"The Truth is Out There" ... 7.00 mm

On May 1st I mentioned ID tags that I had purchased at the Connecticut Sheep & Wool Festival -- and I noted that there seemed to be a problem with having a complete set.  After receiving a few inquires for more information, I decided to post what information I have here:

Crochet Hook by Brainsbarn.com; See blog entry "Jaded" for yarn info.

How one could have been lost: After purchasing the ID tags, as I started to walk away from the booth, somehow one of the ID packages had slipped out of my bag of goodies, spilling onto the floor.  ID's went everywhere.  Since the package did not state it contains X number of IDs, I had no idea how many I should be searching for on the floor, including under the many feet of other attendees.  Once I got home I inspected the bag and noticed the side seam of the ID packaging was never factory sealed.  So the missing tag could have been from me not seeing it on the floor, or it could have been lost somewhere between India (location of manufacture) and the LYS that sold it to me.  No matter how you look at it, it is a lost ID tag.

The other "missing" tag I think is more direct in being a manufacturing/packaging issue.  On the KnitPicks website, they show the ID tags as a package of 12 ID's:  3.50 mm, 3.75 mm, 4.00 mm, 4.50 mm, 5.00 mm, 5.50 mm, 6.00 mm, 6.50 mm, 8.00 mm, 9.00 mm, 10.00 mm, and 12.00 mm.  However, based upon merging my two packages together, there's really a "baker's dozen" of sizes available. A "baker's dozen" means 13.  The 13th size is 7.00 mm (U.S.10 3/4).

Giorgio A. Tsoukalos stated on one of the Ancient Aliens shows (currently airing on the History 2 channel) that the measuring of distance and time in segments of 12 may have come from aliens, which I take from that it was humans who developed the metric system.  Crochet hooks have long been measured by metric sizes up until their arrival to the US.  ((does this mean it was aliens responsible for changing the sizing of US hooks to numbers and letters, thus solving the mystery on how the U.S. numbering/lettering sizing all got started???  Has the mystery finally been solved??))

Questioning this further, the Craft Yarn Council's guide on knitting needles & crochet hooks shown on their YarnStandards.com page has nothing listed for size 7.00 mm crochet hooks or knitting needles. I love the CYCA; they're trying to regulate the craft so we can all play from the same playbook.  Still, I have to wonder why would they not have anything listed for 7.00 mm??  Perhaps I should ask *Fox Mulder what he thinks. (*reference to the X-files tv show that aired during the 1990s).  Or I could act like Dana Skully, applying scientific reasoning to this issue simply by emailing KnitPicks for an explaination.  But where's the fun in that?  lol

Will that extra size ID tag go to waste?  I don't think so.  With so many of my crochet hooks hand-turned, I'm sure it will come in handy, representing a hook or two in my collection.  And, along with my new Hook Size Gauge device (also mentioned on May 1st), the 7.00 mm size does exist, so "the truth is out there."  All you need to do is measure it. :)