Must have travel knitting

This week we are setting off for Roma! The eternal city and all that!

Me in Rome in 1965

We are unsure how those cardinals are going to mess up our tour of the Sistine Chapel, and of course, equally unsure if we'll be passing by the Piazza San Pietro when the smoke signals appear, which would be quite exciting to see. But, even if things get very troublesome there, there are lots of other things to look at in Rome.

I have been fussing about what to wear, since it is about 15 degrees C there, and freezing here. But mainly I have been fussing about travel knitting. I wrecked my elbow knitting excessively during the Olympics last summer, and it's not perfect yet. I have exercises I do (not obsessively) and a brace thingy to wear, and I pay attention to when it hurts. But, oh, the temptation to just keep knitting is quite strong! And indeed, that is what got me into this trouble in the first place.

I did knit a few rows on a sock a while back, but that's a bit fussy and small and I thought something on bigger needles would be better. So I started a crazy thing with Rowan Cotton Tape and 9 or 10 mm needles. It is quite fine, but I'm wondering who will ever wear a purple and pink cotton cowl/skirt/beach cover-up. Or whatever it turns into. So, the motivation is not really there.

Now, I am leaving on a jet plane.... and simply can't imagine setting off without a travel project.

I have acquired several balls of Rowan Handknit Cotton over the years. There are lots of things I could do with it, I suppose, but I don't really have enough for a sweater for myself, and since this is travel knitting I'm looking for now, it's got to be simple! I looked at shawl patterns, and finally settled on Colonnade, originally knit in Manos, a big, soft, fat wool! I have 2 balls of pale green, a couple of different blues, a scrap of a brick/salmon pinkish colour, and 8 balls of very dark navy. My shawl will look completely different from the original, but I will keep the stocking stitch top part and the colonnade-like bottom bit, just with a whole new set of numbers. I should have cast on more to start, but figure a shawl is the ultimate in one-size-fits-all.

Stay tuned, and in a few short weeks I'll show you how it went.