Welcome To Taipei

Hello Interwebs Friends,

I arrived 3 nights ago without much incidence.  I was really worried about getting stuck with a bunch of annoying people on a very crowded plane. However, I totally lucked out, as not only did i get an aisle seat, but I had the whole row to myself!! I totally took advantage and sprawled out.  There weren’t too many annoying people either. Amusing, but not quite annoying: a guy who yawned very loudly and smacked his lips after a loud yawn, which occurred about every 30 minutes and the snoring guy in the row behind me.

I spent most of the time knitting. I designed and knitted a pair of glittens on the fly (pun intended!) for my sister whose hands are freezing in New Haven. Because she’s very active, has sweaty palms and bikes a lot, I decided to double strand some sock yarn and add some pencil roving (which I hand-painted) for additional warm and insulation.I also planned on knitting on smaller needles to make the fabric more dense.

Row 1: Left: I made good use of my extra space. As you can see, I littered the adjacent seat with all my knitting stuff. Right: Swatching for the glittens. I didn’t block though, since I was on a plane and the fit is more forgiving on a glove. Row 3: Left: Merino superwash sock yarn and some handpainted baby alpaca pencil roving used for the glittens. right: was almost finished with the first glove after the flight.

I made a very crucial mistake though.  I intended to knit the cuffs using at US 4/ 3.5mm needle and then switching to a US 6/ 4mm needle.  However, I am so smare* that I forgot to switch needles. Thus, the glittens are a little hard to get on. Once past the palm, it fits my medium hand. I’m not sure that they’d fit my sister’s though. She has bigger bonier hands (aka man hands).  I considered just abandoning this one, but I did spend a while knitting it. So, I think I’ll knit it’s twin and donate it to one of my favorite charties. Then, I’ll make my sister another pair using the correct needles!

In between the glittens, I took breaks and knitted a lace shawl that I’m testing out. As it turned out, the hole of the tray table, designed for cups is perfect for my yarn!  It totally solved the problem of my yarn rolling off my lap or seat down the aisle.

* inside joke about how “smart” I really am. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about how that term came about. It’s kind of a funny story. Come to think of it, I should tell y’all about it, so at least you can get a good laugh at my expense.

Well, it’s late now here, and I have a very long day tomorrow. In my next post, I will share some market finds and some Engrish-spotting.

~ by craftydiversions on November 20, 2009.