It was hard for me to admit to the world that I let a
half-sock linger in my yarn bowl for nine months. Shortly after publishing my
last post I decided I needed to form an action plan to hurry up and finish it
already! If I believed that I didn’t have the time to finish the sock, then I needed
to make the time. Suddenly I had the moment of clarity I had been waiting for:
The last ten or fifteen minutes of my lunch hour are usually spent perusing
WTOP or my Facebook feed. What if I didn’t do that for a few days, and worked a
few rounds instead? Status updates and the noon news could wait a while.
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| At last, basking in their finished glory. |
The second sock was done in three days. I
was so motivated and inspired by this that I started another pair. My latest projects
are now a mainstay in my work bag. I store them in a large Ziploc bag for
protection. However, this isn’t always very effective, as the skinny bamboo
needles pierce right through.
Another happy discovery I made by bringing my knitting to
work was how much other people appreciated what I was doing. Some coworkers asked
me to show them how, which led to impromptu, one minute knitting lessons. Others
shared with me that they enjoyed needlepoint, crochet and rug hooking. I didn’t
expect that what I was doing on my lunch would encourage such positive dialogue
and create an opportunity to get to know one another a little better.
Needless to say, I’m pleased to be back in the groove of
knitting after a long, necessary break. I hadn’t realized how burnt out I was
becoming. As much as I love to knit, I think I was starting to overdo it last
year. Add in the adjustment of a new job, and one can see how easily a half
completed project could be abandoned. At the end of each day I found relaxing
with the crossword preferable to the concentration it would take to avoid
mistakes and dropped stitches.
That’s not all I want to discuss today. I’m not going to
spend a lot of time on this next issue, as I feel it’s not worth it, but it
still needs to be addressed. By “it,” I mean the latest abomination to the
knitting world known as, “The Knook.”
 |
| Dun dun dun! |
Yes, The Knook. These contraptions consist of pointed
knitting needles that can be turned upside down and used as crochet hooks. Now
all of your fiber crafting needs can be found in one nifty place, right? Um,
no. Any intermediate knitter or crochet-er will tell you that needle sizes and
hook sizes have no overlap! Try as
you might, you won’t find any crochet hook in the world that is the exact same
size as a knitting needle.
What does this mean? If you use these…things…for either knitting or crochet, the quality of your work
will suffer. This is because you won’t be able to get the proper gauge (stitches
per inch) necessary to create the proper look/fit of whatever is being made.
Even worse, The Knook comes with a few paltry yards of the
cheapest polyester cord that money can buy.
Overall, my opinion is that The Knook shows a blatant
disrespect for both crafts, and encourages its users to learn wrong stuff. It’s
aimed squarely at beginners who run the risk of being completely turned off to
either craft, all because they were exposed to this junk.
As unpleasant as this is, let’s get it out there and spread
the word. Just say no to The Knook. I am quite disappointed in A.C. Moore for
carrying this product. If Billy Mays were still alive, it would fit right in on
one of his late night infomercials.
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| Kaboom indeed. |
I digress.
I’m planning another children’s book review for the next
post. Hint: It will be a throwback for children of the 1990s as well as the 1940s.
Stay tuned!
