Tooling around

Yeah, yeah, cliched pun, I know, but I couldn't resist. Well, I could, but I didn't want to.

I love wooden knitting needles and wooden crochet hooks. I found a silvery piece of old weathered wood many many years ago, I'm not sure what sort, and carved it into a crochet hook. I didn't have one, and I wanted to crochet, and there it was, lying around with a suggestive knob at one end. I still have it. It's one of the most comfortable hooks I've got.

Same thing with the knitting needles I have. I bought some metal and plastic circular needles, but I just don't like the feel. Too slippery, too hard. Besides which, mining is rough on the environment and plastic isn't renewable or earth-friendly either. The only times wooden needles have been problematic is when the cats decide they want to get involved in my knitting. Archie and Miss Puss in particular like to grab them and chomp down, leaving little puncture marks with their cute pointy teeth...it makes it a bit hard to knit, and then the needle points or ends get rough. So I've taken to shooing them away when they get too rambunctious.

The other problem is actually one with my yarn. I have some lovely gray Australian mohair, but it must be dyed, and not very well, because I'm knitting a lace scarf from it and the needle tips are getting a sort of grayish look. I'm assuming I will need to wash the scarf very thoroughly when I'm done. Anybody else run into this problem with wooden needles?