The big and the small of it

I am a fan of small things. When I used to play with my grandmother's metal knitting needles, I was fascinated by the slender dark green pair, size US 2 as I recall; the bigger ones seemed clunky. I didn't know how to knit back then, but I would occasionally rub them together as though I did. I also used them as props in other playtime pursuits, and I loved the satisfying tinkle they made when I clicked them together. I have no recollection of her ever using them, though. They just sat in a jar next to the sewing machine (which I also don't remember her using), a bouquet of sharp pointy possibilities.

Same deal with crochet hooks. I resented having to use a size G or H with some yarns; why couldn't I use a little one, like a D? (I had a slim dark green one of those too, at one point in my youth. What is it with slim dark green fiber-arts implements?)

It isn't just needles and hooks, either. I was fascinated with 22-count aida cloth for cross-stitching (that's 22 little holes to the inch), and when I was able to do a project on linen, with an even finer count? Joy!

(I should note, however, that the project on linen is sitting unfinished in my closet. Should get it out someday.)

I write on college-ruled notebook paper. I prefer 0.5 mm mechanical pencil leads to 0.7. I usually go with fine-point pens. I like slim wire hoop earrings and eensy metal studs. Back when I smoked, my preferred mainstream brand was Virginia Slims, especially the Superslims. My preferred Winamp skins are the ones that fold up into fully functional title-bar sized windowshades. (MMD3 and the default Winamp Modern are so choice.) I like tiny screen resolution on my computer. I dig super-slim CD/DVD and cassette cases.

But back to the craft implements:

Here's the big and the small of my collection. That's a size US 17 needle next to a size 000, and a hook of indeterminate size next to a Q. (The penny is provided for size comparison).

The nano-hook is a bit of a mystery to me. It used to belong to my uncle's grandmother ; it might be a 15 or so, and seems suited to crocheting sewing thread. There is no manufacturer or size information on it, but it's elegant and slim and I would cuddle it if it weren't so danged pointy.

Same goes for the 000, which came in a set of four sizes with five of each size. Its companions are 00, 0 and 1 and also just plain adorable. And now that I have sock yarn (tiny!), I can use them instead of admiring their shiny slimness.

The 17 and the Q? I'm something of a completist and couldn't resist likewise buying the largest hooks and needles I could find at the local General Crafts Store. I have since learned that there are S hooks, and 35 and 50 needles, but I think the compulsion to buy big has faded. Besides, if I ever have need of knitting, say, waterski tow line, I may be prepared with what I have.

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Random knitting content

We may be seeing Snakes on a Plane this weekend. It is to my regret that I didn't think to knit myself a muthalovin' snake to wear around my muthalovin' neck to the movie. (It could be done. I-cord, with strategic increases and decreases for the head. And it would use up some of the acrylic sitting in the stash.)

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I have now met three other Lauras and a Laurie (unsure of spelling) through the Wednesday night knitting group. Can't swing a skein of yarn without hitting one of us, it seems ...

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Upcoming projects:

• Potholders for the Beloved's mom, who is quite enamored of the ones made for her earlier. So enamored, in fact, that she doesn't want to use them until I make more. :-) I think I have some suitable colors in the dishcloth cotton stash ... I don't think I have any more pink, but I do have some red and burgundy.
• The Booga Bag. Or some other felted bag, if I find a pattern I like better. I have four skeins of Noro Kureyon, in a pink-purple-green colorway, and the pattern calls for three. I had, however, been hoping to use the Kureyon for a pair of Hurry Up Spring cabled armwarmers from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation. Although, if I buy a skein of coordinating wool and use it with the Kureyon, I could do both ... (Of course, with the Knucks, I may not need the armwarmers. And I've also been contemplating black armwarmers instead of color. *shrug* We'll see.)
• Oh, and speaking of shrugs ... the Convertible from Knitty also intrigues me. Although I also have Wrap Style, and there's a few garments in there that I covet ... never mind that I already have a couple of non-knitted wrap-y shawl-y things that I received as gifts.
• And didn't I say I was going to re-attempt Branching Out?
  

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Knuckling down

Look! A Knaked Knuck!



Finished the knitting part ... Sunday, I think. I've had a mild case of Knuck fatigue ever since ... I have yet to start Knuck #2 or do the finishing on Knuck #1 (don't let the pic fool you), and although I put in a few more rows on Mom's Sophisticated Scarf, I've done much more dreaming and scheming about knitting than actual stitching. Thus is the Way of the Needle, I s'pose ...



... oh, and the Bear really wishes I'd weave in the #$%@!! ends and seam up the #$%@!! fingers, already. (Although the Bear expressed this in a gentler manner more befitting a soft cuddly creature.)

But even in its unfinished state, the Knuck has gotten lots of love. It has earned me props among my fellow Wednesday-night knitters (I've heard it called Chicks With Sticks and Knit 'n' Bitch, but darned if I know the real name), and most folks to whom I show it simply MUST try it on. Including the Beloved, whose big manly fingers are way too large for it. He has requested a big manly pair of his own, in brown or black, and I've requested some big manly Rowan Felted Tweed in Cocoa for him. (And some Pine for me. Although I may make a different sort of hand covering out of it. I was just chuffed to see a dark green. It's sort of my signature color, and I'm just not seeing it in ladies' fashion these days.)

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Finally, a post that's not about frogging

Behold, the joining of the fingers!



These are, of course, my Knucks, and they have gone astonishingly well thus far. I opted to knit all of the loose fingers first, to help cut down on Second Sock Knuck Syndrome:



Here are the fingers for the other hand (except for the index, which is knitted and left live on the needles; the other, separate fingers are then slipped back onto the needles, and the lot is knitted together) and the thumbs. An old friend is helping me to hold all the loose stitches; the waste yarn is coming from one of the first skeins I ever bought, and with which I made my first-ever stitches. *

The pattern is written for DPNs, but after being shown the two-circulars technique, I've been digging that. (Besides, I had the circs. I don't have the DPNs.) It has meant that each finger has looked like a rather ungainly arachnid, what with all the loose ends and circs dangling about, but I've avoided any major snarls.

I'm still contemplating the embroidery. I'm making them primarily for work, where the A/C can approach refrigeration levels, so I've been half-tempted to stitch my work logo onto them. It's abstract enough that it would just look pretty to those who don't recognize it ... on the other hand (heh), I think I could just get really creative.

The lettering? I'm trying to decide between WORD NERD or WORD GEEK. Either would be accurate; I'm leaning toward "geek" but I like the way "nerd" rhymes.

Once these are done? I'll probably attempt socks again. I seem to have caught the fever for sock yarn; the skeins and balls keep trickling in. Viz.:



(Dramatization. No actual cats were used in the making of this photo.)

It's Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Shadow. It may well become a pair of socks for the Beloved, who occasionally will pout that I haven't made anything for him. (Fortunately, as Floridians, we have little use for sweaters, so we may be immune to the dreaded Sweater Curse, at least if you take the name literally.) After petting it in the yarn shop for several weeks (the yarn, not the Beloved), I decided it simply HAD to come home with me. But isn't that the way of all yarn?

* It's a green-cream-red variegated skein of Red Heart. I'll introduce you later.

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