The Emergency Pack

This months newsletter from River City Yarns, is all about summer knitting. Yours truly contributed one article on emergency knitting supplies. Today you are going to see my knitting first aid kit.

First things first, you need a good emergency container. The container should be capable of keeping the dry in and the damp out. Waterproof or water resistant a top priority. Keeping in mind that this is for emergencies, colour should be a consideration. Mr. Needles found this among things he did not give me last year. It fits the bill nicely.

Then there is the all important yarn. Every emergency kit should have sock yarn. Campfire emergency yarn should be bright. It should be cheerful. It should console and inspire and sock yarn fits the bill nicely. I like to include a couple of balls. I might knit faster than expected (not happening) but a second yarn might someday come in handy. Who knows when someone will see me knitting, and ask me to teach them? Maybe Mr. Needles will finally fall under knitting's magical spell. I'd like to think my kit could cover other people's knitting emergencies, and not just my own. (Miscellaneous unlabeled yarn) (Regia Kaffe Fasset Limited edition yarn)

After sock yarn, it should have a staple. Something for that moment that you think you might be inspired to knit a different sweater than all the sweaters you have planned, and different from the ones you have unfinished on your size 4 to 5 needles. It should be something thicker than sock yarn, something easy to knit when your fingers are numb with chilly damp mountain weather. The blue stack is Cloud Cotton from Estelle.

And lastly, an emergency kit should contain desert. I don't know why it should contain desert, but part of me figures that desert is a good idea for almost any occasion, and another part of me says, a treat yarn might be a good idea for that moment every camping trip has where I am overcome with the overwhelming need to ask myself if I am having fun yet. These moments usually involve rain, wet wood, and dull axes, which are, of course, integral to the complete Canadian camping experience.

100% Silk, also from Estelle, a very nice desert.

Next, a good emergency kit has to have instructions. Smart people would insert a single printed page with the instructions for a pair of mittens, a pair of socks, a lace stitch pattern. I like to be prepared, and since the kit has room, I go off the deep end. A couple stitch dictionaries, a reference manual, a book of knitting fun are the basics. I've tossed in a pattern book too for good measure. I mean what if I didn't feel like knitting in front of the fire? ....

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Nah, never happening, but what if my hands start to hurt because I have knit too much? I mean, I have to be prepared for serious emergencies too, right, as well as the smaller and more frequent band aid brand emergencies.

Once your kit is packed, you should make sure your kit is well identified, and is secure. Luckily enough, mine came pre-labeled.

What can you expect of a beer cooler bag?

PS When you pack your own knitting emergency kit, pack it to suit your style of camping. My current style of camping means I stay very dry in a small Class B motor home. If I tented, I'd leave the books at home. But not the yarn. The yarn is not negotiable.