Knit & Crochet Blog Week: Day 4

Wild-card entry: Do you have a particular knitting/crochet tool or piece of equipment that you love to use? Maybe it is an old bent pair of needles that used to belong to someone special or a gorgeous rosewood hand-turned crochet hook that you just love the feel of? Write about what you love about it.

My big purple hook.  I love it.  Even though I’ve been using mostly thinner yarn and smaller hooks lately, I am still very fond of my M size Susan Bates Crystalite.  I love the shape and the smooth texture and it’s ease of use.  In fact, I’ve used it so much that it’s starting to wear down on one side.  I have other hooks that I favor over others but I would easily say that this one is my favorite.

Tags: crochet, hooks, knitcroblo4, knitcroblowc, tools
Category Crochet, Tools |

Sock Yarn!

…and happy belated birthday to me :)

I want to make these Tunisian entrelac socks and the only place I could find online that sold both Noro sock yarn (which I really wanted to use for them) and the C and D size Susan Bates hooks that I needed to make them with was Jimmy Beans Wool.  I ordered from them on Wednesday and my package arrived today (Saturday)… a perfect time for me to try out the pattern :)

Tags: crochet, entrelac, hooks, socks, tunisian, wool, yarn
Category Techniques, Tools, Yarn |

A Tunisian Sweater

Sometime last week I bought a pattern for Wired, a Tunisian crochet sweater from Tension Magazine and ordered the yarn from Knit Picks.  I didn’t expect the yarn to come in until today (Monday) at the earliest so I was delighted when it arrived on my doorstep Saturday morning!  I promptly got started on the sweater even though I hadn’t really planned on starting it right away.  It’s a really interesting and challenging pattern… and completely out of my comfort zone.  All the sweaters I’ve made in the past were seamless, raglan sleeved, and worked from the top-down so it can easily be tried on as you go and adjusted as necessary.  This one is worked in pieces from the bottom up, has set-in sleeves, and will require lots of seaming.  It’s also not my usual color scheme (I bought a colorway that was discounted and saved over $11.00!)

Once I started it, I had a hard time stopping.  I actually can’t believe how much of it I finished over the weekend.  I’m almost to the armhole shaping for the front side.  As you might see above, I’m using my Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hook with a long cable.  It is way more comfortable to use than a long metal Tunisian hook!

I’m making this in the 3rd size (which is 35) and now that I have a good chunk of it done I’m a little worried that it might end up being too small.  It is stretchy and is supposed to fit tightly but it seems very narrow in the waist.  We’ll just have to find out but I do have a possible back up plan in case it is too small… I might be able to attach panels into the sides where it will be seamed.

Tags: crochet, hooks, magazines, NatCroMo, review, sweater, tools, tunisian
Category Crochet, Reviews, Techniques, Tools |