Knit 3, Hook 1

Seems that in the fall, my love of knitting kicks into higher gear and starts to compete with my hooking time. Not that it doesn't do that all year, because I am a 365 day knitter, but I guess this time of year gets busier with planned Christmas gifts added to the mix.

So this past week has definitely been an exercise in time management: work, knit, hook, eat and sleep - a curriculum that gives my days a nice rhythm. Right now I've got two knitting projects on the needles, one just blocked and two recently completed. And there are at least 6 presents in bags with patterns that have that definite deadline. And too many hooking projects to mention.

One of the recently completed projects, a knee-length cotton vest in teal presented a problem for buttons. I found an interesting solution, so decided to share. Since I couldn't find a single button I particular liked, I used a mixture of large and small buttons in different colours and stacked them.

Not only do I love the way they look, but they certainly introduce a palette of possibilities to wear under the vest. And they all came from my button bag. I sewed them on with yarn from the vest, through the two sets of holes of the button stack.

Feeling like I hadn't pulled a loop in a while (punching is definitely different from pulling), I got back to a piece I started a while ago. Sometimes things you start have a habit of evolving into something else - especially for me. And often something unexpected determines the outcome.

I had started a little moose when I participated in the stocking challenge a while back, which I was going to tuck inside the stocking. I ran out of time, so decided I would just hook it as a small moose study with trees. Then along came this $2 bargain at a hook in and it changed again.

This is one continuous 4" strip of buffalo check wool - blanket weight. I had absolutely no idea what I would do with it. But let's face it, a gal from a log cabin cannot resist buffalo check anything. So, the little moose took a sharp turn, got some companions and a buffalo check background.

The wool is quite difficult to hook with, because it is very thick, and reproducing the check is not as easy as it looks. But I am liking it and will have fun finishing it. I think it might become a pillow for Rick's study. And I'll use more of the buffalo check wool for a border - unhooked.

It's fun to not know exactly where things will turn out. And in both instances in this post, a very pleasant surprise was just waiting to be uncovered.