why not?

The older I get, the more adventurous I become - more willing to try new things, test the boundaries, and experiment!

Instead of asking WHY?... I'm starting to ask WHY NOT?

and discovering that it's a whole lot of fun, too!

In our Crochet Lovers Victoria group, we recently started chatting about hand carved hooks. In the past I've always wondered WHY you would bother going to all the trouble of carving a hook, when they are so readily available?

But not this time... this time I asked myself WHY NOT give it a go???

and I wasn't the only one... in fact, a surprising number of others have joined in the fun



Now, I know you could use dowel for a project like this. We certainly have some odds and ends in the garage here which I could recycle into a hook. But I loved the idea of recycling a gift from nature... and I wanted to carve my hook from a stick.



It started out easily... and I was lulled into a false sense of security...



But carving out the inner side of the hook is much trickier than it looks...

I'm ashamed to admit that there have been several be-headings along the way... the hook (stick) getting shorter and shorter with each one. It was almost like the French Revolution around here... OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

In fact, I still haven't quite got the whole thing figured out yet... but I'm determined to get there. In the meantime you should take a peek at what some of the other members have achieved.

Stramenda has made this incredible tunisian hook from a long stick she found in her kindling pile... and you MUST click here to see what she made for dinner the other night! Now that's dedication. Yes... she's a little bit mad... but in the most wonderful way!

Happy Peacock made a cable tunisian hook... by inserting an old circular knitting needle INTO the end of her hand-carved hook, and adding a stopper at the other end... take a look

Cat attacked a broom handle to come up with this fine creation

These friends are blowing me away with their work! None of them had attempted anything like this before, and decided to s-t-r-e-t-c-h themselves just a little... they have achieved so much. I'm so incredibly proud of them - and just a teensy bit jealous - but I'll keep trying - of course I can do it - it's not rocket science!

Saving my favourite for last... Dawniedear gave me a fabulous gift yesterday... a tunisian cable hook... which she carved from a piece of dowel, then attached the cable from an old circular knitting needle, with a button as a stopper. Isn't she wonderfully creative? I'm so looking forward to using it!