5 top tips for travel knitting

The dedicated knitter will invariably want to maximise their knitting time by knitting 'on the go'. Whether you have a 10 hr flight or a 10 min doctors wait - it pays to be prepared.

1. Always take a photo or a screenshot of your pattern. Just in case you lose your paper copy or you don't have wifi to access your digital one.

2. Don't risk scissors getting lost, confiscated or damaging your bag. Use tiny Hiya Hiya snips or - my favourite - the cutter on a little pack of dental floss.

3. Always have a small notebook and pen/pencil in case of ad hoc pattern adjustments. Relying on memory alone is a bold move.

4. Keep a small notions case/tin in your handbag or project bag. You never know when you'll need an emergency stitch marker - a bulb pin can catch a dropped stitch until you can rectify it later.

5. Finally - consider stowing an emergency ball (ready wound) of sock yarn and DPNs in your car's glove compartment. I do this ever since I was stuck sans-knitting on the M11 for 5 hours.

Any top travel tips? Do let me know in the comments.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY

Can I take my knitting on a plane?

Just hide your needles in your hair - and other bad advice

PIN FOR LATER

The items my knitting bag can't live without

If you are anything like me, the bottom of your knitting bag is a sort of graveyard of previous projects with discarded ball bands and snack wrappers. But there are a few constants that I always have about my knitterly person and I firmly believe that you should too.

HIYA HIYA SNIPS - known affectionately as "Puppy Snips" in our household. These are a firm favourite of mine and I have acquired several pairs now. I love that fact that you can attach them to your bag zipper using the handy little chain and the fact that the tiny blade makes them perfectly airline friendly.

WASTE YARN - you never know when you might need to pop in a lifeline or slide your stitches on to waste yarn. I once had a needle break on me in mid-train journey and being able to safely catch the stitches on a length of waste yarn saved much swearing and cursing later on. I really like to carry a small package of dental floss for this - not only is the thread suitably thin and smooth for most yarn types but the integral cutting blade can also be persuaded to cut yarn and can replace your scissors in a travel emergency.

STITCH MARKERS - Although I can make do with loops of waste yarns I always have a few spare stitch markers knocking about. I like to have a few of the lockable markers too - the ones you can clip and unclip. These are really handy for catching up an errant dropped stitch or for marking the right side of your work.

PENCIL and PAPER - As a designer I'm supposed to say at this point that I always have a pretty notepad and pen to hand to jot down design notes or to keep track of a pattern. Sometimes I do, but more often I seem to end up with a random till receipt and a biro. Not exactly as pretty from an Instagram point of view but definitely an essential.

TIN OF HAND CREAM - I always have dry hands and have amassed quite a collection of solid lotion bars, or ones in tins. I tend to avoid anything in tubes after a rather unpleasant leakage episode.

So, those are my must have items - do let me know what your essentials are. I'd love to know.

PIN FOR LATER