Showing posts with label hook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hook. Show all posts

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Bamboo Crochet Hook Review

This week I'm staying at my boyfriend's place, and thought I'd be perfectly happy crocheting the socks I started about half a year ago to get them out of the way. Wrong! I wanted to crochet other stuff since I'm not enjoying making these socks, but had only brought a teeny tiny hook with me, so the boyfriend graciously offered to take me to Walmart and buy another hook and some yarn. They didn't have any metal hooks, so I just grabbed the 5.0mm bamboo hook figuring it'll be basically the same thing but eco-friendly. Wrong!

There was definitely a learning curve to using this new crochet hook. Firstly, bamboo itself is a rougher material than the smooth metal I was used to. While it felt pretty similar in my hand, it was much harder to run it through the yarn. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. While it was initially very frustrating to be slowed down, I realized it was helping me loosen up my stitches. I am perpetually making my stitches too tight, so I definitely recommend a bamboo hook to anyone with this problem, especially beginners who haven't learned to be conscious about their stitches. After finishing a dish cloth I had quite gotten used to this aspect of the hook and was nearly up to my normal speed, but with looser stitches.

That said, it also has a prominent downside. I'm not sure if it's because of the bamboo material or the actual hook is too shallow, but I am constantly losing my yarn on this hook. Sometimes I have to try to yarn over two or three times before it finally catches. This is something that hasn't gone away with a little practice, at least not for me. I'm on my third dish cloth and it still happens fairly regularly. Maybe more practice will help, and seeing as I have no other options for hooks right now, I will definitely touch base to let you guys know if anything changes this week!

Curious about trying a bamboo hook? Order one up and tell me what you think. If you prefer bamboo hooks over metal hooks, let me know why in the comment!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

WIP Up The Week: June 10

Hey guys! As another weekend comes to a close, I'd like to introduce my weekly Monday series, WIP Up The Week. I'll share my WIPs, short for Works In Progress, both in the effort to keep this entity transparent and to keep myself inspired to always improve what is (or will be) in my Etsy shop. Here's what I started this week.




In all fairness, the crocheting is done for this piece. I'm going to pick up pins and possibly a spray bottle tomorrow to block it before I attach the chain tie. The first couple rows are a little uneven before I noticed the pattern was wrong. It's for personal use only.





I did this up quick in February but I think I need go back and add more ruffles, and I'm going to untie the ends and sew them properly shut so the scarf looks nice from all angles!



I started these socks in early February-ish, but classes got hectic so I dropped crocheting for a while. Now it's time to finish them! These will be for personal use only, since they'll likely be less-than-perfect.




This has been in the works since January when I first knew I wanted to open an Etsy shop. I finally drew up the designs and started making it along with a pattern that will be released some time after the product is for sale. I'll also be looking for pattern testers in the near future to help catch any mistakes or unclear writing. Since this is a yarn-intensive pattern, I will gladly give you the finalized copy of the pattern as well as a discount off anything in my shop.





Spoiler! I'm going to make a rug for the back patio of our new town house out of plarn. I give you one guess what my next post is about.


To-Do Before Etsy Grand Opening
  • Complete my Ravelry yarn stash
  • Find Pattern Testers for 50s Cape
  • Make Discount Code for Testers
  • Basic Stitches Youtube tutorials (Ch, Sc, Dc, Tr)
  • Make Fingerless Gloves
  • Probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting because it's almost three in the morning
  • Pick an offiial Grand Opening Date
  • Choose items to reveal as the countdown to the Grand Opening
  • Announce Etsy Grand Opening Countdown Event on personal social media accounts
  • GRAND OPENING SALE - ALL ITEMS x% OFF FIRST WEEK (C'mon, that'd be a spoiler.)
I can't believe how much there is to do before I can so much as make a formal announcement! My other half is the only soul who knows what I'm planning, and even he doesn't know how all-out I'm going by setting up the social media, complete with a couple posts each, etc. It is going to be so worth it! I just hope I don't lose too much time with the impending move to another city.