My Mother's Crochet Hook

The Blog Week question for today is... well, I'm not using it,* so here's the wildcard question: Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool that you love to use?



Here is my knit answer: Yes, my favorite knitting tool is a crochet hook. It saves me when I have dropped stitches, and I love it because it was my mother’s. This is one of the earliest tools I remember seeing her work with... takes me way back to being, oh, a toddler probably.

This little steel hook has “0 Boye 0” written on one side of the grip, and “U.S.A. 10¢” on the other side. I do love it! From mother to daughter, it’s part of the legacy. Sigh.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Wildcard tag: knitcroblowc)

* The Blog Week Day 7 yarn question just wasn’t going anywhere for me. I have yarns that I use a lot, but I’m not especially enthralled with them. When working on patterns that I’m designing, I try to use widely available, easy-to-care-for yarns that aren’t too expensive... but not 100% acrylic.

Magic Wand

The Blog Week question for today is... well, I'm not using it, so here's the wildcard question: Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool that you love to use?



Here is my crochet answer: I love to use this big, old wooden crochet hook. It belonged to my grandmother, and it was hand-carved by someone with a purpose. It’s not pretty or artistic or even ergonomic. It’s just a big, old hook that has seen many, many years of use... sort of a magic wand handed down from mother to daughter to daughter (me).

It measures out to be about a size M hook, and I use it for making items with plarn (made from cut-up plastic ), like The Ultimate Recycled Market Bag. I have also used it to make cat beds (a hugely modified kitty pi), using 2 strands of bulky yarn held together.

My grandmother had a doll-repair business, and I remember helping her, using this hook to reach into the doll bodies for re-stringing the arms and legs. Can you see that there’s dried paint on the end? Apparently she stirred some paint with it too.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Wildcard tag: knitcroblowc)

My First Lace Motif

The Blog Week question for today is: What is the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted?



Here is my knit answer: Knitted lace has been a daunting idea for me, and this was my first project that featured an actual picture in lacey stitches. It's a bluebonnet, the state flower of Texas, and by the way, we just finished an outstanding season of wild bluebonnets blanketing hill and dale. The motif was designed by my favorite knitter, Sasha Evans (sashapervaya on Ravelry), and it is featured in her headband pattern, Bluebonnets.

Current state: I keep forgetting to wear it... fits great, I do wear headbands when I go out at night, like to a concert or a movie, but I just keep forgetting to get it out. I’m going to put it in a little ziploc and keep it in my purse, so it will be there when I need it.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 6 tag: knitcroblo6)

Love Those Legwarmers

The Blog Week question for today is: What is the current state and use of an object you have crocheted or knitted?



Here is my crochet answer: I made these as prototypes for my Witch Warmers in Crochet pattern, and I knew I would wear them more than the other items (armwarmers and neckwarmer), because I am a dress-wearer. Yes, I wear dresses and sometimes skirts pretty much all the time. For me, it’s just way more comfortable, and that means on chilly days I need a little extra on my legs. I particularly like legwarmers because you can start the day with them over your socks, and then as it warms up outside, you can just take them off and have your normal socks... sort of like convertible kneesocks.

Current state: well, since they were prototypes, they are waiting to be frogged down to the ruffles and re-worked. This is because the pattern was improved during testing and these don't have a jogless (virtually) join to the stripes. Thanks to Absinthia, I can remake them so the jog doesn't end up spiralling around my leg.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 6 tag: knitcroblo6)

Rock On!

The Blog Week question for today is: Where do you like to indulge in your craft?


My favorite place to knit and crochet is this rocking chair. It currently resides in the bedroom, but sometimes it is by the fireplace. My chair was hand made by Gary Weeks, an awesome furniture designer and builder. This one is made of pecan wood, and it fits my back like a glove... but it works just as well for other folks of other shapes, and kitties too.

Since I have RLS (restless leg syndrome), the rocking chair helps a lot, because it allows me to keep moving while doing a sedentary task. And knitting or crocheting helps too because just that small amount of physical activity can keep the antsies away for a while.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 5 tag: knitcroblo5)

Stranded Color Work, I'm Ready!

The Blog Week question for today is: Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day?



Here is my knit answer: Uh, really? Am I really ready for this?? Well, I simply must know how to do this beautiful edge on Ceres... and to do that, I’m going to have to break my vow never to do stranded-color work.

Of course, when I was a teenager, I vowed also never to knit with skinny yarn and itty bitty needles, and what do I have on the needles now? You guessed it: dress socks in fingering yarn on size 0 needles. So I suppose I could go back on another one of those teen-aged vows and learn stranded-color.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 4 tag: knitcroblo4)

A Beautiful Drape, Please

The Blog Week question for today is: Is there a skill related to your hobby that you hope to learn one day?


Here is my crochet answer: I want to be able to crochet a beautifully draped fabric that will make for a lovely-fitting shawl. I don’t want it to feel like being wrapped with a quilt or cardboard. I want fluidity, I want stretch and give, I want a crochet version of Cheryl’s Prayer Shawl, which is knitted and pictured above. I have tried using a big hook with skinny yarn, and it came out too stretchy. Next time, I’ll use the same yarn and a slightly smaller but still oversized hook. Wish me luck!

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 4 tag: knitcroblo4)

My Favorite Crocheter... Absinthia!

The Blog Week question for today is: Who is a great knitter or crocheter that you admire?


Absinthia's Dog
Here is my crochet answer: No, not the dog... I love Absinthia!! She is a brilliant Swedish crocheter, who is innovative, clever, and just a lot of fun. She has been a pattern tester for me on Witch Warmers in Crochet, and she suggested a huge improvement in the way the stripes join up. I had tried and tried to make those stripes jogless, and the combination of stitches just wasn’t allowing it for me. Absinthia to the rescue! She suggested a fix that was perfect... I would never have thought of it on my own. Check out her work on Ravelry.

The photo above shows Absinthia’s child-sized version of the Fortune-Teller Turban in Crochet, modeled by her little dog. How cute is that?? She made the turban for her kindergartener-niece, who wears it when she takes on the character of Scheherazade, spinning tales for her friends.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 3 tag: knitcroblo3)

Inspired by Ceres

The Blog Week question for today is: What pattern or project do you aspire to?



Here is my knit answer: There’s a beautiful pattern that came out late last year. It has a narrow “braid” detail along the edges of the hat and mitts. The name of the pattern is Ceres, and for the first time in my life, I am inspired to try stranded-color work, which is how the “braid” is made. It’s just lovely!

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 2 tag: knitcroblo2)

Aspiring to Crochet Socks

The Blog Week question for today is: What pattern or project do you aspire to?

floofle's socks on Ravelry
Here is my crochet answer: I want to crochet socks! So far, I’m still looking for a pattern that I like, and Linda Diak’s Toe-Up Crocheted Socks might be the one to start with. I know it will be challenging to make comfortable, adequately stretchy socks in crochet, and I hope I’m up to the task.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 2 tag: knitcroblo2)

A Legacy Passed from Mother to Daughter

The Blog Week question for today is: How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting?

I actually don’t remember learning to knit and crochet... I was so young when my mother taught me. She was an awesome knitter, and there were wonderful hand-knitted garments in our house. She had a cherry-red cabled cardigan that she knitted for herself in the 1950’s, and my father had hand-knit-by-her socks and an incredible tweedy cardigan, which I wore quite a bit in high school. I wore the cabled sweater when I was in college--it was to die for!


The houndstooth swatch pictured above was knitted by her, with itty bitty stitches. She was a much better knitter than I will ever be.

Funny thing, though, when the time came for our Girl Scout troop to do the needlework badge, some of the mothers taught us various skills like knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc., every week for about a month. My patrol (small group) went to the home of a mother from Germany, and a different patrol went to my house to learn from my mother. Well, not only did I already know how to do all the needleworking things we were learning, but the German mom was surprised that I used the German technique of holding my crochet hook. Oddly, I had changed my grip-style as a child to suit my own preference so I ended up crocheting like that instead of like my mother and grandmother. Go figure.

As for knitting style, I did my own thing, too. My mother showed me how to knit, and I couldn’t do the wrap-around-your-finger thing, so I just grabbed the working yarn and threw it over instead for each stitch. To this day, I still knit that way, and so does my daughter! I find that it goes fast, I can control the tension just fine, and I don’t have any problems with my wrists.

So when my daughter came home from college in her first semester and she wanted to learn to knit, I happily showed her how. I’m quite sure my mother learned from her mother too.

If you want to see more posts from other bloggers participating in Blog Week, click here to find links:
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(Blog Week Day 1 tag: knitcroblo1)

Get Ready for Knit & Crochet Blog Week!

Starting tomorrow, I will be participating in Knit & Crochet Blog Week, which, to quote the foundress, Eskimimi, “is a week of blogging for knitters and crocheters, where individual bloggers will all simultaneously post about the same topics over the course of seven days, so that for one week readers might be able to read from blog to blog and enjoy a community of bloggers all talking about elements of their craft in their own unique way.”

Each day of the week has a special topic to be discussed in the context of knitting or crocheting. The topics are going to be fun to read for all the different blogger-knitter-crocheters.

You can find out more about Blog Week here:

http://eskimimiknits.com/2010/04/knitting-and-crochet-blog-week-countdown-to-april-26th/

I’m off to snap some pictures for next week’s posts!