Starting to pack, travel knitting

Went to the bank today and got traveler’s checks/cash for my trip.  Got home and promptly cached it.  $240 (two 100’s, two 20’s) emergency stash got put into a sealed Ziplock snack bag and duct-taped to the inside of a hidden pocket of my pack, along with a photocopy of my passport and a copy of the receipt for traveler’s checks.  If someone goes rummaging through my pack, they won’t find it; I’ll only lose it if my entire pack disappears.

The balance of it goes into my money belt, in a pair of sealed Ziplock snack bags to keep them from getting wet should I somehow get doused.  The passport gets sealed into a quart-sized Ziplock and put in the money belt as well, along with a copy of my airline itinerary.  Together these things are worth more than gold.

I’m debating stashing a small amount of money in one shoe (I have custom orthopedic inserts that come in and out), but I think that may be overly paranoid. I think I’ll wait and see what I think of the areas I’m visiting.

Tomorrow Mike and I are going out to the farmer’s market, where he’s going to show me the finer points of using my camera.  I bought him a digital camera of similar make and model for Christmas, and he’s been shooting and posting at least one good photo a day since then, so he’s learned a lot about this particular type of camera.  Hopefully it will help me take better photos.

I have turned my travel knitting plans upside down, prompted by reading through Heirloom Knitting.  I’ll be knitting a Shetland shawl, from the inside out – starting with the center section and moving out into the borders.  The plan is to start knitting the center of the shawl while I’m in Ghana, and do the more complex border designing once I get back (and presumably have more time/attention to devote to it).  I’ve already selected two patterns, and will probably spend part of tomorrow swatching them out in 2/28 Nm (laceweight, 7000 yards/pound) silk.

But mostly, tomorrow is going to consist of collecting and packing items for my travel pack, and shopping for stuff I don’t yet have.