Crochet hooks

Following my bout of RSI last year I have been trying to be careful not to add to the damage or cause aggravation. To do this I've had to severely limit the time I crochet (or type) and have invested in some new hooks designed to help avoid RSI/carpel tunnel in the first place!

My local yarn shops stock two different 'comfy' hooks so I tried out both.

The captions aren't mine but certainly give an impression

First of all I tried the soft touch Clover hooks. I have a couple of sizes of these and they feel quite nice for the thumb and forefinger. The dark pad is comfy to use and the tapering of the handle to the hook makes it comfortable in that area too. The only serious drawback is that they are quite short and sit inside the width of my hand, creating a bit of friction discomfort. A not so serious drawback is that I think the handles are pretty ugly!

Next up was the Prym soft handled hook. Again this was a good thickness for comfort around the thumb and hand but I found that, with a small hook size, the difference in thickness between the hook and the handle created a hard edge that my finger found irritating. I find that my forefinger sits quite far up the hook and is constantly on the metal part, thereby my hand doesn't get the full benefit of the thicker handle.

For larger size hooks the thickness of the handle is not such a big issue so I use these beautiful Brittany birch hooks and generally find them pretty comfortable to use. They are quite long, extending beyond the heel of my hand, which I like. I've not used the smaller sizes though so can't comment on the comfort of those.

Gifts for guys

I always struggle with gifts for the men in my life so have created an Etsy treasury to remind myself of some of the possibilities.

Coasters ahoy!

More coasters . . .

. . . purple this time.

These are also made of mercerised cotton although the yarn is a little thicker than the lilac one and I decided to go with the correct hook size and not make it tight.

This one is really straight-forward. It's just a ring of chain with trebles and then (tr, 3ch, tr) into each corner. I made my row start in the middle of a side to make the corner increases nice and simple and the corner increases are enough to keep the coaster nice and flat.

Lilac doilies

These are my latest coasters and I thought I'd share them here. I thought I'd share how to make them too . . .

They are made with rows of double crochet (for American crochet that means single), increasing gradually and evenly every second row until I have the diameter I want. For these I used a mercerised cotton yarn and a crochet hook a size too small, that way I get a nice dense finish.

During the last couple of rows of plain dc I double check my stitch count to make sure I have a multiple of 4 and one extra (and adjust if needed) and then the fun begins.

For the edging (UK crochet abbreviations used):
Row 1: 1ch, 1dc (into first dc of previous row), 3ch, miss 3dc, 1dc into next dc to end, ss into ch
Row 2: 1ch, *2dc, htr, tr, dbl tr, 3ch, turn, miss 3ch and ss into top of dbl tr, dbl tr (creates picot), tr, htr, 2dc into 3ch gap, miss dc and repeat to end. Finish with a ss into the 1st stitch and tie off.

Hope that makes sense.

Daydreaming

In the centre of Glasgow is a building emblazoned with the words 'Jacobean Corsetry' in huge gold letters. Although it doesn't refer to a shop that exists in this day and age it has always, for me, conjured an image of an old-fashioned store with rows of drawers, glass-fronted cabinets and smartly-dressed, elegant staff sourcing wonderful treasures from their hidden wares. 

While the sign fed my young imagination it transpires that the reality was a wholesale corsetry company that only closed its doors as recently as 2000. There is a brief interview with the owner in The Herald to mark the closure of the business.

I'm reminded of all of this because tonight BBC1 showed the third episode of their latest period drama 'The Paradise'.

The Paradise – BBC1

The costumes are wonderful but the shop interiors rekindled memories of what I imagined to be behind the sign on Virginia Street. While The Paradise is fantastically beautiful, it seems that some elements are accessible for us mere mortals! At Corset Laced Mannequins, they don't just have gorgeous mannequins perfect for corsetry display, they actually supplied the ones on show at The Paradise. 

Beautiful Corset Laced Mannequins

Colour predictions

For women . . .

. . . and men

Today's blog on Etsy was all about Pantone's colour predictions for Spring fashions 2013. I'm bemused by the idea that what I make/buy to wear will be influenced by a group of total strangers but I also know that next spring I am likely to be bombarded by these shades and unable to buy much else.

On another note, I love that Pantone's Pantoneview Colour Planner Autumn/Winter 13/14 is called 'Happiness'. To quote them:

In Western society, happiness is often defined by feelings of delight and joyousness, and consumption is marketed as a quick route to instant gratification, whereas in the East, happiness is believed to exist within oneself and is considered to be a deeper state borne from the ideas of wholeness and togetherness. 

From a colour perspective, happiness is usually associated with bright colours; however, for Autumn/Winter 13/14, though these bold colour statements are still very present, they are balanced by a more peacful range of shades which reflect a more contemplative attitude and these emerging feelings of thoughtful meditiation.

colour + materials + texture + superimposition = HAPPINESS

I think the sentiment is pretty sound and I'm all for happiness – not so sure about the superimposition though.

Oh yes, and the cover's quirky too . . .

Taking my own advice

For once I managed to follow my own advice . . . I had a successful session with my camera and my yellow walls and finally got my shopping bags posted on Etsy. This is probably my favourite of the new fabrics – I've always been a bit of a stripes gal.

It was all about getting the photography completed before the sun made a direct hit on the room. Now I have to figure out how to take good photographs of scarves!