4KCBWDAY6 & 7: A Tool to Covet, and Looking Forward

Since I generally don't blog on the weekend and I wasn't terribly inspired by today's actual prompt ("blog in a way different to how you normally blog"), I thought I'd skip ahead and give you my thoughts on the last two prompts for this week:

Day Six (Saturday April 27th): A Tool To Covet
Write about your favourite knitting or crochet (or spinning, etc) tool. It can either be a tool directly involved in your craft (knitting needles or crochet hook) or something that makes your craft more pleasurable – be it a special lamp, or stitch markers.

Day Seven (Sunday April 28th): Looking Forward
One year from now, when the 5th Knitting & Crochet Blog Week rolls around, where do you hope your crafting will have taken you to? What new skills, projects and experiences do you hope you might have conquered or tried?

My favorite knitting tools are probably my ChiaoGoo circular needles. I have two sets in sock sizes (2.75 mm and 3 mm, I think) and I use them more than almost all of my other needles. Anymore, I don't really use straight needles, since circulars are easier on my wrists for large projects, less cumbersome, less likely to break when I'm traveling, less likely to fall out of a project (hello, DPNs!), and easier to use in tight spaces. In general, I also have a broader range of circular needle sizes than straight (see above).

I have the metal ones, but I think they also come in wood. The cable is nice and flexible, the joins are pretty smooth (occasionally my yarn might get hung up on it, but only if I'm knitting really tight), and they are just the right kind of pointy.

Looking forward, I want to play around more with knitting sweaters. I want to revisit some of my old designs and revamp them using my current knowledge. Hopefully, in a year, I'll have a published book that I can talk about. I also want to finally get a handle on lace, since I find it completely baffling.

So that's where I'm going. Who wants to come along for the ride?

P.S. Don't forget that Monday is the start of Steampunk Week!

P.P.S If you haven't voted, I do still have the poll up in the sidebar, so please, share your thoughts!