Joining In

I'm not one of life's 'Joiners'. I prefer to do my own thing.

BUT I have joined two KALs for the summer so I have something to do on the knitting front.

I'm in the Tour de France KAL as a Green Jersey - this means that I have undertaken to start and finish a project during the race. I'll be knitting this......Skin of the Sea by Ilga Leja

in this..... Hipknits Aran Silk - colourway Vibrant.

I have also signed up for Mystery Stole 3 after Knitting Nanny (my Secret Summer Santa) suggested it. I made a 1.5hr round trip in the rain yesterday to fetch the beads and a crochet hook from Hobbycraft but almost cried when I got home and found that the hook won't go through the beads. The size of hooks being used by others in the group varies through 1mm, 0.9mm and 0.75mm - all with 8/0 beads and having no problems - others are having to use 0.6mm hooks. If the size of the bead is fixed at 8/0 why aren't the holes the same size for every bead? I've been in Manufacturing all my working life - making parts for cars (amongst other things) that are measured in MICRONS and every part you make has to be exactly the same. So why can't the bead manufacturers do the same thing????? Today I'll be making my own hook out of fuse wire and ordering the Jaggerspun Zephyr in Ebony as I want a black stole.

Sign-ups for both close 6th July so get in quick if you want to have a little KAL fun.