Knit One, Perl...no, pretty much just knit one

While the kids were gone on their vacation to Disney with their father, I was able to take advantage of some free time to join Brenda on a multi-day sail. Boarded on Monday morning (the rest of the passengers spent Sunday night on board while the boat was docked), got home Thursday.

This was one of Brenda's Knitting Cruises, which I had never been on and had never been of particular interest, as I didn't knit. (Not the sailing part. ALWAYS love the sailing part)

Well. Guess what I learned how to do!

Yep. Knit. I know how to cast on two different ways (my preferred method is to knit-cast on) and I can knit. I haven't learned how to perl, but as it's apparently just the reverse of knit, I think I'll pick it up fairly quickly. Eventually. Brenda taught me how to bind off, which I'll need a refresher course on when I finish one of the projects I'm working on.

Yes. I said 'one of.' You know me, people, I don't do things half-way. I have two different projects I'm working on at the moment. One is one I started on board. Knitters are very generous people who love to see new people catch the fever, so I was gifted with two skeins of yarn, one silver grey and another eggplant purple, as well as a pair of wooden size 10 needles. That's in addition to the ball of yarn I received as a "porthole prize" and which I used to learn. It was a very thin cotton, which apparently is rather a tricky yarn to begin on, and is not forgiving of mistakes, so the little piece I knitted shows where I dropped stitches, etc. But hey, it's the first thing I did, so I like it.

I started using the grey to maybe make a scarf, then I woke up the next morning wondering what would happen if I used both yarns at the same time. Asked one of the knitters, Hope (who also taught me how to knit, along with Ann, who gave me tips later), and she grinned and said I was definitely a knitter when I start wondering things like that, and that of course I could use two yarns, it would make a marled effect. So I pulled apart the silver and re-started with the silver and eggplant together. It's gorgeous. I'm thinking now that instead of a scarf it's going to be a Kindle carrier. We'll see.

Of course, as soon as I got on land, I had to get some of my own gear. And naturally, I can't just go get -one- set of needles and a skein of yarn. So now I have...ahem...eighteen skeins. And like six pairs of needles in different sizes, including one pair of rounds. Plus some accessories.

And I know I won't stop there. For example, I already know I need a different set of rounds. I have 10/29, and I need 10/16 to make a hat. There's apparently some technique called "Magic Loop" that would mean I could just use the 29's, but...ok, stop me now.

The second project is using one of the skeins I picked up after the sail. It's a fuzzy yarn in white, blue, and bright green. Planning to have it as a scarf for Kira.

I really want to start a hat, but I'm forcing myself to finish at least one of these projects before I start. :D

I think I hear my yarn calling to me right now....mk