Blog Week Day 6: A Tool to Covet

After yesterday's extraordinary interruption, let's get back to business, shall we? Blog Week still has 2 days to go after all!

Today's topic is A Tool to Covet and it has proven to be a difficult one to write about! I don't own that many crafting tools. Most of my tools are needles and hooks, but they're mostly boring aluminium. They bend, they scratch easily, and the numbers on the end of my knitting needles that have been pressed into the plastic knob that indicate size have faded after a single use. They were cheap, though, and that's why I own most of my tools.

Nothing like a tall, refreshing glass of needles.

I keep most of my tools in a half-pint glass on top of the bookcase that contains most of my yarn. It's turned into a bit of a gathering place for other random crap, though: There's pens in there, chopsticks for some reason, and a plastic yellow clothespin. I'm pretty sure there's a lighter in there, too, but it's probably hiding. Then there's most of my crochet hooks, a sewing needle or two, and all my knitting needles not currently holding any yarn. As you can see, it's really not a good place to keep them. The needles are too tall, and the hooks are too short, it's easy to throw other random stuff in there.

The question about what my favourite tools were is therefore not as easily answered. Right now, my most favourite tools are one simple set of bamboo needles that have some sentimental value, and a shiny steel 3.0mm crochet hook.

You have no idea how hard it is to photograph a thin, shiny metal stick. No idea.

Sinterklaas over here is giving me a hand in showing off my favourite crochet hook. It's not too big, 3.00 mm, but it's the material that makes this one stand out over my other hooks. It's steel. Shiny, gold-coloured, cold steel. It's heavier than the aluminium hooks, which I think is a good thing, and I love the feel of it in my hand a lot more. I might be alone in this, because I know people usually like their hooks on the light and soft side, and since I have yet to try wooden crochet hooks I don't know if I would like those better than the steel one, but for now, this little hook is my go-to!

Yes, that is indeed another pink blob!

It's funny that I choose a steel hook over lighter aluminium ones, yet of all my knitting needles I am most fond of these bamboo ones! These are a bit special, though. I got them as a gift from two of my friends for my birthday along with a pattern and two balls of yarn to make my first ever knitting project, my Little Green Bag. They're 5.0mm needles, they are a bit grabby and don't feel as smooth as you would expect from bamboo, but they're perfect for random projects! I've been doing test-runs with the pink babbymelting acrylic yarn from hell on these and while normally, I would have to worry about stitches slipping off the needles, or not being able to see what I'm doing because the stitches are too small, with these needles I can drop them mid-row and don't have to worry about losing a stitch.

For actual knitting projects, I suspect that these would not be my first choice because of those 'features', but as test needles, they're perfect.

Because my crafting tools are mostly cheap and only bought because they were what was on hand in my LYS or the hobby corner of a cheap shop and they would get the job done, (there's that House of Bee-personality rearing its head again!) I do have a big lists of tools that I do covet. For instance, a proper set of knitting needles that comes in a case, like a set of circulars in every size you can imagine, along with a whole host of DPNS ranging from tiny tiny tiny to huuuuuge, especially if they come in a pretty little box. And of course, since I'm bicraftual, a complete set of crochet hooks would be glorious too. And as long as I'm listing tools I covet anyway, a good ball winder wouldn't go amiss either!

It's a shame I just had my birthday, really.