Last weekend was a very busy weekend, as Andrew and I went back to PA to take care of some wedding details and visit family. We did a lot of running around, but I did get a chance for some knitting related activity! Before we left on Friday I was almost finished with my pawprint dishcloth, so I left it at home to be finished when we got back. This way, I could get started on some other projects!
I cast on for a gift project that involves a whole lot o’ stockinette, so that I would have something easy to keep track of to do on the train. A couple of false starts and I think I’m really getting the hang of the purl stitch! Plus, I got a few inches done on my boring scarf, but since it’s getting warmer (finally) it’s a lot harder to get motivated to work on that. Andrew has picked the pattern he wants for his “real” scarf, so I’ll probably leave this one alone until I figure out whether I’ll be good enough to make the one he wants for next winter or whether I still need this one as a placeholder. I’m sure I can find a use for the yarn if I scrap the scarf!
When we got back to NY, the first thing I did was finish off the pawprint cloth. The picture doesn’t show up so well on the variegated yarn, but up close it looks pretty good! I’m happy with how it turned out, and I think I’m ready to start my kitchen gift sets. I bought the yarn for them at A.C. Moore over the weekend. Unfortunately, this means that my stockinette project is going into hibernation, since I need those needles for the gift projects, but I’m ok with that.
I’ve also started one other thing, Knitty’s Brown Bag for Andrew to carry his lunch in. He said he wanted one, and I am itching to learn how to work in the round, so I thought it would make a good learning project since even if I do screw up, it will (hopefully) disappear when it’s felted! I’m using the exact yarn she recommended, but my gauge was WAY off, so Andrew helped me recalculate the pattern to make it work out. So far I’ve just worked on the garter stitch bottom, but it’s been really fun! The yarn is a lot less splitty than the Caron Simply Soft I was using on the stockinette project and I like the nice, even stitches I’m getting with it. It makes me feel like a better knitter than I probably am! 
I love, love, love my new Harmony circulars from KnitPicks, too! I knew I would need a 16″ circular for the brown bag, so I decided to order the nice ones and try them out. I know I don’t have much to compare them to, being a new knitter, but I swear this must be what knitting is like in heaven! They’re so pretty, I feel like I’m knitting with crayons and it makes me happy. And the action is so smooth! I just can’t stand the metal-on-metal noise (the clicking is ok, but I get a scraping sometimes that sends chills down my spine) and with the beauty of the Harmonies, I don’t think I’m going to be able to give them up! I’d better start saving up for the interchangeable set!
