As summer wanes I find myself facing the pre-September Ughs. You know, where you think of all the things you have to buy, clothes you have, to sort, forms you have to complete, appointments you have to make and get to, and so on and so forth and they all make you think …..UGH!
The Ughs lead to me reminiscing about the few short (and sometimes not so short) months we call summer.
Just a random summer pic to emphasize my point.
Specifically I was thinking about all the projects I’ve started and completed this summer. They have been many, though never as many as I’d like, and varied.
One of the best moments of summer (at least craft wise) came early in the season when I found a treasure box at a garage sale. Actually it was an old diskette holder box and by old I mean before computer discs were shiny and round.
But it was full of treasures.
My daughter noticed it first and called me over to look at it. “Mom, Mom, look at this!”
At first glance it just looked like a box full of embroidery floss, you know the kind used for friendship bracelets and cross stitch.
I said “I don’t know, it’s five bucks.”
But as we looked closer we discovered it also had other stuff in it including crochet hooks….lots & lots of crochet hooks.
We snatched that right up.
As soon as we got home with the box I started digging. More and more hooks kept coming out of the mass of colorful floss.
Hooks like I’ve never seen before; mostly metal ones, all of them small many of them tiny. And I mean Tiny! I didn’t even know crochet hooks that small existed. Some of these hooks were as thin as sewing needles with the actual hook being barely visible. The tiniest ones had numbers like 13 & 14 while the bigger (less tiny) ones were 3 or 4’s.
Along with the metal hooks were a whole bunch of off white hooks. Most of them are plastic but some feel like they might be something else, maybe carved & polished wood? All of these are pretty small too though no where near as small as their metal companions.
As you can see two larger wooden hooks came in the box and a thin plastic pair of knitting needles too. All together I counted twenty-nine crochet hooks, a pair of scissors, and a couple tools (I have no idea what they are for).
Definitely a steal at five bucks!
And so as I’ve crocheted the summer away I’ve been inspired by the variety of hooks this box yielded to try some different things.
I’ve made some flowers & vines with a size 8 metal hook and embroidery floss.
Eventually it’s going to go along the bottom of a boring denim skirt.
I’ve made some shell & scallop lace with a size 3 metal hook.
I was looking for a way to lengthen a tank top and found this pattern on Stitches & Scraps blog post about lacy edging.
On the opposite end of the hook size spectrum I’ve been working on a cowl (specifically a Katniss Cowl which I’m very excited about and will blog about soon) with a giant wooden hook. It’s probably an M or N and is almost the size of my pinky finger.
Surprisingly working with the small hooks wasn’t more difficult than working with a giant one though they did feel quite different.
Overall, best five bucks of the summer.
It’s been fun and interesting to experiment with such a wide array of hooks. One of these days I might even attempt using one of those microscopic hooks.
Anyone have any experience with tiny hooks?
I’d love to hear about it.
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