Is It A New Project Or A Restart?

Back in January of 2012, I started knitting Horai.  I used the wrong cast on, I couldn't get a handle on the stitch pattern (counting to four is not as easy as it sounds), and I hated my needle selections.  The yarn was Shibui Knits Silk Cloud in Fjord, a gorgeous, dark blue green color and you knit it double stranded.  Yes, you read that right - double stranded, fine and fluffy.  My metal needles were too heavy and would drop right out of the stitches if I wasn't careful, my bamboo needles were way too blunt to work the Horai Stitch, and my wooden needles (the Knit Picks) were too dark to see the yarn easily and the taper of the tip didn't work well for the Horai Stitch either.  All of the issues I was having meant I stopped knitting it, frogged the yarn (yes, I frogged mohair, do I get a medal?) and put it away until I got better needles.

Monday night I got the better needles!  Yesterday I cast on for Horai again.  I used a long tail cast on this time and I've got a good, stable edge.  I know how to count to four now and the stitch pattern is going perfectly.  But the best part of the whole thing is the needles.  My new Chestnut needles are light enough to see the yarn - both strands of it, the lace tips have a long taper with a sharp tip and the Horai Stitch is a piece of cake, and the joins - where the needle tips meet the cable - they're perfect!  This project is so much nicer to knit this time around.  I've only gone a few inches but I can tell that things are much easier and I hope to have a finished wrap at some point in the future!