When I left home on December 2 to go to Louisiana, I had my list made, everything was packed and I was out the door exactly on time. I was driving halfway on the first day, spending the night along the way and then driving the rest of the trip on Friday.
The trip is longer than I like to make in one day at this time of year when we have less daylight hours but if I divide it in half, which is about what it takes to get to stay where I like to stay, I get to the hotel way early. I arrived at the hotel at 2 p.m. I was so happy to have an entire evening alone to sit and knit. I had packed all kinds of projects, mostly at various stages of completion because I was going to teach friends to knit socks and needed examples.
As I was unpacking, I thought to myself . . I’m missing something. Yes, my entire back of knitting! I had no needles, no yarn . . nothing. I thought I remembered seeing a bag of yarn under a seat in the car so I went out and found these four skeins of yarn but still no needles.
No Hobby Lobby in this town. No place that would have knitting needles! A trip to Wal-Mart was not real successful but they did have these.
They’re way bigger than the needles I usually use. These are 2.75 mm and I like 2.0 or 2.25 mm but 2.75 is better than nothing.
There was a Mexican restaurant next to the hotel. Nothing like Tex-Mex. Love it! So, I asked the lady at the hotel front desk if the food is good. She said it was excellent so I said “Good, I’ll walk over there and that way I can drink a margarita and not have to drive back.” She said “No . . this whole area is dry!” Guess I wasn’t going to have a margarita but the food was excellent.
And the Dr. Pepper I had was better than any margarita!
Back to the room to decide which yarn to knit with these 2.75 mm needles. The Opal Memory was chosen. Opal yarns aren’t my favorite as far as the feel but Opal yarns hold up so well.
The next morning I went a bit out of my way to get to a Hobby Lobby in Longview, TX and got more needles (and a bit more yarn) but I was all set. I would like to think that maybe next time I go somewhere I won’t forget anything but . . I know me too well!
Holly says
Don’t you just hate when that happens! Luckily you were able to find some needles. I like smaller needles too; the socks look a lot better when knit on small size needles. Happy knitting or sewing, now that you’re home!
Judy D says
Take your a set of spare needles, put them in a little case and keep them in your car. You know you will never need them again if they are in there. 😉 Probably should put some yarn in there too, just in case. 🙂
Denis~ justquiltin says
Good thing you found needles. The alternative is you would have had to find a Chinese restaurant and started whittling down your chopsticks to use for needles. 😉 The colors in that Opal are gorgeous.
carol fun says
Judy – I feel your pain – I too have searched out Hobby Lobby or Michaels or Joanns on a trip to get craft items I forgot. Love that Opal – I have a pair of socks out of that same colorway — happy knitting!
MachelleH says
I’m so paranoid about something like that happening to me that I keep not one, but two socks in progress in my purse. I then have my separate knitting bag with at least two projects. You never know when a needle will break, or you realize it has to be frogged, or some other tragedy.
Ellen says
I was giggling when you said you remembered spotting yarn under the seat. Good to know I’m not the only one with random yarn stashed in the car. Come to think of it though, I don’t think there are needles with it – must remedy that. Alls well that ends well!
Carolyn Thomas says
I have decided that I need to keep a knitting bag at both my sister’s house and my daughter’s house. That way, if I “need” to knit in the middle of the night and didn’t bring a project of my own, I don’t have to go 20 miles to JoAnn’s or Micheal’s. Haven’t got organized enough yet, though. LOL