building blocks

this chickadee is back from las vegas with empty pockets and lungs full of second hand smoke. thanks to a canceled flight and many long hours both in the airport and on the plane, i managed to manufacture my own souvenirs. these four squares are forever reminders of a vegas vacation whose highlights include our hotel catching on fire and everyone returning with the flu. viva home!

if airline travel is in your future, allow me to suggest two tools that came in quite handy from taxi to landing and everywhere in between. the first, a book of 200 crochet block patterns. a great way to practice all sorts of stitch combinations. most blocks are 8" x 8" so they are small enough to work on your seat-back tray without spilling over onto the stranger next to you.

the second, an ingenious invention i like to refer to as the craft-saber. the folks at clover make knitting needles and crochet hooks with lit ends. great for times when the overhead light casts a glare onto the 2" x 2" teevee screen and obscures your vision of the fantastic in-flight programming...or when trying to be polite to a neighbor who is actually able to sleep on the plane. bless them.