Travel projects

I like to have a project that I can put in my handbag when travelling, especially on planes. Time was when I knitted on planes, but the post September 11 security put an end to that and led me to find simple embroidery projects that I could substitute.

For a year or so I worked on a candlewicking project, my first, a cushion cover with flannel flowers and dune grasses. It was perfect for travel - only a few colours, easily memorised, and the colonial knots were interesting enough in themselves but very soothing to fill in.

That project is now completed, and I have begun another simple travel project.

This is a cushion kit, already assembled in a cotton/modal mix, from Belgium. The embroidery is all stem stitch, in two colours - a light olivey-green and a silvery-grey. The fabric is even weave, making it easy to get an even stitch length. It has a nice continuity of line, quite Eastern in effect.

My requirements for travel projects are:

• small enough for a handbag, or at most a use-onboard bag
• a pattern that is self-explanatory and doesn't require reference to charts or instructions
• threads that are or can be cut into usable lengths and don't require cutting at the point of use
• can be managed with only a thread cutter and no scissors
• needles that are easy to thread
• do-able from memory
• interesting enough to sustain me to the end of both the journey and the project
• easily explained to curious fellow travellers.

My only problem now is that, now I am not travelling very much, can I bear to have a project on the go that goes for weeks or months between progressions? I'm not sure I can, so I may have to find 'just-in-time' travel projects in future.

Finished the cushion kit. I will now have to find a new travel project.