Knit One, Purl What?

Back in 2005 my Momma gave me a knitting kit for Christmas. I perused the book, grabbed the needles and yarn and started knitting a scarf.

The knit stitch is as far as I got. The purl stitch was eluding me. I looked on YouTube, knitting websites and Roomie Jeff's mom tried to show me. But it was still eluding me. I couldn't wrap my brain (& fingers) around it. So after garter stitched scarf was done, I put the knitting away.

Until this past May, when I decided to quit smoking. It would give me something to do with my hands. I picked up another knitting book, some yarn, some needles and casted on.



I loved the thick chunky yarns I chose....What a nice, warm scarf they would make. This would be my crazy sampler scarf, trying new stitches, changing between yarns. But the purling was still giving my brain & fingers trouble. Grrr!!!

Then Momma came to visit me at the end of June. She showed me how to Purl. I got it! I really really got it!

While Momma was here, we went to check out the local yarn store...Hook, Yarn & Needles, a small shop owned by the wonderful Eva (a.k.a. Crochet Queen). She has the most amazing yarns. I want them all. Eva told us about a really neat knit/crochet online community -- Ravelry. They have tons of patterns and useful info. I've gotten a bunch of projects saved to my favorites already.

I've been back to Hook, Yarn & Needles a few times since then. One of the things I love about the shop & Eva is that she gets just as exited as I do about me mastering a new stitch or technique, no matter how simple. (as a former smoker, she's also given me some of her tips for quitting, too...double bonus)

This Christmas I decided to make people handmade gifts since money would probably be tight. And people love getting gifts made with love. I found a bunch of simple and fast, yet good-looking dishcloth patterns on Ravelry, bought some cotton yarn and started knitting away.

I'd wanted to try my hand at a hat, but most of the patterns I found used double pointed needles and I was hesitant to try them. So I found one that didn't use them...


I just added the tassels to both but haven't taken a picture yet....

One day I will use double pointed needles and make lots of socks in a rainbow of colors.

One day I will make a sweater out of a luxurious skein of Malabrigo yarn.