Saturday, May 1, 2010

knitcroblo6 & Wild Card

Day 6 - Revisit a past F/O


"Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted,..."


Hmmmmm. I don't make things that get used. I've had three pieces travel a bit - which is more than I get to do these days - lucky string! Even had one piece go home with someone for keeps. A couple of ATC trades, a couple of "thinking of you" thingies, a couple of informal swaps. I guess I could track any one of those items, but I don't know that it's all that exciting. Plan, sketch, make, hold on to forever, mail (which can also take forever especially if it has to pass through customs - I'm on a list. I think.) and wait ever so impatiently for word that it was received. That's kind of what the whole of this blog is about anyway. So I thought I'd offer this paragraph for the official Day 6 topic and then tackle the Wild Card topic:


Wild Card - All Tooled Up

"Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool or piece of equipment that you love to use?"


This is my trusty size 9, 1.25 mm steel crochet hook.

Photo to Come Here!




I use it for almost everything. Not sure why. Just love the way the stitches, matrices and finished fabric look when I use this hook. I have a size 10 I would like to try as well but I like sticking to one hook. Must be my hangup about loyalty, fidelity, honor and respect. Sheesh! Go figure.

Some of the finish is worn off of the size 9 from the constant use and the added injury of the acidic guiding finger-tip. I slipped it into a length of clear tubing. My father got that tubing for me millenia ago when I mentioned in passing that I was looking for a way to make crochet vases that could stand on their own without starching as I like the soft feel of the thread. In passing mind you - and he scoured the hardware store coming back with a coil of this and a sturdier type as well. He was a kind and thoughtful man under the guarded and secluded personality. Miss him. We drove each other a little nuts, but only because we were too much alike. Way too much for comfort. No one likes a good mirror. Still. Love and miss.

What was I talking about? Oh, the hook sheath. The tubing fits perfectly at the thumb rest but is a bit loose everywhere else. I crochet with a heavy hand: have broken a white plastic hook at the 1/3 way mark and broken the tip off 2 separate size 12 steels. What can I say? I like a firm matrix and can't stand seeing air between my stitches. Anyway, the hook slides around inside the sheath due to my tight and harsh style, which exposes the metal to my hot little fingers and smudges the surface with the inevitable bio-oil. There's a lot of stitch, stitch, stitch, push back up, stitch, stitch, stitch, push back up in my work day. But beats the livin' heck out of the ooey, gummy, shredded mess that those incredibly expensive blue rubber guards that are sold commercially turn into.

I do have a handful of other steel and aluminum hooks and even an acrylic one. I'm trying to collect only dark blue "regular" crochet hooks but having no luck. Boye's Crochet Master kit has ads were the kit in the photo has all dark blue aluminums, but I can't find the one in the picture for sale anywhere. Not even at my go to online suppliers. It is worth it to me to pay for steels that I already have just to get the all dark blue theme completed. Hell, even my one clear acrylic one is dark blue. All I can seem to find is that icky metallic pastel "blue" that's out there. More green than blue if you ask me and so frigging pastel it makes me want to drive it through my eye socket just so I don't have to look at it anymore. I don't care for pastels.

So that's my hook-story. Hook history get it? All together now - commence groan at pun-itude.

Hook On!


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