Tuesday, May 05, 2009

The AUCTION has ENDED! Jimbo has left the building (heh)

What a Wild auction!!! Did you see all the bids on the little girl hook!!? WOW!!
Ah but even good things come to an end, and this auction is now part of history. And we have new owners for these purty little hooks!
High bidders, please consider using the "make a donation" button in the left margin of the blog, for payment... or contact me with any other payment arrangements.

and thanks for bidding!!

Jimbo





click photos to enlarge


hook 4 detail






This just in!! News flash!!! You subscribe to "Talking Crochet"? I do, and the latest e-newsletter has a little article about crochet hook history, written by designer Maggie Petsch. There are a number of hook pictures in the article, showing examples of Hook history and.... at the end..... where she shows examples of current hooks.... there, third hook from the left is......... you got it!!.... a Jimbo hook!!!

oh yeah uh huh...

ok ok, enough of my puffery, lets get on to the auction!


Now ALL the hooks in this group are special. They've all been tested and approved by the recipient of the very first Jimbo hooks; my sister Sandy. So these hooks all come with the SA (Sandy Approval). She was up visiting yesterday and I had her set down with some yarn and try out each hook. I asked her which she liked best and, opinionated as she is, she said she likes them all. So there you have it. She was so impressed with the curvature of the heel end of the fir hook (top picture) that I just HAD to take a picture. You see how the curve fits the heel of her hand? THATS what I'm talkinbout!

Ok on to the actual hooks... and I'll refer to the bottom picture for the description. Lets start at the top and then go left to right.

Top: A Nostepinne!! Haven't made one for just EVER, and I had some really pretty Deadman Crick Fir, so Wall Ah! A GENUINE Deadman Crick Fir Jimbo Nostepinne! I made this one with an extra thick spindle to leave a large opening for the yarn ball. I wound the yarn on this Noste for Sandy's test hooking, so we have her approval on both the yarn ball AND the Noste as well. The Noste is 8 1/2 inches long, 3/4 inches in diameter at the small end, and a little over 1 inch diameter at the large end of the spindle. Smoooooooth and that beautiful blond honey fir color.

Hooks...starting at the far right:

1. This one fascinated Sandy. I watched her crochet with it, and should have taken a picture. You never know how hooks are actually going to be held.. and I'd bet they get held as many different ways as there are crochetiers. But as surprised as I was at how differently she gripped this hook, (I hold it with a finger in each indent, pinky in the little one at the end; and my thumb on the whittled thumb rest... can't quite describe HER grip), she really liked how it crocheted, how comfortable it felt, and how striking the wood grain is. Its made of good old Deadman Crick Bush Maple with HUGE grain color contrast. It's 6 inches long and sized at 7mm (about half way between a K and an L).

Second from right:

2. This is straight from the old Apple Tree where Sandy's first hooks came from. It don't get much better than a hook from the old Apple tree up on the Ranch. I made this one with the newer grip, a carved thumb rest, finger rest indent, and a more abrupt transition between handle and hook shank. Beautiful Apple grain, smoooooth finish and you got a Jimbo classic here. Its an H and is 6 7/8 inches long.

Third from right:

3. Another Deadman Crick wood hook, this time from one of the Hazelnut bushes. Pretty hard wood and difficult to find without lots of little bug tunnels. Bugs, like me, love the taste of Hazel nut. I kept a little bit of the bark on the heel end of this hook, just so you can appreciate more of the hook's origin. Don't know about YOU but this hook fits MY hand like a glove. It has the grip configuration like 2 above, but is a little shorter...6 1/2 inches. Oh and its a snug H sizewise.

Fourth from right:

4. Another of Mom Nature's AMAZING works of art. You see a detail of the diamond shaped cleft at the heel end of his hook in the separate photo. I LOOK for wood like this because it makes such a statement about the hardships endured by the tree, yet yields up heirloom quality hooks. This is just an exceptional piece, donated by the old Apple tree. I'd say the cleft in this branch was made either by a bear climbing the tree (my favorite theory and Very plausible) or by weather (an equally plausible but not so romantic deduction). Either way, this is one exceptional and absolutely totally unique hook. Its 6 3/4 inches long and an I sizewise.

Fifth from right:

5. A little girl hook. This little cutie is made from a pruned branch of the old Birch tree in my back yard. It looks short because it is... just a bit over 6 inches long and light as a feather. The shank looks short too, and it is... but it'll handle a DC just fine. No thumb flat on this one, just the circumferential finger/thumb indent. High bidder can ask for a thumb rest if she/he desires.. no extra charge. Note the little bit of Birchbark left on the flared heel end. I like it. Oh and it's a snug fit in the size 7 hole of my Bates Gauge.


Sixth from right:

6. This is the hook you see Sandy's hand holding. Its another chunk of Genuine Deadman Crick Fir... possibly from the same tree that donated the Nostepinne, but a different branch. See the color difference? The smaller branch that made this hook has a deeper color and the grain!!! Well you'll just have to see this for yourself. Its another one of those hooks that will just sit you back when you open that little red flannel wrap (that's how I send my hooks for those who've yet to get one). Plenty of bark on the heel end of this one... HAD to leave a good sample because Fir bark is just about as Western as it gets. This hook DEFINES "rustic", yet has all the qualities of up to the minute evolution as far as Jimbo Hooks go. Its almost as soothing to look at as it is to hold.. AND it has the crochet SA (Sandy Approval). This one is 7x7 (seven inches long and a size seven).

Seventh from right:

7. Take a close look. Familiar? Well it might be because this hook was made from a Chopstick... in fact, a chopstick that I sweet talked from our Waitress at a VERY nice local Asian Restaurant, "Ginger". Excellent sushi! So while dipping my sashima in a mix of soy sauce and wasabi, it occurred to me that hay these hooks might make good bullion hooks. So said, so it became (after a whole chopstick make-over).. the shank of this Bamboo Beauty tapers all the way to the head.. all the better to let bullion wraps slide off the hook easily. The hook head is also designed to let bullions happen.
Also, since this is a bamboo "Chophook", 100% of your bid $$ will go to further research to find a cure or treatment for Friedreich's Ataxia (search this blog for further info on FA).
So this hook is a whopping 8 1/2 inches long and tapers from about an I at the small end, to a K at about 3 inches up from the hook head.

There you have it!! A bunch of SA hooks and they're all up for bids.

Lets run this auction till Monday (May 11) and end it at 10 pm Pacific Standard Time.

Learned a lesson last auction when I had bids sent at the last minute. They were sent before the auction end, but didn't get here tell well past closing... so this time I'll close the auction at 10pm, but wait a few minutes to announce closing in case that happens again.

Bids can be emailed to me at:


jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com

I'll try to post bids as they come in.

and as always... Thanks for stopping by!!

Jimbo



Bids:

Noste:
AnaMaria bids $15
Jenny goes $25


Hook 1
Dawn says $25
Jenny raises to $35


Hook 2
Kate goes $20
Jayne bumps it to $21
Natalie bids $25
Kate's back with $30



Hook 3
Sami Jo says $20
Dawn again, $25
Sami Jo ups it to $30

Hook 4
Natalie bids $20
Joyce bumps to $25
Natalie goes to $30
Susan comes in with $31.50
Lynn $35


Hook 5
Jane S puts $10 on this one
Lillibet goes to $11
Maureen takes us to $12.50
Lynn bumps it to $14
Lillibet raises to $15
Alice doesn't mess around.... $20
Nor does Lynn..... $25
Alice: $27
Lynn goes to $29
Alice! $32
Lynn aginn..$34
Alice without malice goes to $36
Lynn $37.50


Hook 6
Lillibet goes $20
Jayne: $21
Lillibet raises to $22
Alice says $25
Susan with $28


Hook 7 (proceeds go to FARA!)
Lillibet again with $15
Jayne takes it to $17
Lillibet goes to $18

4 comments:

TracyLeigh said...

I always love seeing the pics of the hooks you create. So beautiful.

Unknown said...

I love to see your work, keep it up I love my egg thanks for the seek peek

JoBug said...

I was WONDERING how you got them there soft looking hands Jimbo..I thought to myself, self, he must have been in the pool ALOT on that there cruise ship..hehehehe WONDERFUL looking batch of hooks there Jimbo!! Can't wait to see the details!

KT said...

All beauties as always! The third from the right, maple I wonder?? Curiosity kills the cat, or the Keesha!
http://chiarian.blogspot.com
brain surgery blog