Belated Mothers' Day

A while back, I acquired a set of fine steel crochet hooks.  So, naturally, I went looking for a suitable project to use them on and came across this doozy.  Then, off with me to buy the cotton thread for the job.  I tried a few of the craft and yarn shops but they'd never heard of the blending filament stuff on the materials list, so I just went ahead without it.

Calla Lilly brooch for Mothers' Day

My first foray into crocheting with steel hooks was surprisingly successful, in terms of the finished products.  I made two of these brooches: one for my mum and one for my mother-in-law, as presents for Mothers' Day.

They worked up pretty quickly: maybe a day or two each, although to be fair, I was going through an insomniac phase, so I was working on them until 4 or 5 in the morning.  They were incredibly fiddly though.  And for the first time in my life, I had to take my glasses off to be able to see up close... ah, the siren song of impending bifocals!!!

My poor fingers were the worse for wear for quite some time afterwards.  There must be a knack to dealing with those super fine hooks that doesn't involve stabbing yourself and splitting your fingers open repeatedly.  I've yet to figure it out.  In the meantime, lots of plasters and thimbles!