Flying with Your Knitting Projects

Tips and Tricks for flying with your knitting, domestically and internationally.

Knitting is your passion, your hobby, your stress relief and a fun past time – so it’s natural to want to take it with you on vacation (or other trips).  But there isn’t one place where you can find all of the information on how to safely fly with your knitting projects.  I’ve flown both domestically and internationally with my WIPs multiple times, so I thought it might be helpful to compile what I’ve learned from talking to others about flying with your knitting, doing my own research and through trials and error into one post here.

Domestically:

I live in the United States, so this might differ a bit if you’re located in another country.  Also, after reading this post, I’d suggest double checking with your specific airline to see if knitting needles are on the banned list, and then make your own choices from there.

**This post is not to advise breaking any TSA rules, just share my experiences**

Since you are in country, you can generally purchase and bring home any type of fiber and flying with your knitting isn’t a problem.

Generally, when flying with your knitting in the US, bringing your knitting needles is not a problem, but just to be safe, I’ve listed a few tips below.

Internationally:

Again, I’d recommend checking with the airlines that you are flying with as they generally take their lists from their home countries.  You can find lists for security like our TSA per country, but for the airlines to operate in those countries, they have to abide by the rules and it’s generally pretty easy to find their lists of banned items.

When we were traveling to Abu Dhabi, knitting needles were on their list of banned items, but I’m assuming they meant the long straight metal ones because I brought two different projects with me and they let me through without even glancing at my knitting stuff.  Again – I’m not telling you to break the rules in a foreign country, just sharing my experience.

Flying internationally and purchasing yarn, there maybe some other rules and regs to pay attention to.  There is a question on the entry form asking whether you have been around any foreign farm animals, so I’m assuming bringing back untreated wool might cause a bit of an issue.  I’d double check with customs is you can, if you’re nervous or questioning what you’re bringing back.  OR, you can always swing by a post office in the country before hitting the airport and ship home whatever you are buying.  The post offices there will have a clear understanding of what can be sent to other countries and are a much better guide than myself.

Tips and Tricks

1. Use Circular needles: Even when working back and forth and not in the round, circular needles are less threatening as they aren’t a giant metal stick that someone could potentially hurt another person with.
2. Select a wooden or plastic needle: for the same reasons above, wood is generally less threatening than metal.
3. Select a needle that’s not an expensive one that you mind loosing.  Just in case TSA does make you ditch your needles, having a set that you don’t mind loosing as much is better than loosing your expensive Caspian Wooden Circulars from KnitPicks (or whatever your go to needles are). IE I recommend the cheap bamboo ones that you can grab off of amazon or at your local Michaels/Joann Stores
4. Bring some spare yarn or a plastic stitch holders.  If you are really nervous about passing through security and loosing your needles, you can place your work on a lifeline or stitch holders ahead of going through security.  This way you won’t have to get out of line or gum up the works while you transfer your stitches.Note: I’ve never actually needed my stitch holders but I bring them with me as they don’t take up much room and they’re good to have around.
5. I’ve heard of people bringing jewelry or having small tools that you can use to cut yarn with but I’ve also heard of them getting confiscated so I leave them at home.  If you really need to break the yarn, necessity generally proves to be the mother of all invention.  You can also ask at the different gate desks or restaurants to borrow a pair of scissors when you get to where you are traveling – but I’ve used my teeth and a spare set of keys before.
6. Start your project before you get to the airport.  Someone who is actually working on a project, is less likely to try to use their needles as a weapon.  Just a bit of common sense.  So it’s a good idea to have your work started rather than pack a bunch of spare needles.
7. Lastly, a bit of personal advice, only bring one WIP with you as a carry on and stow the rest in a suitcase somewhere.  It’s too easy to loose a WIP or have to chase after an unattended ball of yarn on a plane…You can check out my embarrassing story here.