not feeling christmassy yet...

So christmas is advancing. Pah. So what. I'm not feeling particularly festive this year, even SO has picked up on it (even if he did say me putting a downer on everything was grating), and that's probably to do with the fact that I'm still unemployed. And I've run out of money. And overdraft. So I guess I'll be going to see the Jobcentre next week, much to my chagrin. Great.

So I've been looking at hooks again. My godmum asked what I wanted for christmas, so me being me, said I wanted a 20mm hook. Realising that she doesn't do much in the way of finding random hooks, I found a website that has some lovely ones. You'll have to excuse me if I've mentioned it before, but I can't remember. I have a brain like a sieve. Anyway, angelyarns has some lovely weird and wonderful hooks in plastic, bamboo, birch etc as well as the old standard Pony and Prym.

Also, just a random thought, I'm sure my jewellery making skills could make better stitch markers than these... and cheaper... *ahem* so if anyone wants some, I'll probably have had a little play by the next update, and may have got some for sale (they'll be quite cheap, I'm not a mercenary- between £2.50-£5.00, or about $4-$7 for my American friends, not including P&P, which will probably be about £1 for UK peeps and about $2-ish maybe for the US)

Really though, I want some lovely big addi hooks. I want a 12mm, 15mm and a 20mm. I also really want to branch out into other materials- I mean, I've got aluminium Pony, Palette and Prym (what is it with the Ps?) and some plastic Palettes (Ps again!) but I'd really like some wooden ones... bamboo (and if anyone's feeling philantrhopic, I'd love the $49.99 Takumi roll set!) and birch and palm and everything! I also really want a Jimbo hook, but at the moment, funds prohibit me. I also found metal ones! I mean, nice silver and gold ones- Leslie might like them I thought to myself...

I'm seriously thinking of getting the sandpaper out and making my own hooks. God only knows what kind of sizes they'd eventually emerge as, but whatever. It'll be fun. It'll stop me killing people from unemployment-induced boredom. Which is a possibility at the mo...

Ok, so in my garden we have a lot of fruit trees- the place was an orchard before they built houses on it, and most of the street has some pear trees going down in a line across the gardens. I think that's sweet personally... but I also LOATHE pears. YUCK! And if you like them, when you've accidentally trodden in a mould blackened fly-blown one on a hot summer's day, you won't anymore. Not mentioning the wasps. Blugh.

Back on to topic! Honestly, I ramble more than someone with stout boots and a love of the countryside! OK!

In my garden we have:

• 3 pear trees
• 1 peach tree
• 1 cooking apple tree
• about 5 damson/greengage thing trees (I dunno what they are, they start out green and then go all purple. They look a bit like plums... small plums. PLOOMS! *ahem* sorry)

not to mention the branches that fall off my neighbours' trees, and the honeysuckle thing tree (small tree, about 8' high, has yellow teardrop-ish flowers with a white centre with stamens protruding) and the small fir/pine/christmas tree ting.

So I'm wondering if I could actually make some apple/pear/etc-wood hooks. And if anyone would want to buy them from me too. I used to do a lot of carving/sanding/shaping the branches when I was younger, so I'm sure it wouldn't take too long for the knowledge to come back. I think though, because of the spate of wet weather recently, it might take some time to dry the pre-hooks out over the heater.

This post really got away from me... sorry.
If you managed to read to the end without scroll-skipping, well done, have a pat on the back.