Wippity WIP: Extremes

Apologies for the radio silence, but there has been a lot of crochet going on here at the moment.  Well, a lot of crochet planning, anyway.  The problem with a lot of planning, is it often means a lot of making, frogging, making, frogging, so I can crochet all evening and have nothing to show for it. I have managed to tease a little bit of order out of the chaos of pile after pile of crimped, frogged yarn though.  Wanna see?

First up is an experiment with some super-duper-über chunky cotton.

I can't decide whether to stock it.  It's Rico's Fashion Big Cotton (super chunky) and I really do like it, but it's not the easiest to work with.  I love working with cotton, it's probably my favourite yarn, but it does leave you with a splitty yarn and this is no exception.  If anything, being such a chunky yarn, it's even splittier and not for the faint-hearted!  You definitely need to know exactly what you're going to do with it, as the more you work it, the less manageable it becomes. When it's crocheted up though, it's gorgeous!

I'm aiming for a big blanket.  It's going to be a slow-burning project, but I'm ok with that.  I like to have a 'long-termer' bubbling away in the background.  As you can see, I have a bit of a way to go...

At the other end of the spectrum, I have made a start on Christmas.  Sorry.

The covered bauble in the picture is made using some Lyscordet I have leftover from last year, but there are coloured ones too for which I'm using Rico's Maxi crochet cotton.  It's the exact opposite to the chunky stuff above: mercerised, fine, not-at-all-splitty.  It's a delight to work with and I will definitely be stocking it, just as soon as I can sort out some images for it.

As I'm working on these projects pretty much side by side, it does mean that I frequently swap from this crochet hook...

To this one...

Like the title says, extreme!