Off to the.....

to watch the Grandbabies play. Be back Monday, hopefully with more hooks and news!

Have a great weekend!!
Jimbo

First signed hooks up for bids (bidding closed, THANKS!!)

Thanks to all who bid! High bidders please consider paying using the "make a donation" button, which will let you pay through paypal. If you prefer to pay another way thats fine, just email me and we'll figure something out.

And thanks again!!
Jimbo
more to follow, soon.


Bidding ends tonight at 10pm Pacific Standard Time! Funny. Seems like just a few days ago eh? Anyways I think in fairness to those in different time zones and such, that the last day of auctions should have minimum bid increases of $5.
Hope you understand.
I'll try to post this notice in future auctions too.

Now back to the porch!

Jimbo






There have been numbers of requests for signed hooks, and size labels. And I have resisted in the past because I didn't want to mess up pretty wood grain. That, and I couldn't find a good way to do the job. I figured that if I used like a felt tip pen, the ink would splotch in the wood grain. Well, that was pretty dumb. What I didn't count was that I make the hooks so smooth enough that it would take some pretty thin ink to splotch... so these hooks are signed with a "gel" ink pen. Sign, let the ink dry, put the poly oil finish over the top and wall-ah a signed Jimbo hook with the hook size right there on the end.

We'll see.

Anyways, to the more important thing... the hooks. I'm showing the hooks pretty much in the same order in all the photos except that the signature on the far right hook didn't make it into the first photo.

So lets start from the left and work our way across.

The left hook, contrary to boxing parlance, is a really beautiful bloodwood hook that, as you can see in the top photo, is an I on the Bates gauge, or 5.5mm to you metric folk. The hook, as you can see in the bottom photo, has an ample thumb rest. Its purt near 6 1/2 inches long...or about 155mm. Nice snug fit.

Next to the left hook is a right uppercut (heh). Ok, next to the bloodwood hook is a longer, birch beauty. Click on the photos and look at the hook tip. Its long and pointy; characteristics sought after by those who like to crochet with in "slip stitch". I've heard that slip stitch hooks are hard to come by, so I made a couple (the G hook here is also made with the slip stitch head). This slender beauty has just a wee bit of the bark left on to remind you this hook came directly from the tree. And as you already know, its an H and has a thumb rest along with the "universal" hourglass grip shape. Comfy! Its about 6 3/4 inches long (roughly 170mm). Oh, and what looks like a divot taken out of the hook shank in the bottom photo, is really just a jealous shadow cast by the bloodwood hook, trying to upstage the birch beauty.

Next to the right uppercut.. er lets start again.... next to the Birch beauty, is a wildly figured Ornamental Crab apple "I" with the universally comfy thumb rest/hourglass grip shape. Amazing figure in this wood, and surprisingly, the core which is darker than the rest of the wood seems to be actually harder than the surrounding wood. Usually that's just the opposite. Anomaly eh. This one is about 165mm long or just shy of 7 inches to you inchie folk.

Now comes a real treat. The little cherry wood G hook. I was going to label it G-imbo but thought hay I better try to be consistent if I'm to be signing these things.
Its a little hook, as you can see by comparing it to the others, but a real beauty. It too has the long pointy hook tip that enjoys being used for slip stitch crochet. You know, if I crocheted more I think the slip stitch would be my fave. But back to the hook, it has the hourglass/thumbrest for pencil or toothbrush grips, and its oh about 5 7/8 inches long, or 150mm for the metricky types.

Next comes the Elinore Rigby of Jimbo hooks. This hook was made from a branch that fell from its parent tree and laid alone for such a long time that it came close to...well lets just say that now its a survivor. And like some of us, it has a few scars and care worn blemishes to show for it's not-so-pretty lonely life.. Things haven't been easy for this little piece of wood. Mind you, these aren't blemishes that will affect it's functionality. Not at all; this hook will crochet right along with the best of 'em... maybe better because it tries harder. Its a hard working K (6.5mm) (that part didn't get in the top photo, but it IS signed and labeled), and it's 6 3/4 inches long (about 175mm).

So there you have it, after such a long hook making hiatus!

Lets run this auction till 10 pm PST Wednesday, June 24.

You can send bids by email to me at:
jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com


And once again THANKS for dropping by!

Jimbo

Bids:

Bloodwood I:
Kathleen would love this hook...$25
Katie goes to $30




Slip stitch birch H:
Claire from Sunny England is the first in with $20
Deb takes it to $30
Claire goes $35
Deb says "bump me up" to...$45



Crab Apple I:
Janet goes $20
Deb again with $30



Slip stitch cherry G:
All the way from the Merry old land of OZ (Australia) comes Beth with her $20
Ah but Sherri wants this cutie too....$39.99
Jane goes to $40
Deb bumps it to $50


Elinore:
JoBug knows Elinore and bids $25

Why am I so tardy?? Here's one reason.....

What you're looking at is a one foot deep trench that we dug, from the cabin up on the crick, down to the main road. Cinchy, right? Not for this old coot it wasn't. You see my son Lance in one picture, and in the other you see a deer if you click on the image and look carefully.
Why the trench? Well, we finally decided to get a telephone up there. Mixed emotions about that one. Its nice to be up there and not worry about phone calls. On the other hand it'll be nice to be up there and not worry about how to call out.
So that's part of my excuse for not posting lately. That and that I've been remodeling the front porch here in Spokane, and painting the house, and organizing a party for Karol's birthday. Lame excuses eh?
oooh poor me. Do I hear violins?
So the porch here is still underway, but I'm sneaking a little time for this entry and will make another one hopefully tomorrow morning when I'll put a few hooks up for bids (had a few that I made awhile back, before the big projects, that were just waiting to be finished. I'll check and see if they still want to be hooks, and post those that do.
In the meantime.... thanks again to everyone for your patience...
And thanks again to all who entered the Dippy contest! Did you know that Dippy (see Dippy hamming it up in the post below this one) or more formally, Diplohookticus Jimbosai, is VERY near being scheduled for a big BIG performance coming up this fall?? Stay tuned for reports... and pleas for help.

Now, putting one finger to the side of his nose.....
Off Jimbo goes

to the basement
to finish hooks


More later!
Jimbo

AND THE WINNER IS>>>>>>>>>

After actually stewing on this decision for hours, I've come down to just one of all the really great entries. Improbable? Well it blasted my intergalactic funnybone.

The chosen caption is.....

I drink two Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, hit the Infinite Improbability Drive and this is what happens?


ALAN!!! You win the hook!! Email me your mailing address and I'll teleport it right on over!

THANKS to all who entered!! Wisht I was able to make hooks for each of you!!


Jimbo






look it over
click on the image to enlarge
Would you like to own this hook?

Need to know more? Ok, its made of White Oak, salvaged slats from our old patio benches. Actually you see the hook resting on two of the old slats. Amazing what was hiding under that weathered surface, eh?

Size: H (5mm )

Length: 7 1/8" (18.1 cm)


I've been working day and night on the front porch of our house here in Spokane, and haven't had time to do much hook making. But when I took all the slats off the benches and replaced them with pine, I just couldn't resist seeing if the old slats really wanted to become hooks. At least one did. You see it here.


So how do we give this hook away? Lets have a Photo Caption Contest! I'll post a picture and you provide a caption. (below) The funniest caption will win the hook. How's that? I "borrowed" this idea from my very favorite Irish Fiber Sculptor, Inga Hamilton (look up http://www.rockpoolcandy.typepad.com/).

So you can enter by posting your caption in the remarks section here, or if that doesn't work, you can email your caption to me at:

jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com


For your photo captioning:


For those who might not know, this is a picture of Dippy (Diplohookticus Jimbosai)and he's up to antics of some kind. Dippy is the world's biggest crochet hook, and he's going to be performing at a place and time soon to be named, billed second to the famous INGA. More to come as information becomes available.
So.... Lets run this contest till June 16... that'll give you plenty time to think up a good caption.


Thanks for your patience! I'm hoping to be finishing up more hooks soon... but the porch calls....

Jimbo