Preparing for a Trip!

I'm off later this week for a big two-week trip with my mom. We're headed to the Netherlands, which means carrying passports. I decided I was going to try one of those necklace pouch things for keeping my ID and money. But I didn't own one. So you know what that means!...

I did a Google search and based my project on this tutorial. She made hers from tea towels but I have enough fabric that I didn't need to do that. A quick search of a box of quilting cotton yielded some that would work. (And I mean quick. Nothing like browsing through all of your fabric options to make a quick project take all day! :) I found myself a green and yellow that more or less coordinated. And then, since I may not have noticed a notch missing from the corner of the yellow, I added a red band.

Here I have cut out the pieces and already added the zipper:

Although the tutorial had you cut four pieces, I cut out the two pieces on the fold so I wouldn't have to sew the bottom shut. It's a little less bulky and less sewing.

Then I folded it over with right sides together and sewed the sides shut. (Making sure the zipper was open so that I could flip it inside out.)

Do the sewers (or topographers) among you notice what I did wrong? Yeah, the way I put it together those smaller pockets are going to end up on the inside! Oops. I undid those seams and tried again:

 Ok, so now the sides are sewn and when I flip it inside out, I have a pouch with an outer pocket on each side:

Now for something to hang it around my neck. I picked up this silver chain recently. I figured it would be less noticeable than a fabric strap or leather thong.

I poked a small hole through the fabric with a large needle and pushed the chain through. I then stitched it down in the side seam of the pouch.

If I pull really hard, it will come out, but I think it will be good for general use. (And I learned from someone once that things around your neck should have a weak point to give way. Better that than strangling yourself if the item gets caught in something. She was making aprons for a machinist, but the principle applies.)

And here is the final pouch:

And now the real issue...what will I be bringing to knit???

Remember this ball of yarn that I died in February? I dyed it with this trip in mind.

I'll be knitting socks two-at-a-time on a cable needle (magic loop method). It'll be an easy way to keep everything together as I'm travelling around (no dropping and losing dpns) and it's my theory that cable needles are less "threatening" than double pointed sticks. (A consideration when flying. Though knitting is permitted, you never know when you'll get an over-eager inspector.)

I decided to get the toes done because I didn't want to do all that fiddly work (and calculations) while travelling. (I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I didn't have other knitting projects on the go!)

I had the brainstorm to do the cast on over the cable needle instead of waste yarn. Picking up the stitches off of the waste yarn is my least favourite (and most time consuming) part and in one fell swoop I eliminated it. Yeah me! (I know...not exactly genius work but I'm glad I thought of it.)

I then knit the short-row toe on dpns while the cable needle just held the stitches in waiting. Instead of using two dpns for each sock, I used the same needle for the two sides of the socks that faced each other, like so:

Stitches marked by purple are what were left by the short
rows. The orange stitches are the ones that are being knit.
The middle needle is used to knit both sets of orange
stitches and hold the purple stitches.

Once I finished the second half of the toes, I could start knitting all the stitches with the cable needle, setting up the magic loop. Anyway, long story short, I have finished the toes and they're all set to go:

Several people have expressed their doubt that one pair of socks is going to keep me going for two weeks. I had just two words for them: Yarn Shops. Yes, I have looked up a few addresses on Ravelry and hope to be able to hit some when I'm there (dragging my indulgent mother with me). Wish me luck! :)