Hi Everyone

I hope for those of you who celebrate Christmas the day was all you wanted it to be.  Ours was low-key and wonderful.  The last couple of weeks have been a frenetic race to get everything ready.  Although knit and crochet gifts were not to be this year, I am pleased to say that I was able to string and finish 3 necklaces in time to give as gifts.  In my glee I forgot to take pictures to show you, which is truly ashame because they were lovely – simple but lovely.

The craziness of the past few weeks definitely took a toll on my blogging.  There were lots of items I wanted to highlight as gift ideas that just never happened.  That’s okay – I’m sure you and yours took care of things for yourselves. One item that I cannot let pass us by is a new set of crochet hooks.  Karen our Store Manager showed them to me around Thanksgiving (I think) and it was instant love.  I see a lot of new products, many of which are sent to me as samples.  Rarely do I keep anything.  They usually find a home with a staff member.  In this instance, I was not letting go.  That decision was made without even really testing the hooks.  I looked at them and held them but did not put them through their paces.  I was already in love – they won my heart before I actually ever saw the hook – they had me at the case:

This is the ETIMO Crochet Hook Set from Tulip.  I swear whomever designed the case and selected the fabric must have thought “Well, what would Kathy Elkins over at WEBS like?  She’s a black & white & grey gal and loves silver sparkle so let’s go with a fabric like that”.  Now, I know that isn’t what happened, but I want more things made from this fabric.  It is awesome.  I’m not sure my pictures capture the spackle.  How’s this one:

There are actually 2 sets that offer two different size range of needles along with a different case and hook construction. This set comes with:

• 8 hooks [D-3 (3.25mm), E-4 (3.50mm), F-5 (3.75mm), G-6 (4.00mm), 7 (4.50mm), H-8 (5.00mm), I-9 (5.50mm), J-10 (6.00mm)]
• High-grade silver-handle thread scissors
• 2 yarn needles
• ruler
• beautiful foldable case with 2 extra hook slots plus a zippered accessories compartment

The handles have a nice shape and a cushioned rubber grip.  The only thing I don’t like about these hooks?  I only wish the hook shaft was made of steel which would mean a silver finish which I think would make this set even MORE scrumptious.  The brass-colored finish is a bummer to me.

If only they had done the same thing with this set as they did with the Tulip ETIMO Steel Crochet Hook Set.

This set is lovely, has the same construction but not only is the case different – same style, different fabric, which isn’t bad either just not as endearing as the sparkle fabric.  This set also features a completely different range of hook sizes:

• 8 hooks [No. 0 (1.75mm), 2 (1.50mm), 4 (1.25mm), 6 (1.00mm), 8 (0.90mm), 10 (0.75mm), 12 (0.60mm), 14 (0.50mm)]
• High-grade silver-handle thread scissors
• 2 yarn needles
• ruler
• beautiful foldable case with 2 extra hook slots plus a zippered accessories compartment

My set is $79.99 and the steel set is $69.99.    Not inexpensive but when you look at everything you get, it’s not outrageous either.

Also, while we’re talking crochet I wanted to let you know we are adding a line of crochet thread as well!  I’ll post more when it’s in and on the site.  I’m personally partial to crocheting with all types of yarns but I know the crochet thread is something many folks want to use – you asked, we responded!

Enjoy!

Kathy

Tags: crochet