My dog ate my Knook Hook

No, really, seriously. I recently wrote about my new knooking adventures and our new dog, Brownie. Well, the combination of the two was catastrophic. Brownie is a mess. I pretty much knew what I was getting myself into when we adopted an Australian Shepherd. I knew they were full of energy, needed constant stimulation and play, and if not given those could become destructive. But I am seriously at a loss with this dog. We're going to try to train him with an invisible fence and get him outdoors, where I can spend some time teaching him to use an agility course. Until then, however, we're making do with trying to keep him entertained indoors. We live near a busy highway, even though we out in the country, and we have a few neighbors. Our closes neighbor has some goats. I'm afraid if he gets loose without a fence, we'll have a lawsuit or a dead dog. Any previous or current Aussie owners that would like to give some feedback or support are more than welcome to!

So, Brownie gets bored. And I left my size H hook sitting on the end table, innocently attached to my current project. I took a shower, Brownie tried to knook, couldn't do it, ate it instead. Bye, bye, knook hook. So while I COULD HAVE knitted the piece that the hook was attached to, I casually put it to the side and bought a new and improved set. This time going for the deluxe set that came with more goodies, hooks, projects, and instructions.

Knook Deluxe from LeisureArts.com

It was an excuse. I know. I have also started a new charity organization called, "Warm up the Boro." Basically, I'm teaching others to knit and crochet in exchange for their contribution of a hat or a scarf to be donated to those in our community. Statesboro isn't a big city, and being nestled in the south we don't have A LOT of cold weather, but when it gets cold, it really gets cold. Anyway, for more information on that, please go to http://www.warmuptheboro.blogspot.com . I can currently only teach in my area, but I'm hoping it will spread to other communities too. Maybe even yours?

Knooking Up

If you've been in the webiverse lately and follow anything to do with knitting, you've probably heard of knooking. It's not a craft that I would say has taken the world by storm, but it has sparked some interest among knit and crochet enthusiasts. I'm not sure who invented knooking, but it was originally published by
 Leisure Arts. Basically, knooking is a technique by which you use a crochet hook with a point end that has a hole in it. That hole holds a piece of string and helps to carry the stitches that are picked up along the starting chain of the piece. The technique produces a piece that has actual knit and purl stitches, just like in knitting, but with only one hook.

I sat down to try this out last night. I encountered a few problems - mostly due to already knowing how to crochet and having to get over the mindset that I was crocheting because I had a hook. The second problem was that I was making a hat in the round. This means that my holding cord was sometimes sitting on two rows at a time and making the piece bunch. I would need to stop, pull some of it out, and lengthen the knitting back out. Other than that the going is kind of slow because I'm still training my hands. Once I get the hang of it I'm sure it will be faster.

Overall, I think it would be a process that could come in handy; especially for beginners that would like to make knit objects but have problems manipulating both needles. I enjoy picking up new techniques and getting started cost me about $20. Ten for the needles and ten for a hat pattern book I wanted. You can also buy a large set of the hooks for thinner and thicker yarns for $20 from Leisure Arts. I am hoping fervently that more patterns appear for knooking, but I also think that ANY knit pattern can be adapted to the knook technique. Bigger projects require a longer holding yarn. I may even write some myself. :)