The moderator of one of my online knitting groups asked to see pictures of me knitting on the bike. I've tried, but I can't knit and hold the camera at the same time, LOL! I'll have to have one of our riding friends take one for me some time.
Here are a couple of pictures I took on our trip to North Carolina last fall for Wings Over the Smokies (WOTS). I knit three hats for the South Bend domestic assault shelter while on the road.
This was hat number one. The picture was taken on State Road 9 just a little south of LaGrange, Indiana, on the first day of the trip. The odd, ropy thing coming up from the center of the picture is my yarn. Knitting on the BYB is most challenging because I have to pull out just a small amount of yarn at a time. Oddly, the wind currents on the bike cause the yarn to blow forward instead of back! If I pull out too much, it blows up around Rich's face...not a good thing.
This was hat number two. Here we're in Kentucky on the third day of the trip. That's our friend Bash and his wife on the beautiful yellow bike ahead of us. We got to know them through the GoldWing Riders' Forum. Rich and I met up with them at their home in southern Ohio, and travelled the rest of the way to WOTS with them. What a nice couple! He'd hoped to have a large number of BYBs travel to the rally together, but we couldn't get anyone else's route to match up with ours.The hardest thing about knitting on the bike is yarn vomit...you know, when you pull out more yarn and the entire center of the ball comes out. When that happens, I have Rich lean forward a bit and tuck the extra between his back and the backrest, and re-wind it.
I only do mindless knitting on the bike so I can still enjoy the scenery. I've knit several pair of socks and a few hats while on the road. If I'm not knitting, I'm usually sleeping...sorry, no pictures of that, either!
3 comments:
Becky: I haven't tried knitting on the bike yet. We recently rode to Montana from California and that would have been very handy to do while riding those long miles.....but aren't you afraid of your knitting flying away? Our bike doesn't have a windshield (he doesn't like them) so it can get pretty windy.
Deb,
I have a KnitKnackSack that I carry my yarn in. It hangs over the bracket on Rich's backrest and is very secure.
I did worry about dropping my knitting, but haven't had it happen yet. I did learn the 2 socks/2 circs technique to cut down on the number of droppable needles.
The GoldWing has a wonderful fairing and windshield, and we've added a couple of mirror wings to further cut down on the air turbulence. It's really a very comfortable ride!
Elizabeth Zimmerman often knit while riding on the back of her husband's bike!
Don't worry, Shelley -- you'd have to see the Wing to appreciate the way it cradles me and keeps me from falling off while sleeping!
Sleeping Becky!?! Please I just am having nightmares of you sliding right off the back!
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