When two hooks get together.....

Happy Valentine's day Everyone!! Valentine Hugs to you, from Jimbo!

Happy Valentines Day Hook contest WINNER IS>> TABITHA

We have a WINNER!!  Tabitha was lucky number 38, which was chosen by a random number generator.  Tabitha, please email me at jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com with your mailing info and I'll get the Valentiny hook to you asap.  Thank you all for participating!  Hope everyone's Valentine Day was the best ever!

Jimbo

Of the two hooks shown in the picture, one is to be given away for Valentine's day, cause I like you so much.  The other is just showing off because it's already sold (custom order).  So which one is the Valentine hook?  You have to guess.  Tough one, eh?  Ok I'll give you a hint.  The Valentine hook is made of Padauk, the custom order, show off hook is made of Cocobolo.  Another hint?  Ok.  The Valentine hook has a sort of Valentiny decoration.  Cinchy, right?
Ok so here's how you do the contest.  Simply leave  a comment (one entry per person, please) here in my blog or if that doesn't work for you, you can email me your Valentiney entry at  jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com .  I'll do a random number generator drawing somewhere in the vicinity of 10pm Pacific Time on Valentine's day and select the winner. 
Oh bytheway, the hook is a 7mm, between a K and an L, so it's not likely you already have one, but it's one you really really need becaue there's such a gap between the K and L sizes.

Oh and if you're here for the auction, it's in the post below this one.

Thanks and Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxo
Jimbo

Unique Crochet Hook AUCTION OVER, MARTY GETS THE HOOK!

I can't come up with a price for this hook, so we'll let it sell itself.  But I can tell you a few things about it.  The wood?  Take a guess.  Give up?  Ok it's Purple Heart, believe it or not.  I'm not sure where this piece came from, but how fortunate it was found.  I wasn't sure the wood wouldn't explode into dust on my lathe, but it didn't; wasn't sure what size to make the hook so it decided by itself to be even more unique, it's 8.5mm, halfway between an L and an M on the Bates "knit check";  never experienced Purple Heart sap/heartwood and am doubtful that it will cross my peepers again.  Also new to me is the amazing chatoyance.  Purple heart, while an interesting and very hard wood, doesn't usually show nearly so well when polished (at least to my experience).  This is a quality of wood that has always impressed me.  Chatoyance is an optical thing, giving the illusion of depth and changing light reflectance as the hook is turned in the light.  Ever see Chatoyant, wavy, spalted, tiny wormholed Purple Heart?  Well you're looking at a hook with all those characteristics.  "The worm holes?" you ask.  Yup, there are a bunch of them, and some go clear through the hook in the handle.  Those little holes  are no longer home to the little critters who prefered a diet of chatoyant spalted Purple Heart, and they have no affect on the quality of the hook.  In fact I think they enhance the character significantly. 
This is a significant hook, totally unique in its multiple attributes, and it's up for bids.

(PLEASE, click on pictures to enlarge)

 the spalted sapwood side.. see the little bug holes?  They show up as dark dots.

 Top side, you can see the transition clearly in the thumb rest area of the hook.  The dark areas are part of the spalting and have not affected the hook strength at all.  Oh but the added character!  And when you turn the hook in light, those dark areas disappear!  You just have to see it to get the full effect.

 Here you see the transition from sapwood to heart wood and a hint of the chatoyance (which can't be captured on camera)

And the back side full-on.  Now you clearly see the little bug holes.  The 5 little black dots you see are actually three holes that (before I filled them) passed clear through the handle.  Those little guys must have had some strong jaws to get through Purple Heart.

Ok lets get started.   You can email me bids at
jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com .  Please, no "maximum bids" ,  my little mind can't handle such complex issues when ties occur.   I'll post bids as they come in and run the auction until Monday, Feb. 13th, then close at 10pm Pacific time on that date. Please bid in $5 increments. Ties will be broken by the time the bids are received. The first bid received in a tie wins.


As always, thank you for dropping by!
Jimbo

Bids:
Barbara starts it off with $30
Melinda with a big bump to $50
Marty bids $55
Melinda goes to $65!
Marty's back with $75

NEW AUCTION, this time for a Hookus Pokus

Ok so a few weeks back I had a request from a vary famous and good lookin crocheter, for a magic wand / crochet hook for her daughter who is a fan of a certain wizard who is the central character in a series of books and recent movies.  I won't mention  character's name because I have no affiliation with the owner of the character and no wish to provoke a spell on my little business. 

Ah but there may well be those who would like to be able to cast spells and crochet at the same time.... so.......

See, from this side, it's just an ordinary everyday magic wand, made especially magic by the fact that it was borne of the famous old apple tree on the Jimbo ranch and was selected from dead branches that have been pruned from the generous old tree by either a deer or a bear collecting apples.   Ah but turn it 90 degrees and you get....

sorry about the color change.  I NEVER can get two pictures the same color!

A Hookus Pokus! 

I'm going to auction this hook off and end the bidding on Friday the 20th just to add a little more superstition in the mix (did you know that Friday, January 20 is a magical day?)  Me either.  heh  So cast aside your doubts, conjure up your bid and send it to me, not by owl (way too slow for out of country bidders), but via the e-magical way at jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com , and letting me know your bid. I'll post bids as they come in and run the auction until Magic Friday at the wizardly hour of 10pm Pacific Time. Please bid in $5 increments. Ties will be broken by the time the bids are received. The first bid received in a tie wins.

OH and did I mention that the pokus end is roughly a K sizewise and without an expandus alongus spell, it's roughly 9 3/4 inches of hooky magic.
And did I mention that I crocheted with it and it works like a charm!

Bids:
Shazam!  A bid appears!! 

Sharon goes $25
Grace conjures up $30
Carla:  $35 and a little pixy dust
Medora: $40
Georgiana :  $50











.

And the winner is.. ... ......

(Granddaughter Chloe showing off her crocheted mittens and cap, while at the same time congratulating the winner of this contest)

With all the double entries for some really great stories of embarrassing crochet moments, we had entries by email and posted comment (only one entry per person was counted and of those, the folks who related embarrassing stories got an extra entry each). So I used a random number generator to pick a number from the total number of entries. The number picked, and I didn't believe it at first so I had it run again to see, because it picked the very last number.

So the winner is the contestant who said if she won she hoped there would be someone around who knows cpr. Well Jackie, I hope you have a very good looking cpr caregiver handy because YOU WON!!!

Please email me, Jackie and let me know an address where the hook should be mailed.

And thanks everyone for your entries and stories.

I promise more contests in the future, so please don't despair.

Oh... and the auction is now ended as well. I'll be in touch with the high bidders.

Thanks again entering my contest.  I really appreciate your participation!

Jimbo

Jimbo Hook Give-away and AUCTION is OVER ... THANK YOU ALL!

CONTEST WINNER IS JACKIE S. (SEE HER ENTRY, THE LAST POST IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW)

It's been awhile since I gave a hook away and I'm feeling guilty for waiting so long, so I made one of THE most beautiful hooks evah to give away in a contest that starts today. The HOOK? It's at the top of the page. Talk about chatoyance, this one is the MOTHER of chatoyance. You can see so deep into this hook and the grain figure just dances as your turn it in the light. Oh its a beauty alright. Its made of figured Maple and it's a K sizewise (6.5mm) if you're ever able to stop staring at the grain and actually use it to crochet.
Ok, how to do the contest. Of course I'll end up doing the thing by random number drawing but to make it more fun, how about if we ask our entrants to tell us all about their most embarrassing crochet moment. Now don't think you HAVE to tell us anything, simply posting a comment or emailing me will get you into the contest, but those who have a little story (please keep it short)will get entered twice.
Enter (one entry per person, please) by commenting below here or by emailing me at

jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com

We'll run the contest for one week, till Monday, January 16.

Now for the auction part, more beauties! Lets start with the next hook down from the contest hook, and number it hook #1

Hook #1 is made from the venerable Deadman Crick Apple tree and it's a beauty. It's made with a flat foot so it will stand on it's own. It's signed and labled with the hook size...I (5.5mm) and some of the cambium layer remains at the foot to keep the old Apple Tree's character. This is an extraordinary hook, and is all the more special to me because it's been made in partnership with the old tree. The tree made the wood, I made the hook. Oh and it's a nice length..8" long.

Hook #2 (the next one down from the Deadman I) is another I (5.5mm) and is also made from the famous Deadman Crick Apple tree. This one is also a beauty, but a little shorter at about 7 1/2 inches and a bit thinner. A real beauty!

Hook #3 is not from the Crick. It came up here all the way from South America. It's a long ways from its parent Panamanian Rosewood tree, but I'm glad it came my way and decided to become a beautiful size F (3.75mm). This wood is very hard but reasonably light weight, plus it's beautiful. The hook is 7 inches long.

And we come to hook #4, and unless I don't rember correctly, it's the smallest size hook I've ever made. If not, it's a VERY rare Jimbo hook. It's made of the same Panamanian Rosewood as Hook #3, but from a more colorful part of the wood. The finish is also glossy. And the size? Well just a D is all (3.25mm). Tiny and like I say.... VERY rare for a Jimbo hook. Oh and it's also 7 inches long.

Ok here's how we do bids. You can bid on any one or more of these hooks simply be e-mailing me at http://www.blogger.com/jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com , and letting me know your bid. I'll post bids as they come in and run the auction until Monday, same as the contest, Jan. 16. The auction will close at 10pm Pacific Std Time on that date. Please bid in $5 increments. Ties will be broken by the time the bids are received. The first bid received in a tie wins.

Bids:

Hook #1
Christie bids $10
Carla up's it to $25
Georgiana bumps it a little to, oh, just $50!! WOOOHOO!! SOLD

Hook #2
Sheri bids $5
Karen bids $25
Andrew goes $35
Karen bumps it up to $40
Andrew is back with $45 SOLD




Hook #3
Rita bids $20
Debbie goes $30 SOLD


Hook #4
Barbara bids $30
Lani goes to $40 SOLD


Thanks, everyone for dropping by... hope you enjoy the contest!

Jimbo

COMING SOON TO A JIMBO'S FRONT PORCH NEAR YOU... A CONTEST AND AUCTION!!

[the Ranch this Christmas.. not a lot of snow but purty just the same]



JUST A WORD OF WARNING. ITS BEEN AWHILE SINCE I HAD A CONTEST FOR A JIMBO HOOK, AND EVEN LONGER SINCE WE HAD AN AUCTION. I'LL BE DOING BOTH THIS COMING MONDAY (JAN.9). PLEASE MAKE IT A POINT TO DROP BY AND ENTER THE CONTEST OR BID ON A HOOK OR BOTH. TILL THEN, HAVE THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!


Jimbo