Thanks for Knitting

We went to the Oregon Coast for Thanksgiving and spent a good part of the week knitting while watching the waves roll in. The weather had been horribly stormy the week before we went, in fact we came skating in on the heels of the last storm--the power came back on an hour before we arrived. Very glad we decided to go on Sunday, not Saturday!

While I had just a smidgen of my Autumn Shawl left to finish, I packed up a big bag of kitchen cotton, a couple of dishcloth patterns and settled in to knit a pile for Christmas gifts. I have to admit, dishcloth knitting isn't my favorite, but I really do like having them in the kitchen and they make good gifts, so I left myself no choice but to knit them by only bringing them to work on.

Of course there is my go-to pattern, the Ballband dishcloth, that is easy to do and is a workhorse in the kitchen when you put it through its paces. I did this one in a variety of colors including a few in Christmas colors. I really love this one, with the blue/green variegated and the pretty lime green. I got so I was knitting these on remote.

Then I went on to try a new pattern that I had been dying to give a knit. This one is from the Purl Bee, which always has such cute patterns and crafty ideas. Taking a cue from the quilters, they came up with this Log Cabin wash cloths. I love that you can take four small skeins of kitchen cotton and come up with four really neat dishcloths.

These things are like popcorn, you just keep casting on and knitting without any thought until you realize all the yarn is used up and then you start scrounging around for more combinations. Hence this one, which I think I will keep as it isn't all that cute.

At the last minute, I had also thrown in the Twined hat I've been knitting. This is another one just like my green one, that I wear every morning to walk Matthew to school. I knew I should probably make another one before I start being referred to as that "green-hat lady who never takes it off."

You never know, but it could happen. So I decided to mix things up a little with this pink one. Yeah, I know, it isn't much different--but this Lisa Ellis design is the best hat pattern and the warmest hat you will ever own.

Now back to throwing projects in the car at the last minute is that you don't think it through. I started doing the decreases and realized I'd forgotten the dpns for when the stitch count gets to small for the circs. And while, yes, I know I could have bought another set, (because I did go to Custom Threads in Astoria and took a quick dash through Fred Meyer in Warrenton for some tax free Christmas shopping) I just couldn't do it when I have a perfectly good set at home. So this is where I stopped, which coincided with us stopping at Starbucks on the way down and switching who was driving.

Note to self: remember the dpns and when husband says he doesn't want a coffee, order him one anyway so he doesn't drink yours.