Sometimes I think about all the hundreds of hours I spent sitting in the car going to work, shopping, wherever…everywhere here is far away…all those hours when I could have been knitting. (It makes me almost as sad as thinking about the lost hours of my youth spent watching Little House on the Prairie reruns.) Why did it take me so long (maybe two years?) to make the connection? Riding in car = Perfect time to knit. Since I realized this, I rarely go anywhere without my knitting bag.
Not only does car knitting make the time go by more quickly, it keeps my eyes and mind off Andy’s sometimes crazy driving. He doesn’t think it’s crazy, but, well, he’s crazy. I do often worry we’ll have an accident and I’ll be impaled with a needle. I try in particular to keep the pointy parts from aiming towards my eyes, and I make sure if I rest a dpn in my lap it’s parallel to my body. Is this weird? Do other car knitters fear having an eye-kebab?
Things I’ve learned about car knitting:
- The commute to/from work is exactly one hat long.
- ALWAYS finish a row before exiting the car (trust me).
- Let the yarn balls run free in the floorboard; sure they’ll get a bit dirty but it makes the yarn flow a lot easier.
- Be 100% sure you have everything you could possibly need in your bag before you hit the road. It really sucks to finish a color and not have brought the next color and have to waste all that knitting time with your eyes closed trying not to scream as the car careens around a curve.
- Don’t do anything too complicated. Of course it depends on you as to what that means, but for me it means anything where I have to use a stitch counter.
- NEVER leave your metal needles in the sunlight. (I just learned this one yesterday. Ow.)
Here are two recent products of my car knitting.
Anya’s backpack…
…and a pair of felted slippers that were supposed to be for Anya and will be…in a few years when her feet are a couple inches longer.
I love this — I used to crochet on my commute too, but then I was also driving (not at the same time! At those marathon, morning-commute traffic lights). I found it reduced the stress of nose-to-nose traffic where you just SIT forever.
When Beau’s driving, I read aloud a book we’re both interested in. His driving scares me too, though he seems to think he’s God’s gift to driving….this while I’m listening to the bump-bump-bump of the rumble strip he’s riding on MY side of the car. *wince*
I haven’t been able to knit for a week due to hand pain, and the commutes are so much more stressful now. I guess when I’m knitting, I don’t notice I’m being flung from side to side quite so much.