Because sometimes I am flexible.

Don’t laugh, it happens. Just not very often. I stopped at JoAnn’s after work and bought an EZ Design Flex Rule. From the front of the package, “Flexible ruler bends to create and measure curves. Holds shape to repeat designs.” [Repeated in French and Spanish.]

And from its back, “Suggestions for use: Quilting -- Create vines, place leaves at intervals along vine, and flip to create exact mirror images in corners. Create unique edges, scallops, and more for quilt borders. Mark quilt designs, set in any pattern (like a wave) and move across quilt to repeat design. Trace shapes for applique or quilting designs like heart, circles, and more! Sewing and Crafts -- Measure curved edges for sewing or craft projects. Create curved lines for beading, sequins, and trims on apparel. Great for pattern making, measuring dress lines, crotch seams [huzzah!], and armholes. Warning -- This product contains lead, a chemical known by the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.” [Apparently the other 49 states are unaware of this?]

Note to self: do not conveniently carry this tool around in your mouth, as you have been known to do with knitting needles.

They did not have any steel crochet hooks, so I also made a quick trip to Michael’s, where I found four that I did not have: a 4, a 5, a 6, and a 7. None of which are quite what I need at the moment, but I now have a nearly complete set of steel hooks. I am still trying to find the missing red larger hooks to complete that set. Yes, I could just buy a hook in the right size but a different color. Where is the fun in that?

I also tidied up their display. There I was, standing at the corner of Math Geek and Slightly Obsessive, and aren’t we supposed to make the world a little better than we find it? I suspect that somebody tiny had made a grab for all of that Oh Look Shiny, and the parental unit had just jammed the packages back on any convenient display hook. When I left the store, the 1’s were on the 1 hook, the 8’s were on the 8 hook, and all the 4’s were having a party right where you would expect them to be.

I will check Wally World when I buy more milk, to see if they have the missing 2 and 3. I may also replace three other hooks with the same size by Boye; I have them by Susan Bates, and the 11 and 12 are combined, as are the 13 and 14. I like the business end on the Boye hooks better than on the Susan Bates.

If I am unsuccessful at Wally World, I found an online site which carries the Boye hooks in every imaginable size. I suppose I could ask them for the missing three red aluminum hooks, but I have them in B through K, and I rarely use fat yarns. At this point it is more the thrill of the hunt. I would have to call in to make that order, to specify that if the red hooks showed up in some other color, I would send them back. And I don’t think that’s how I want to spend my Saturday morning.

Not when I need to be at Secondborn’s in an hour for the Bittiest’s birthday party, and I have yet to sign his birthday card and wrap his present.

The right back of Faith’s sweater is now firmly attached; what I want the crochet hook for, is to work a single row of single crochet down the back edge, where I slipped the stitches, to subtly firm up that edge. A 1 is too big. A 4 is too little. Either a 2 or a 3 should be just right. [I wonder if Goldilocks or the three bears crocheted?]