Learning Something New, Knooking!
I’m taking a short break on the Winter into Summer Hat pattern/project right now because my husband got me a new “toy”, The Knook basic beginners kit by Leisure Arts. For only $7? Why not! Knooking is basically knitting with a modified crochet hook and I remember seeing this kit a year or so ago and being fascinated by the idea. I can knit and feel I am fairly accomplished in my knitting, I’m definitely way beyond the basics, I just crochet more than I knit. I’ve also been crocheting many more years longer than I’ve been knitting, so knitting with a crochet hook? Yes, please! I’ve been playing around with it since last night after getting comfortable with holding the “knook” (knitting hook) and making the knit and purl stitches. I found that I have to hold this particular hook more like holding a knitting needle than how I hold a crochet hook to be comfortable. Once I got the basics down, I decided to jump right into making a cable. Last night, I got the hang of making a front cable (holding the stitches to the front), and today I’m trying the back cable (holding the stitches to the back). Next I want to try lacework, with the yarn overs and knitting/purling 2 together stuff. It seems you can do anything that can be done on the needles on the knook and with having a cord hold the unworked stitches as you work, there is no accidentally dropping a stitch, and I found frogging back to fix a mistake is much easier. The only down side I’ve found is that the knooks are more difficult to find and it looks like, in my limited research, there aren’t as many hook sizes and it seems the smallest size is 4.00mm. So, it seems the downside of knooking is the limited hook size choices. I have seen around the web that some people have made their own knooks from regular crochet hooks made from plastic or bamboo, of even from Tunisian (afghan), or double-ended, hooks. What makes the knook different from a crochet hook is a cord attached to the bottom of the hook, whether through a hole or some other method. THIS is one persons way of making a Knook.
What I thought would be fun is a project combining crochet a knitting without having to change from a hook to needles or vice versa. I thought it would be worth the try, anyway.
by Midknight Designs 