the plotulopi fiber for a couple years. I’d love the opportunity to knit this stylish sweater.
My knitting misadventure happened on a plane flying from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. I had purchased a limited edition skein of hand painted superfine merino by Malabrigo to make a scarf for my husband. Unfortunately, I accidentally left it on my seat while departing the plane, and it had already been snatched up by the time I turned back to retrieve it. “Finder keepers, loser weepers” would accurately describe my unfortunate circumstances. I’ve learned a valuable lesson, though, to make sure I’m not leaving anything behind, especially needles and yarn!
My second sweater I ever knitted was a Lopi in the round, purchased the yarn while traveling to Newfoundland and PEI Canada, by travel trailer with my family and my grandmother. Started knitting it while on the road and within the 4 weeks we were gone, I had it 3/4 finished, still have it today. Summer of 1978, I was 18. My grandmother was a terrific knitter and I was privileged to have inherited her stash!
This goes back many years, to the late 60s, when I was about 12. Mom, Dad and I were taking a flight from Reno back home to SF in a little 7 seater plane. We had two little souvenir poker style slot machines with us, which we were playing. Shortly after takeoff the pilot asked to see one. After a couple minutes the co-pilot asked to see the other. For the next half hour nobody flew the plane. I thought that was very unfair – if they could play with our toys, why couldn’t I play with theirs (the plane)? Thanks for the giveaway.
Wow – great design.
Oh my we have many traveling stories & misadventures. We learned a valuable lesson – always have the first night’s accommodation booked and know it’s location. In the age before smartphones, not always an easy task when travel abroad. 🙂
Beautiful sweater. I have two stories to tell. I will make them short.
My parents favourite story to tell about my adventures is how when I was on my first international trip ever (I had turned 16 on the trip), I made a collect call home from Germany to brag about how I had bought the chaperone a beer “because I of age”.
Mine is how we found family while travelling in one of the “old” countries. My boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Iceland to celebrate graduating from university. While there I had hoped to find information about the family if possible, but was having no luck getting in though with the organization that could, and the few times I did, they kept giving me information about the family in Canada. Anyway, I was acquainted with the Icelandic Representative in Canada’s wife through the community group back home. The Rep was retiring, and they were moving back to Iceland. We discovered that we would be passing each other during our trip and made arrangements meet up. At the restaurant where we were meeting, I was telling them about my difficulties, but that I knew we were in the right area from the history we know of and how at least I have been able to see something, etc… The wife pulled a waitress aside and asked her to check the genealogical database they all have access to. The waitress came back about 15 minutes later and proudly announced that we were cousins. I went fromhaving very little family history, to a lot of family history in a matter of one dinner.
Beautiful cardigan. I was in Scotland over the summer staying with family in Glasgow and travelling around. I bought local Scottish wool whenever I could. On the way home I stopped in Iceland for a couple of days but by this time my luggage was overweight and I could only buy a few balls of Einband and Lopi to add to my ever-growing hand luggage. If only I could have bought some Plötulopi!!
On a recent family vacation to Michigan I lured my folks to visit Stonehedge Fiber Mill where Deb gave us such a nice welcoming tour of her farm & production barn, my husband tweaked her ailing tractor, and my kids had a surprise of all her various animals coming up to them. I of course made a few yarn purchases. More recently we’ve been discussing Iceland — maybe knitting some gifts in Lopi will give more incentive…
I don’t have a interesting story but I always have 2 projects on me for the long waits at the airports when I travel. Love, love, love the cardigan!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for the opportunity.
My husband and I happily retired to Costa Rica 9 years ago. We love everything about this country and it’s people. One important lesson I have learned is to always carry my knitting along when we hop in the car. It is not uncommon here to have traffic completely stopped for up to an hour for various reasons – landslides,painting the lines on the road, cattle crossing the road, and on and on. Patience is a trait that I cherish.
The sweater is lovely. Thank you for this wonderful offer!
My Mom took my sister and I overseas to visit my Dad in the NAVY. I was 8. We were walking in Holland and ended up on a street lit with red lights. Mom detoured us out of there quickly but I still remember the “red street”.
One time we were traveling in Pennsylvania and my mom had us take a “shortcut” to Scranton and we ended up in Newark… 🤣
I tried to use a shawl pin as a needle to kitchner two ends of a cowl together instead of waiting until I got home. It went about as well as I expected it to, which meant it was a disaster.
My travel misadventure is that I really haven’t traveled anywhere, and what a missed-adventure that is! However, my daughter is just now on her way home from a 10 day trip to Scotland. Her first solo adventure with twists and turns, flew to Glasgow but hotel was in a different place. She decided to go to Edinburgh and discovered she had left her chargers and adapters behind. But had a fantastic time in beautiful Scotland. I would love to knit her this absolutely gorgeous sweater as a reminder of her trip. But maybe after I make one for myself for practice first. 🙂
Just last week, I was on a trip to Ireland, which provided an amazing about of beautiful memories. I can’t wait to return! I was knitting a scarf from Artyarns, silk with beads and sequins, and I too, lost my little knitting bag upon arrival to our final destination: home. I’m so upset about this. My airport does not have it in their lost and found as of yet and I also filled out an online form with my airline carrier. Hopefully it’s found by someone. So I can certainly understand your loss as well and I’m very sorry about that. Your sweater is very beautiful. Thank you for sharing your talents with so many people. Thank you, also, for this opportunity. I truly appreciate it!
Beautiful sweater and lovely new yarn. What really resonates is “lost on a plane”. Been there… more than once unfortunately.
I always take a shawl project with me when we travel, usually an easy, repetitive pattern that I can do while my husband drives. Last year I decided to purchase yarn at each destination on our road trip to commemorate our vacation and I loved the striped colorful result!
Traveling back home on Southwest and this very tall gentleman takes the middle seat. I curl up my barely 5 foot self in the small space I had left. After an hour I had to uncurl. I took out my knitting and suddenly had more than enough room. Tried not to laugh at the thought of the giant next to me being frightened an 8 inch pair of bright yellow plastic knitting needles
Ooh, this cardigan was lovely. My best travel adventure story would be taking the overnight train from Saint Petersburg to Kiev on my 17th birthday. Upon hearing it was my birthday, our carriage companions quickly brought out all their food and drink!
I have learned that I must use the magic loop or 2 circular needles when making socks while on a plane. After dropping a needle, and being unable to find it or to knit for 3 hours on a cross country flight, I do not use double points when traveling. ( I did find the errant needle after we landed. )
The sweater is so beautiful!
Email had a typo
I always travel with a yarn project and miss lot of scenery on trip. I feel it makes the trip go faster and have something to show for 8 or more hours of riding. We have used a gps in car and gone on roads meant for bikes or walking. Each trip is a new adventure
Beautiful!!! My travel story: 2007 I went along as an elders assistant to a gathering in Peru, and brought along my knitting. During that trip I knit during bus rides, long conference presentations, and at night in the hostel while hanging out with travelers. In Puno, PE I was on a walking tour of the sacred sites and knitting socks as I walked, and passed a group of Andean women that were drop-spindling their own yarn. We began conversing, comparing yarns, I passed off my sock in progress for them to try out the bamboo needles, etc. They applauded my work, I admired their gorgeous colors, and we ended up trading a finished pair of socks for four cakes of handspun yarn the following day-and now ten years later I have been to Peru six more times, married, and have a half-peruvian daughter who loves beautiful yarn and Peru as much as I do!
The sweater is gorgeous and the yarn looks amazing. I took a trip to Alaska this summer and brought plenty of knitting with me. Didn’t knit a stitch, I was too busy taking in all the beautiful scenery. Found a few yarn stores to look at also.
I usually knit and or spindle spin my way through Sicily, usually ending up running into a local who can help me out with finding a LYS
This is interesting yarn and a beautiful sweater. My boyfriend and I tent camp every Fall and I always bring my knitting. I frequently end up trying to knit after dark. My boyfriend always builds me a custom lantern holder out of logs, sticks, branches, anything he can find in the area so I can knit until after the moon 🌝and stars ⭐️come out!
So want to make this sweater, makes me smile when I see the photo.
I did my first Chicago Mackinac Race this year, boy what an adventure. Can’t knit during the race, but took the charter bus back to Chicago. The bus trip started with a few colorful skeins of yarn and ended in Chicago with a finished Bousta Beanie. What a wonderful way to pass the time and feel accomplished in the end.
I travel often from Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada (where I now live – and it truly gets -40* in the winter) to Chicago. Knitting is my favorite travel past time. Icelandic wool would go far to keep us warm during our winters! I can’t wait to try it!
Love to knit again – after a few years of thumb issues. Now with a brace and patches I can knit everywhere and all the time! Husband finds this funny – outside, camping, in the car, 💤 with needles in hand, airplanes… yep anywhere! Luckily my best friend is the same way! Now to work on husband scarf and kids sweaters for winter.
I always take a knitting project with me on road trips. It keeps me busy so that I don’t concentrate on my husband’s driving skills (or lack thereof). In turn, it makes for a pleasant trip to our destination!
Beautiful sweater! My travel misadventure was showing up 12 hours early, 2 little boys in tow, for a flight to Nova Scotia. Yes, I booked my tickets online, and booked a 9 pm flight when I thought I’d booked a 9 am flight. Not my brightest moment.
Love the cardigan! I knit a pullover with similar colors over 20 years ago. I still have it but the yarn has yellowed with age. My husband and I travel from California to British Columbia yearly. I always take my knitting to help pass the long hours in the car. I love visiting yarn shops along the way if I can persuade my husband to stop.
What a wonderful yarn!! I have been to Switzerland numerous times. The sweater that was created with the Ístex Plötulopi reminds me of some of the beautiful sweaters I’ve seen on my travels there. I would love to try my hand at knitting with this yarn. I truly looks like a classic yarn made for wear and warmth. Thanks for the introduction to this yarn.
Love the idea of that yarn! It looks so fun to play with. Years ago, I lived in Asia. I was supposed to travel with a friend, but she had to cancel. I went on my own. I ended up in Laos and a monk decided to show me around so he could practice his English. He took me to some amazing places I never would have found on my own. I think that seeing all amazing, unique hand made arts and crafts eventually led me to my own interest in knitting.
Love, love, LOVE Lori yarn, both Alaphoss & Lett. Thanks for featuring it & the chance to win
LOPI yarn, not ‘lori’… thanks again spell check/auto correct!
Whenever I am lucky enough to travel and not have to drive, I bring my knitting. The length of the trip and need to be attentive determines my project…slippers or dishclothes 😀 A travel misadventure? I was travelling with a colleague for a course in Halifax. I was knitting and we were chatting…we were so carried away we missed our exit to Halifax. When I looked up from my knitting I realized what had happened. We turned around and had gone 40 minutes out of our way! I put down the slippers and started doing dishcloths so we wouldn’t get misdirected again 😀😀. We had lots of laughs about it!
Love the cardi and the story! My misadventure also involves knitting. I was on a plane for a business trip, and I was trying to make headway on a diamond lace pattern cardigan. I set my knitting in my lap for just a minute, and when I looked down, half of my stitches were off the needles. Needless to say, I was quite upset, and when my plane landed I went straight to a local yarn store. I met the nicest lady (who owned the store), and in 45 minutes she had my knitting back on the needles and I was on my way. I was so grateful that I purchased the yarn for my next project from her.
I watched the video on Facebook which lead to this beautiful sweater. This yarn is definitely something that I would like to try. Several years ago we were on our way to do hurricane work just after the storm left the southern states. Our car broke down on the way just outside of a small town in Wyoming. No rental cars were available as there was an influx of workers in the area (gas fields). We were given a ride into town and to a hotel by the mechanic. We spent our time walking around the town and actually enjoyed our quite time before we made it to our destination and the hectic work began.
Beautiful sweater!
On my honeymoon, 16 years ago, my fiancé reminded me for months to bring my passport. In the wee hours of the morning
I heard “oh no”… guess who forgot his passport???
Years ago, I was traveling to the Netherlands from the States for the first time and somehow ended up on a train to Amsterdam instead of The Hague. I eventually made it to the right place! Gorgeous sweater, Amy.
I’d love to try this design. Last Spring my husband and i spent 3 months in Berlin, DE while he worked from his companies office there. Every morning after he left for work I knitted for a couple hours. I was making chemo caps for cancer patients back home. I completed 24 chemo caps and a cardigan that was long overdue. I hope the chemo caps come in handy for the cancer patients this winter here in Wisconsin.
Would love the challenge of making this cardigan. I’m quite well travelled and am lucky enough to have visited a lot of wonderful countries. One of the more amusing things I’ve seen is a pig on a motorbike in Vietnam. Those guys literally carry their whole lives on a bike!!!!
Beautiful yarn. While traveling to Florida a couple years ago for vacation a 6 hour drive, my boyfriend drove and I knitted the entire time, I made a bikini wrap to wear while I was there.
One beautiful sweater. While traveling in England many years ago with my beloved mom, I purchased gray yarn and a pattern. I am still enjoy wearing this fisherman rib cardigan. Thank you for this giveaway.
Beautiful yarn and sweater!
We drove to Cape Cod, Massachussets, USA this summer and it had been a long time since I had been a co-pilot. In order to avoid going through the city of Boston, I had my patient husband drive a 2 hour loop….. Would have probably been shorter to pass through Boston after all!
Such a pretty design! My travel mishap involved an airline. They moved my return flight a few hours earlier (and this was before the days of smartphones) and I didn’t know. If a family member didn’t check and call to tell me to leave for the airport ASAP, I would have missed it.
I love your cardigan. I wish I could tell you all about my travel adventures and misadventures, but I haven’t been able to go anywhere for quite awhile.
This may be the yarn that turns me into a knitter. I crochet and always have a travel project with me which always has the flight attendants asking what I’m making.
Love the cardigan design. After spending 5 weeks in the Glasgow area this summer visiting family and friends and travelling around Scotland where I bought only local Scottish wool I spent a few days in Iceland on my way back to the US. As my luggage was already overweight I only bought some Einband and then some Lopi at the airport. If only I had been able to buy Plötulopi…
This yarn is so lightweight and warm! I love it.
Love this sweater! I rather new to stranded knitting, only a few small projects, but would love the chance to try my hand at a sweater. The very first time I tried to knit with laceweight yarn, I’d started a scart in the airport departure lounge. I was thinking I had the “hang” of using this very thin yarn, until 10 minutes into the flight. The whole thing went south, and I couldn’t tink it back. Unfortunately, that was the only project I’d put into my carry on — thank goodness it was a short flight!
Beautiful sweater and pattern! I often buy yarn based on how it feels, so the description has me intrigued.
About 10 years ago my family was staying at the Disney resort. We had spent a long day in the park and were on one of the last buses to the hotel. It was pretty late and while the bus was packed it was very quiet. The driver had the radio on and Sweet Caroline came on. As soon as the refrain started nearly everyone on the bus that had been half asleep started singing enthusiastically. It’s one of my favorite travel memories. And of course I had projects back at the hotel for downtime.
March 1972 flying student standby via Chicago O’Hare; stranded overnight. Knitting on a vest when a man sat down next to me in the almost empty airport. In that time one could be anywhere in an airport for any reason; I’d already had to seek out a uniformed person when some sketchy teens started following me.
Come to find out he was a soldier home on leave from Vietnam. He was a knitter as well. His fellow troops teased him at first until the rainy season came; he had sweaters to keep warm, but they didn’t.
I’d love to knit this for my granddaughter who lives in a much colder climate than I do!
That is such a lovely sweater, I printed it as soon as I saw it. This is definitely on my bucket list of places to visit. I would use those colors, they are the colors I naturally gravitate towards so I would not change a thing. I love Lopi, I have already made one sweater and have some leftover for another one. Too many lovely patterns to choose from but this one is first.
This is so beautiful and perfect for my travel faux pax…we took a lovely trip o Montreal, but do not speak French. I hate asking for directions, so got into a long line for what I told my husband was a ride on the funicular above the stadium. 45 freezing minutes later, we reached the window, paid our fee and looked grandly at the public pool!! Needless to say, he makes me ask directions now!
Beautiful timeless design! We do a lot of road trips. I usually start a project at the beginning of a road trip with the goal of finishing it by the end of the trip or at least finish it before the next road trip begins.
Love Berroco yarn, and what a lovely sweater! My travel story involves traveling back to the US from the U.K. after a four year deployment (husband was in the military). 2 nights before departure, we discovered I was missing my green card (I am Canadian). The next day, we made a mad trip by train to London to the US consulate. Long, long day that thankfully ended with getting temporary papers so I could get on the plane the next day, and not be left behind waiting for our household goods to be delivered to the states, and unpacked to find the green card. It would have been months!
My travel adventure is yet to begin as I have booked to go on a Wool Adventure to Shetland next year. Have never travelled alone or been on a ferry before so am a little nervous as well as excited! Thank you for hosting this giveaway as I love this cardigan.
Regards Jane
My travel stories are about my love of train travel and the opportunity to sit in comfort, relax with a good knitting project as the miles go by. I take a few breaks to do some reading, but knitting is given front seat as I travel to see family and friends on the train.
Kristin
I have just learned fair isle and this would be an amazing next project. I have been hearing wonderful things abut this yarn and am looking forward to using it one day. This would be a wonderful opportunity to try it. Thank you
We just returned from a camping trip with our 10 yr old dog Sam a black lab who hated water. When we took him on a hike to the falls with a small creek. He look at it and waked right. We can’t even give him a bath without loud cries. He enjoyed lapping up the and a little splashing. We’ll see what happens when it’s bath time again.
Very pretty sweater. I would love to try this yarn
My misadventure wasn’t too bad – we missed a train and ended up in a train station in Berlin for most of a night. At least we didn’t have to buy new tickets!
Beautiful looking yarn! I love train travel & took a trip to NYC recently. Of course I took my knitting. The beautiful scarf was almost finished. But I left it and my favorite silk knitting bag on the train! After several calls to Amtrak, I knew it was gone. I just hope it ended up in the hands of a knitter who would finish it & enjoy wearing it.
It’s gorgeous, buttons or not. I haven’t had many travel “surprises.” I went to London once with my son. He was 8 then. We were on our way somewhere, and noticed several people on the tube with toy store bags. We got off the train, and saw more bags held by more people. We thought we might be close to something good. We stopped a stranger and asked where it might be. Turns out it was Hamley’s a world famous toy store. We found it and explored every nook and cranny. And left with a good bit of legos. 🙂
My daughter moved to Scotland when she married. When I visited her I sought out yarn spun in Scotland from Scottish sheep and I carefully chose colors that reminded me of the highlands. I designed and knit a shawl with the yarn. Wear it a lot both as a shawl and as a scarf. Reminds me of Scotland and helps me feel closer to my daughter.
I don’t have any travel stories, but’s I take my yarn to all my appointments.
Many years ago when in Switzerland my husband and I got on a ferry in Lake Lucerne thinking it would be a one hour trip but it turned out it was a 8 hour trip around the whole lake! Not what we planned but it turned into a beautiful adventure.
Yarn and needles go with me Everywhere, everyday, just in case I have a moment or two. I’ve just gotten a passport (at age 54) to travel to Montreal next month, so we’ll see what my yarn has to say about that upon our return!
A few years ago my husband and I took our teen daughters to Costa Rica. We decided to walk across the border to Nicaragua for a day trip with a guide. When walking back (walking across this border in itself is such an experience, as the border has changed so many times due to wars) we were stopped by border guards who wanted to check our paperwork and look through our belongings. It was startling and our guide suggested giving them some money. They ended up taking all of the food we had and our water bottles, half emptied that we had already been drinking from, and drank them, with apparent dire thirst, right in front of our eyes. None of us were prepared for this level poverty and basic need. It was a lesson that I know left a lasting impression on our girls and one I won’t forget.