What It's All About

I will be posting to this blog once a week on Thursdays, so be sure to check back by then for my latest knitting insights and other adventures.

My knitting and crochet have been all over the place recently! My hat addiction really flares ups and I had a flare this past week. I finished another Little Sister Hat made from a sport weight yarn at a 50% off sale at Hobby Lobby. Here it is!

 

 I popped in to pick up a size H crochet hook, because for as many G's as I find at thrift stores, I've never been able to find one H. I came upon a nice surprise: a brand called Yarnology has began making hooks that favor fancier online or LYS ones! So I got a couple size H hooks; one in wood, one in plastic, and an aluminum one with a wooden grip. I realize you get what you pay for and so I'm sure the nicer brands might serve a hooker better and last longer, but I've been curious of wooden crochet hooks since I first saw Lantern Moon's Rosewood hooks. So I jumped on the opportunity to try out a knock off for a quarter of the price. This is what it looks like:

It's is finished but some spots along the wood are rough, like they were missed, and the wood is clearly not rosewood or all the same wood but probably bits of different processed trees. All the same, it is really attractive and the aesthetic of the prettiness in my hand as I crocheted the latest Little Sister hat is the only reason I finished that thing so fast!





Here is a close up of the detailing at the tip. It's also nice to have the size printed on the hook.

I have only ever used aluminum hooks and my review of a wooden crochet hook is two thumbs up! Of course the yarn makes all the difference and making that lacy hat with sport weight yarn was a really good way to try it out.






I started another Little Sister hat which I have since frogged because I really needed a size H crochet hook for the yarn I was using, thus the Hobby Lobby trip. I plan on trying out the plastic size H hook when I start that up again.

I am so close to the end of my Treasured Heirloom Baby Blanket! The hats were quite a distraction but thankfully I was able to work on it significantly at the latest meeting of my local knitting group. The long, garter stitch rows make it easy to knit and catch up with people at the same time. This past week, someone announced the idea to do a knitting trip to an alpaca farm in the area which sells its processed alpaca yarns in house along with several of the LYS favorites. It's called Northwood Farms and I am totally stoked about going to check it out! I have the friendliest knitting group ever, by the way, and I feel so lucky to have them in my life. :-) They were one of the first groups of people I met after moving to the Upstate of South Carolina from the Piedmont in North Carolina six months ago and it was a great first impression of the area. One can never be lonely when they share such a passion.

One sad moment occurred this week, on the day of my knitting group meet up. In the evening, but well before bedtime, with plenty of knitting time still left in the day, my hands and wrists really began to burn. I contracted carpal tunnel syndrome a couple of years ago from over exerting my hands and wrists during an intensive session of weeding at the greenhouse I used to work at. I had no idea the opening and closing of my hands for hours on end along with the tiny sharp motions required to pull out unwanted plants could lead to so much pain!
Ever since, it has crept up when I do monotonous projects...or play video games.^_^ It often occurs when I am doing both so I can't tell which one it is to blame exactly. I am a sucker for RPGs as a worshiper of all things Zelda and have been seduced by the interactiveness of Skyrim. The load screen times are a pain but leave enough time to get several stitches done on a project.
My wrists were hurting yet again and so I took a pain reliever and made up a hot water bottle and placed it over my wrists while I caught a comedy show on Netflix. That really did the trick! However, the recovery and relaxation level was cranked up a notch when Mr. Pickens came over and curled up on top of the hot water bottle. It was so cute and very conveniently pressed the warmness further into my hands and I wondered if he remembered moments like this from when he was a kitten:

This is him and his sister (whom we were able to find a really good home for!) not long after I found them. I placed a hot water bottle with them (later replaced with a heating pad) as they were too young to maintain their own body heat. The heating pad is wrapped in the towel in this picture.

That's all for this week and I hope to catch you next time!