It's every knitter's nightmare: being stranded somewhere without knitting!
Or at least it's my nightmare. Last week on my way to work (it's a winding 2-lane highway through the hills) I got stuck behind a car accident with no real way around it.
Luckily, I had my current sock-in-progress with me, and there was enough knitting left to get me through the 45 minute wait. But it got me thinking... what if I'd only had the toe decreases left? How would I have managed the other 30 minutes of sitting in my car waiting for the road to clear? I may well have had to rip and re-knit the toe several times... and while I'm all about ripping and re-knitting to improve a project, I don't particularly want to do that just to keep my hands occupied.
In order to avoid this potentially horrible situation, I have come up with the Emergency Sock in the Glove Box solution: put a set of needles and skein of yarn in a project bag, and store that in your glove compartment. Then, if you forget to take knitting with you, get stuck waiting unexpectedly, or finish your other project, you've got backup knitting!
Of course, make sure the yarn and needles in the glove box are not your absolute favorite, and that the socks (or whatever you decide to knit) don't have a deadline, because once they've rescued you from that particular emergency you'll want to put them BACK in the glove box! Otherwise, you may well end up in exactly the situation you are trying to avoid...
Ever wished you had your knitting when you were stuck somewhere?
24 comments
I always have a project(newborn baby hats)in each of my purses and one in the car and even on in my husband’s truck. They all use the same pattern so that I don’t need to “un-remember” any pattern if I end up with a different purse or in the truck and not the car. A ball of yarn will make a couple of that size hats, so if I finish one I am ready to cast on for the next.
My mother always told me to have a clean pair of undies and a ball of sock yarn and needles in the bottom of your bag and in the glove compartment of your car so that you are prepared for any situation.
I taught my daughter to knit at age 8 and told her the samething – to have a clean pair of undies and a ball of sock yarn and needles in the bottom of your bookbag and then after she was old enough to drive, to have it in the glove compartment of your car as well.
After all as my mother said you never know if you are stranded somewhere, in an accident, or anywhere/everywhere where the possibility exists that you find yourself with an unexpected wait.
To this day so many years later, I still follow my mother’s advice and am never ever anywhere in the world without an extra set of clean undies and a ball of sock yarn and needles……..
One can never be too careful.
i went back to school in my 30s, and after work, would have to drive into Boston (for my classes). There nights when the lower Deck was a parking lot. I enjoyed almost every delay — because I could get some knitting time in!
Yes I have been caught before without my knitting. It happened like you sort of and I was very frustrated because I had’t brought any with me. This is a great idea and I will certainly do this so that I will always have something to work on. Guess this means I will have to buy more of Miss Babs yarns to keep my glove box full .