I've seen people use heavier stuffing beans for paw tips to help weigh things appropriately

that's amazing!

... and I promise I'm not stalking you. Your cat toots were on the local timeline and the amazing dragon was retooted by a friend >.>

Haha, no worries. The dragon is so epic it deserves all the attention it's been getting :D

It really is! I need to get back to my latest crochet project, but I realised after doing 700+ single crochets that I, in fact, had miscounted. So have to redo the entire edge >.<

As you can imagine, I'm currently trying to get energy to Just Do It.

Oof, yeah, I know that feeling. I have so many half-finished projects that went wrong somewhere

I *really* need to just Do It, because it's a fairly special one (the last shawl I'll ever be able to make in my favourite yarn >.<), but ...

The yarn is amazing, btw. It's lace weight alpaca/silk blend, so light as spiderweb while still warm and quite sturdy

Ooh, that sounds gorgeous

It really is.

this is an old shawl in the same material, but different pattern and colours

Love it!

I will never understand why they decided to discontinue the yarn ... I've found thicker alpaca/silk, lace pure alpaca and several mohair-silk (IE fuzzy!) but I want the thinness and sleekness of the original, especially sine it is a lot sturdier than pure alpaca.

I'm still sad that a particular dyer decided to discontinue their fraternal sock yarn sets before I could buy more of them

They should think of the crafters!

I ended up getting somewhat lucky in finding a place that had a few least popular colours left, so I got 100g/800m turquoise and 150g/1200m "light camel" (rose beige is what I'd call it)

Not the best representation, but it shows off both the pattern and the colours (ish)

That turquoise is gorgeous. One of my current sock projects is a blue that I really love

that's an amazing blue! I've never gotten into knitting, but sometimes I wonder if I should, since socks are the worst to crochet >.>

I avoided knitting for a long time because I struggled with the tension, but I found it easier after years of crochet. Though sometimes I still find myself wishing for a little hook on the end of the needles :D

That hook is very useful. And also the whole *not* "I lost two years of work because I dropped the needle" <.<

Circular knitting needles tend to save the whole dropping issue

i should see about checking some out at some point, then. Since in particular, as i said: socks.

Or are socks really hard to knit too?

Some of it depends on how fancy you get with the pattern, of course, but in my experience they're pretty simple to knit. It's basically just a tube with a bend in the middle and closed at one end, so the only fiddly part is doing the heel

You've crocheted (or tried to) socks? In particular to figure out if it actually *is* easier with knitting or not <.<

And yay! I finished the starting row and am now *almost* done with the first row of the lace. 720 sc, and now every 4th of them gets a [dc, ch-3, dc] ....

I've never tried to crochet socks, I'm afraid. What causes the difficulty, do you think?

Thinking about it, I just realised it's not so much difficulty, as the difference in fabrics.

Crochet is a bunch of holes, and very rarely does one want holey socks, y'know? =)

also you want really stretchy fabric.

The crocheted socks I’ve seen that look most successful are done with slip stitch crochet — the kind that looks like knitting. It’s also called Bosnian crochet or shepherd’s knitting.

I haven’t made any socks with the technique, but I’ve tried samples of the fabric, and it’s interesting stuff.

And this is just what I'm guessing based on stuff that has been said: I get the impression that crochet takes a lot more yarn than knitting, at least when trying to make a solid-y material.

yeah, more or less. It does seem to depend on a variety of factors.

Unfortunately, I can’t get really into testing things out because I am physically unable to crochet anymore.

Oh, I*m sorry, that sucks >.< I'm very happy that while I have a lot of pain (including fingers) I can still (mainly) crochet.

Sewing and knitting were my first loves, so while it’s a disappointment to lose crochet, it’s not as frustrating as it might be. I can still knit and sew!