One of those weeks

Well, I promised you something new and exciting on my hook for Work in Progress Wednesday! OK, so Wednesday was two days ago, but we'll not quibble over such picky details, right? So, you've waited long enough, and here it is!



(Sound of chirping crickets)

Yeah, it's been one of THOSE crafting weeks. Do you have them? You're all set to start a really cool new project, and no matter what you do your CRAFT turns to CRAPFT. I started a Knook-a-long in the Knooking group on Ravelry to make the Falling Water Scarf. (If you're on Rav you can see the pattern here. Gorgeous, no?) Now at this point you are probably asking yourself "what the heck is knooking?" Knooking is a very very cool technique in which you knit using a crochet hook with an attached cord. Here's one of my knooking hooks and a swatch of knitted cables. Awesome, indeed.


This isn't Tunisian crochet, or slip stitch crochet, both of which can make stitches that look like knitting. This makes actual knitted fabric, and it's fabulous for folks like me who love crochet but DO NOT get along well with the two pointy sticks. I've made a few items before with knooking, including some blanket squares and a hat.







So, last weekend I went yarn shopping and picked out some lovely, soft Caron Spa to start my scarf! And this is as far as I got:



The yarn was very slippery to work with and I decided it just wasn't going to work. So next I chose a great shade of Red Heart Fiesta:



Much easier to work with, but I decided that the yarn was too busy and was overwhelming the stitch pattern, which is primarily why I wanted to do the scarf! Back to the drawing board.

Now at this point, someone on the knooking group mentions that she uses a different way to make her knit and purl stitches in knooking that is much easier for the purls. I'm intrigued so I grab some different yarn and do some swatching:



I like it! Back in business. But I need another yarn so I go to the store (such hardship!) and pick out a lovely merino/silk blend and start again:



Yeah, THAT got real far. The stitches that seemed so easy with a worsted weight and H hook were just NOT working for me with this yarn and a smaller hook. As of now I am weighing my options:

Option 1. Make it with the Fiesta since I like the yarn alot, and so what if the stitch pattern stands out less.

Option 2. Pick yet another yarn and give it a go.

Option 3. Chuck the whole thing and go make myself a nice easy CROCHET project.

I may or may not have something to show you next Wednesday. I've learned my lesson about making promises of coming attractions lol. BAD idea.

Oh, and if you'd like to learn more about knooking, try this blog, it gives a great intro to how to do the stitches.

I'd Rather be Knooking

Have a great weekend--do some good crafting!