"Schooled"

Well, I may not have had to go in to school yesterday to teach, however, I got some real lessons about crochet. See this?

This was a source of great excitement yesterday. Of course when I realized just how tiny this chain was turning out I almost ripped it right back out. But, what the heck, this is supposed to be an adventure, right? Want to see the tiny hook that made this tiny chain?
Ah, yes. How well this was going. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino. Now, this is a lovely yarn. It is easy to work with...and tiny. That, however, wasn't the problem. Here's the lesson. Fine crochet work is generally done with thread which is stiff, or at least doesn't stretch. Why? That way the hole created by the crochet hook stays open so that when you come back the other direction you can actually FIND the hole where the hook should be inserted. Enough said. The merino goes back in the stash along with the silk I tried to use for the same project. What was wrong with the silk you ask? Well, the color changes were too busy for the pattern...sigh. If you have been reading for a while you may recognize the yarn from this post. It turned out that I did not have enough yarn to finish the blanket despite the generosity of friends who passed on what they had in their stashes. All is not lost, however, as my first garment will be made from it! (Yes, I know, making my first garment from Homespun is another sign that my sanity is slipping.)

Anyway, it is an ingenious pattern that has been so popular that it became a crochet along at Crochetville, so it should be reliable. What lesson have I learned when only eight rows of the sweater are complete? Well, it's about the hook. I started with plastic which was O.K. but not great. Moved to metal, too slippery. Then to the wonderful bamboo hook made for me by the lovely and talented Heather, just right! So, Homespun requires bamboo. Remember that.

By the way, that cute cat in the picture is a row counter which I am finding invaluable for this project as rows are very hard to see. Thanks Gina!

So, two lessons learned, one project scrapped, and one WIP. Hopefully the WIP will be a FO before I get to Key West! Gotta go to work now. Have a great Thursday.