HAIRPIN LACE TOOLS

A recent discussion on another site got me to thinking how crochet tools have changed over time. Hooks, themselves, have changed very little. You either have a ‘traditional’ hook or an in-line hook with handle variations. But, other crochet tools have evolved more, taking advantage of advances in engineering and materials.

I’ve never actually even attempted, much less mastered, hairpin lace although I own three different hairpin lace tools. I actually purchased this one made by Clover (notice the unopened package ;-0):

hairpin-lace-1-0509

Here are two others you can find at http://www.mielkesfarm.com/crocheting_tools.htm

The first of these is a simple tool, pretty much unchanged over time. The blue one is specifically for making flowers, but can also be used for more traditional hairpin projects.

There are several other hairpin lace loom designs I’ve seen. One is a big U-shaped metal tube. Despite the variation in designs of the looms, they all create the same lovely hairpin lace. Here’s an example so you can see what it’s supposed to look like:

http://flirtationsknitwear.blogspot.com/2008/11/allure-of-hairpin-lace.html

If you don’t have a hairpin lace loom or access to a store to buy one, see if you can make your own using these instructions:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4468904_make-hairpin-lace-loom.html

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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