Decisions, decisions

It's getting to the point where I need to make a decision on how to finish my tunisian crochet table-runner. It's a long rectangle right now, and it's meant for an oval table. Not a true oval - more like a circular table with a couple of leaves put in it.

I'm thinking I want to mimic the shape of the table by ending the runner in half-circles. This is something I found in one of my crochet stitch books, and it's akin to short rows in knitting.

I still have a LOT of this yarn left (Bernat Handicrafter in Meadow), and think that should be plenty. But now comes the fun part. WHICH book was it? Was it one of my Harmony Guides, the Reader's Digest book, or the Encyclopedia of Crochet?

If it was the first or last, I know I have it, and it's in our office/craft room. Somewhere. If it's the Reader's Digest book, I lent it to Rich, and I don't remember if he's still borrowing it or not. (... Rich?)

Yet another WIP that's going to be placed on hold till I make up my mind.

I only have one of those huge, rope-handled tubs full of WIPs.... and maybe a large shopping bag or two. EEK!

I really like tunisian crochet. I'm just doing a simple stitch, and the cotton fabric has a nice, woven texture to it. If you've never done it, I like to compare it to a double- or treble-crochet stitch, only MUCH longer. Basically you have the hook (long crochet hook, looks like a knitting needle only with a hook at the end instead of a point), and you go across the row by sticking your hook in the vertical loop from each stitch on the previous row, yarn over, and pull up a loop (kind of like adding stitches on the side of a knitted piece). You do this all the way across the row - for me, 65 stitches. Once that's done, you chain one (to raise it up a level), then yarn over and pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through two loops, etc., all the way back across the row. It's really soft, and I like to pet this project and admire the woven look. The back looks all knobbly and ugly to me, but it's nice and padded, and will be a good cushion for whatever I place on the runner.

If I were extremely ambitious, I might think about a blanket made this way, in a soft cotton yarn. Or a large pillow.

Recycled sari silk looks good in tunisian crochet, too. I have a purse that I did, but have not finished (needs to be lined, and a closure added to it). It makes a thicker fabric, good for the unevenness of how the sari yarn is spun.

I picked up my tunisian hooks on my way back from a surprise B&B retreat my husband planned up the north coast, in Trinidad. We came back through Humbolt Redwoods State Park, and stopped for lunch at what looked like one of those dumpy old roadside diners that was de riguer on any cross-country road trip (like a Denny's or Carrow's, only nowhere near that classy).

However, we were pleasantly surprised at the inside. Gourmet food, in the process of being upgraded to a nice little bistro-type restaurant. We were stunned at the good food inside this shoddy facade of a roadside coffee shop. And afterwards, we walked down the road a bit to look at the local shops, because I saw an antiques shop.

Inside were German beer steins, an assortment of bric-a-brac, and a basket with assorted needlecraft items. I had no idea what they were - one was aluminum, the other plastic - but I thought "why not" and spent five bucks on them and a set of Aero size 6 straights.

My plastic one, an H-hook, snapped about two years ago when it got caught on something in my knitting bag and is likely unrepairable, but the J-hook remains. I've looked for others from time to time online, but nothing that strikes my fancy. I like the finish on the vintage needles rather than the modern ones, and the new plastics... just don't go right with the yarns. They almost seem to build up static.