My First Purl

So I spent the day teaching myself the purl stitch and practicing it. My original plan was to make a dishcloth in the purl stitch just to practice and get a finished product out of my work. After casting on and purling maybe 10 rows until I got comfortable with the stitch and found a nice flow I examined my work. Hey, this looks familiar. I dug out my garter stitch dishcloth which I knit last week as a refresher. They looked exactly the same. What the hell? Scratching my head, I opened up Stitch 'N Bitch: the knitter's handbook and turned to the purling section. 

It turns out what I had previously thought was the purl stitch was actually called stockinette, created by alternating rows between knitting and purling. I quickly began alternating rows on my dishcloth. After several rows I reexamined my work. Behold what I have created! I'm a little embarrassed at how fascinated I am by this simple pattern. 

My second knitting epiphany of the day came when I returned to my book and read this sentence. "Now that you've learned to purl, you should really give yourself a pat on the back, because you now know how to make all the stitches there are in knitting." No. Way. I browsed an array of different advanced knitting projects and realized it's true. Now, I realize that putting it that way is really oversimplifying things and that I should in no way think that the hard part is over with. However, I can't help but have a reaction of that's it? I guess I just assumed that there was a multitude of complicated stitches that I would have to learn. 

Coming Soon:

• I already finished a project of chunky knit fingerless gloves, however, I'm having technical difficulties with my digital camera. I'll post about this project as well as pictures as soon as I can get it up and running. 
• My next project will be a pair of ribbed leg warmers to practice my purling.