Knitting on a Jet Plane

From Pittsburgh JFK, and JFK to Abu Dhabi

Recently my Fiance and I had the opportunity to take a trip of a lifetime, as a gift from his parents.  We packed up for a week and a half of adventure, halfway around the world – and of course, you know I had to pack my knitting.  I couldn’t just take a week and a half hiatus – I’ve got projects to finish, wedding shawls to knit before April! And Christmas, plus moving into a new house and getting all of that settled put a big dent into my knitting time.  We haven’t even found a new storage solution for all of my yarn yet.  Plus, we had a seven hour layover – and let’s be honest, I can’t sit still for one hour.

As I was preparing to pack my knitting, I remembered reading a post from another knitter who was having trouble bringing her knitting project onto a foreign flight (the second leg of her journey), and how she had used a lifeline and packed her needles away in her checked luggage to avoid catastrophe. Knitting is allowed on US flights yes (well maybe not long, straight metal needles but in the round, certainly), but some countries have it banned.  So I looked it up on Etihad and my heart sunk.  Right there, on the list of banned items from their planes was Knitting Needles.  At this point I was already stressed about leaving my dog (who is my baby) and the house during one of the coldest spells that we’ve had during a long time, so this was almost enough to send me over the edge.  But Thank God there is a wonderful Facebook Group full of amazing knitters who are even better people – I ran to them as fast as my fingers could type in my question.

Earlier in the Christmas season I had leaned on this group of knitters for the first time – I was extremely self conscious about wearing my first knitted skirt to a Christmas party (which was full of friends anyway, so there was absolutely no need for these feelings but hey – emotions aren’t known for being rational).  I posted some pictures and the reason for my post – and these ladies flocked to me with support.  I got such a boost from this community that I not only wore the skirt to the party, but I wore it again to the next one.  So, I knew that there would be help.

Once again, the “Knit and Chat” community did not disappoint.  They reminded that bamboo circular needles are normally allowed – and in a pinch, if they aren’t, you aren’t throwing away a good pair of needles.  They also reminded me that that this ban generally applies to straight metal needles which can sometimes look like a weapon.  The last bit of advice that I received was also great, one of the knitters suggested that I have a project started on the needles, so that the airline staff can see the intended use of the needles.  Armed with their support, I headed to the store, grabbed some bamboo needles and some plastic stitch holders in case I needed a life line, and ran home to pack.

My wedding shawl, using the Purl Soho Pattern for the Bamboo Wedding Shawl was already started, so I grabbed the small plastic bag that it was in, switched from a metal needle to a bamboo needles and made sure that the extra skein was there as well.  My Maid of Honor’s shawl, I had the pattern and the yarn, but I hadn’t started.  First thing, first – I dropped everything (much to my mother’s chagrin) and wound two of the hanks into balls of yarn and started the first two charts of the lace shawl.  Then threw it all in the bag with my wedding shawl, and packed it into my carry on.  We were set to go.

While we had everything packed, from clothes, to Christmas gifts, to my knitting – I still wasn’t prepared to leave.  My parents arrived to pick up Murphy (My wriggly 90LBs of fur covered Labrador love), and it was time to say goodbye.  My parents live in a log cabin that Murphy knows as “The Cabin”.  I got down and asked him if he wanted to go to The Cabin with his Mimi and Poppop, and he got so excited.  He was jumping all over me and looking at me like “Come on Mom, Let’s go!”.  So I had to tell him that Mommy and Daddy weren’t coming with him, and he actually cried.  My heart shattered.  He still got in the car with them and was excited to see the woods and snow again, but I trudged to the car.

We are blessed to have a friend that lives near the airport, who let us park at her house and gave us a ride (she even covered watching the dog and house later into our trip for us – which was a God send, as our pipes froze and a water main was leaking in our front yard).  She got us to the airport and we got onto the plane without a hitch.  First flight to New York went well and we caught a bit of a nap.  Then began our 7 hour layover.  We were able to gain access to the lounge and found a comfy spot, where after doing some work, I settled into knit…for about 6 hours…while drinking a few Bloody Marys (I’m so lucky I didn’t screw up the lace pattern).

It came time for the next leg of our journey, the 12 hour flight to Abu Dhabi – so we packed up after some dinner and headed to the terminal.  Once we settled into our seats I knitted for a bit more and then managed to get in a bit of a nap.  That flight is brutal.  We got to the airport and customs without a hitch, found his family and so began the trip of a lifetime.  His family were such great hosts and tour guides, it was a phenomenal trip.  We were so blessed to see some of the most grand and incredible sights in the world, surrounded by family.  What more can you ask for out of a trip?