The "C" Word

Yes, don't fall off your chair but I've been Crocheting this week. Last Tuesday I cut the tip of my index finger while slicing a tomato for a sandwich. It's not serious but it's the exact spot I use to push the tip of my knitting needle. Two hours of no knitting and I was already going crazy; that's when I remembered the red yarn I'd bought for the Red Scarf Project. A short search through my pattern binders, a quick run to Michael's to get the right size hook and I was ready.



Just pretend the picture color is a true Christmas Red - I just couldn't make the camera give me the right color.

This is Paton's One-Skein Crochet Scarf in Mauch Chunky in Poppy. Took most of three skeins of this yarn, approx 325 yards because I made the scarf wider to fit into the Red Scarf Project requirments. I'm almost finished with another scarf - same pattern, same yarn. (Right now I can't find a link to the pattern, Sorry.)

No offense meant to Crocheters but crochet just doesn't do it for me like Knitting does. I get bored while I'm crocheting - maybe because this was a very simple pattern - but there's no chance crochet will replace knitting in my life.

We've got a squirrel in the backyard that's getting to the vegetables just before they're ready to come in the house so I've been picking a couple days early.

This is what came in today.

And I leave you with a picture from last year that I took while driving to Flagstaff, Arizona. We were headed east on Highway 10, just west of Palm Springs.

100

Wow, Blogger is telling me this is my 100th Blog post. Wish I had something momentous to say but it's knitting as usual around here.

It took several tries but I figured out an edging for the cotton baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting. (see February 29th post)


I-cord just wasn't working, it was just too heavy. Crochet was the answer;

an edging of single crochet in a variegated color made such a smooth even finish and tamed the roll.

My Cherry Tree Hill socks are finished but I'll wait to block them before their documentation shot. I was given a skein of a new cotton sock yarn to test drive, it's Saucon Sock by Kraemer Yarns. (44% cotton, 43% acrylic, 13% nylon). Younger Daughter is allergic to anything wool so she will get the wear and comfort test.


Cotton sock yarn has a history of getting baggy very quickly so doing a 6/3 rib for the body of the sock I'm hoping will help maintain elasticity through the day. That acrylic part of the yarn has made it a nice yarn to work with, not at all stringy like most cotton yarns without any wool component. I'll report back on the wear test.

As you can see in the picture I'm knitting these socks with two circs. When the 2 circ method first came out I tried it with 16" needles and hated it. Seemed very awkward! Come forward several years and I was working through Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters; the only circs the right size available were a 24" and a 32". Longer circulars have longer needles than the short needles attached to 16" circular needles!! (a real smack-yourself-in-the-forehead moment) I've been knitting all my socks on two 24" circs ever since.

So now I have an opinion on circular needle tips.


All the needle tips above are 24" fixed circulars:
Top is an Addi Turbo Lace
Middle is a Knit Picks Harmony Wood
Bottom is a Knit Picks Option

I like all three needles, all have nice tips and good joins to the cable and have the same length needle but I have a favorite. The Addi Turbo Lace is just nicer to use; it does have the sharpest point of the three. I'm not sure exactly why I like it best, the sharp point is nice but that's not all of it. Seems like the needles are a bit flexible (or is that just my dillusion) where the other two are rigid. I'll have to observe this needle for awhile longer. I wish Skacel would make these needles available in more sizes.