What a difference a hook makes

I'm participating in what is called a CAL. Variations of this are KAL and SAL. If you don't know the terms, I'm sure you can work them out* if I tell you the first one stands for Crochet A-Long. It's a way of everyone doing the same project at the same time. Usually bits of the pattern are released weekly.

Sometimes you know in advance what you're making. Sometimes you get a hint. Other times it's just a list of what sort of wool you need and how much! **

The wool for this one is produced by Caron and sold in the UK by various people but this variety is approx £6 at each of them. And you need 10. It's not cheap this crafting malarkey.

So I sourced elsewhere. Latvia actually. Turkish wools sold by a place called Yarn Street. I needed to add vat and postage but at €2 per ball, it makes the whole project much more manageable. Approx £23 before shipping. Much better than upwards of £60.

BUT. The point of the picture. The guy designing this has said that gauge is very important for making sure your project doesn't pucker or ruffle. So I set about doing some swatches
Then realised I didn't really need to because I'm not using the same wool.

If it makes you feel better to know these things I going to work with the plain hook that produced the all blue square. Friend F is in approval of the colours so oft we jolly well go. ***


* yes, Knit A-Long and Stitch A-Long.

** if a popular designer with a large following is producing a CAL, I also think it's just a way of boosting some wool producer's profits. AND because he has said the thing about keeping to gauge, I'm pretty sure he's wanting everyone to pay the premium price.

*** As Jimmy Young used to say.