Friday, July 23, 2010

Slip Stitch Hooks up for bids!! Auction is over, the set gets broken up.

Karen and Beth get the hooks cause their bids totaled more than the highest bid for the set. Which leaves me with a first ever hook that never had a bid. Sad.. I don't know what to tell it.

But Karen and Beth... you can use the "make a donation" button in the left margin of this blog to pay with paypal if you like or email me if you'd like to arrange for another way to pay.

Thanks to all who dropped by.
Jimbo







Been awhile since I've posted. No real excuse compared to what I know lots of folks go through on a daily basis. Ah but I'm back now and have a new set of slip stitch hooks up for bids.

So what makes a slip stitch hook different from ordinary hooks? Slip stitch hooks, so I'm told, should be pointy without being sharp. This allows the hook to be easily poked through stitches in the work, whereas a more blunt hook becomes a source of frustration. Also, I'm thinking, because loops are gathered on the hook shank for slip stitch, and the stitches can be really close together, the throat should be a bit shorter than normal so the loop on the hook has a better chance of remaining the right size. I'm also told that for slip stitch projects, larger hooks are desirable.

What we have here are four hooks, all made from the same chunk of wood. Its called "Thunder Plum", technical name "Rumblus Stickinyourthumbus" (heh.. I made that up). Actually this piece of wood was rescued from becoming part of a Watt of electricity. I was at our "waste to energy" plant (that's the politically correct term for "dump"), unloading a bunch of stuff when a couple pulled up next to me and started throwing away all these branches with really dark leaves. I saw that the heartwood was really beautiful, and asked if I might have a stick or two. They were happy to oblige, and a year of curing later you see the results. Very pretty wood and it makes really nice hooks! Who'da thunk?

As to size, they are, from left to right, in Bates sizes: J (6mm), L (8mm), N (10mm), and P (11.5mm). Lengthwise they are 7 inches (17.8cm), 7 1/4 inches (18.4 cm), 7 1/2 inches (19 cm), and 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) respectively. Notice the largest size hook (the P) is in my Egg Hook style because I felt that the larger size hook might more easily be handled in the palm for slip stitching.

Now as to bidding. I'll take bids on the individual hooks, or for the set, since they're from the same stick and are all slip stitch hooks of graduated size. In fairness, I bids for the set should be for more than the total bids for the individual hooks. For example, lets say we have bids of $700, $200, $10, and $900 for the individual hooks. The set bid (because of the usual $5.00 minimum increase) would need to be $1815; that's the total of the individual bids plus the $5.00 increase. If nobody bids that much for the set, then the hooks will go to the high bidders for the individual hooks. Get it? Not that I'm expecting those kinds of bids, mind you, but a fella can always dream, eh? If you have any questions about how to bid please email me.


To new bidders: I try to post bids as they come in. I'll not be here ALL the time... so if your bid doesn't show up right away, not to worry. Your bid will be posted as soon as I'm able to get to them. Identical bids are entered by first bid posted, so if your bid is the same as another, I'll go by which ever one mailed. Also please increase bids by $5 minimum. Email bids, if you like, to me at


jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com

Oh, and lets run this auction till Wednesday, July 28 and end it all at 10pm Pacific Time on that date.

Bids:

J:
Beth bids $25


L:
Karen goes $25

N:
Karen with $25


P:

or, the whole set:
Carmen bids $40
Pati goes $60

And thanks everyone for hanging in there. I promise not to be so long between posts in the future.

Jimbo

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