My husband is awesome.

I am just a lucky woman!  I have such a sweetheart for a husband.

In working with the new rosewood needles he bought for himself, he discovered that... well, his hands sweat.  When they start sweating, that affects the wood.  So he decided to get himself a second set of needles so that he could switch between them, letting one pair dry while working with the second pair.

So off we went today to River City Yarns to see what they had.  At first he didn't see the rosewood needles and he was going to get a birch pair, but when he found the size he was after in rosewood, he got those instead.  They're quite a bit longer than his first pair, but that's okay.  As long as they're the same size (he's using 5.50mm).  I think the birch would have been lovely, too.  He did 10 inches of scarf yesterday and is now at 20 inches.  He's really loving the wooden needles.  Much nicer to work with than the plastic and metal ones we already had.  (Earlier today we were sitting in a coffee shop, him with his needles, me with my hook.  Some guy ended up sitting with us as we chatted about sharing knowledge of crafts and skills.  It was great!) 

While at River City Yarns, we looked at quite a few other things.  Including yarn that my younger daughter described as feeling like kittens.  Soooo soft!!

Looking through the tools, I was thrilled when I asked about hairpin lace tools and they actually had some!



I am now the proud owner of a Prim Universal Netting Fork.  The woman at the shop told me that hairpin lace tools are very hard to come by, so when she finds them, she takes what she can!



The packaging opens up and gives some pretty decent instructions.  This is the only tool I was missing for my course, so I'm pretty happy.  If that was all I got today, I would have been quite pleased.

Then after paying, my darling husband shooed me and our daughter away so he could buy what he was hiding behind his back.

Uh oh... ;-D

While waiting in the hall, I was actually able to guess what he bought.  You see, in the process of helping someone else, one of the staff opened up a kit that really caught my attention.  I told my husband that this was what I wanted for Christmas.  I could have happily waited that long, but he's a generous sort, and this is what he bought me.



This is a set of Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hooks.  It's got 12 heads, 7 cords, 2 extenders and 4 end buttons.

First awesome thing about this kit.  The hooks can fit on either end of the cords.   There are no duplicate hook sizes, but spares can be purchases separately.  This gives me the option for a flexible double ended hook, which is something I was wanting.  Also...



See this?  See the openings at the ends?

Yup.  I can thread cord through those and turn them into knooks!!  Though I think I could actually just use the cords in the kit, and not add an end button.

Which means that, in one kit, I now have not only several tools I was wanting - flexible Tunisian hook, flexible double ended hook and a knook - but I have them in a selection of 12 sizes.

I am so thrilled!!!!  I can't wait to get started with them.  I must resist, though.  After I'm finished my course, then I can start playing!

Though I will be able to use some of these for my course later one. :-D

Did I mention I have an awesome husband?  Let me say it again.

My husband is awesome.
:-D

Oh, and...



Cat.

Just because.

Feature Friday: Playing knooky!

I'd heard of knooking before.  I even went looking for a knooking hook, with no success.  I didn't really know how it was done, though. 

Knooking is knitting with a crochet hook that has a cord attached to its end.  I've attempted knitting a few times and never really got into it.  I like the effects of knitting, but my tension always ends up screwy and it looks a mess.  I'm sure I could figure it out, but I just don't enjoy the process enough to make the effort.  I much prefer the control and convenience of using a hook.

Recently, I visited one of my favorite craft blogs and found this post.  That lead me to this Knooking site.  In checking out the posts, I found some excellent little videos demonstrating how to do it.  It looked so simple!  I just had to give it a try.

Going through my hooks, the smallest, straight sided hook I found was a 5mm metal one.  I ended up taping a cord (just a long strand of Handicrafter cotton) to make my knooking hook.  Here is my very first attempt at knooking.



The yarn is just some left over Handicrafter cotton I had lying around.  The hook was a bit big for the size of yarn, but that wasn't much of a problem. 

I absolutely loved knooking!  It was really quite easy and felt natural to my crocheting hands.  Even working the purl stitches wasn't that difficult - and actually quite a bit easier with a hook than doing them with needles.

One of the advantages knitting has over crochet is that it uses less yarn, and the resulting fabrics are lighter and more flexible, making it ideal for clothing items.  For someone like me who finds manipulating the needles more frustrating than it's worth, knooking is the perfect answer.  As an added bonus, because the second needle is replaced with a cord, dropping stitches is virtually impossible.

The set up I've got with the yarn taped to the hook isn't ideal, but it's more than adequate for small projects like face cloths, small bags, dish cloths and the like.  If I ever wanted to go all out and make a sweater, I'd want to either find a commercial knook or make my own from a wooden or plastic hook, and use something different for the cord, like some of the smooth cords sold for jewelry making.

I've got a few projects I need to finish first, but once I do, I'm going to experiment with knooking some more, and see about doing textured patterns, increases and decreases with the knook.

Playing knooky is fun!