Hook Auction for October is over...High bidders please consider using paypal by clicking on the box in the left margin of this page. Thanks to all who visited!

A varied bunch this time up for bids

Took some time to put together some instruments for you to make crochet music (hence Karol's old flute in the bottom of the picture... our grand daughter Chloe wants to learn to play so Karol got the trusty old flute out and it looked so pretty I had to include it in the picture)
So lets start this time from the far right and work our way to the left.

Hook #1 (again on the far right) is another one of the Bear wood hooks, made from a branch kindly pruned from the old apple tree up on the ranch by a black bear looking for apples.  See that little orange dot near the thumb rest?  That's a tiny bit of bark that I was able to leave, mainly because it's such a pretty highlight.  It also gives you an idea of  the original size of the pre-hook stick size.  There's a bit more of the bark at the foot end too.  I like this hook for it's grain character and color.  Sizewise it's an H (5mm) and a smidge over 7 inches long (17.7 cm).

Hook #2 Moving on to another Bear pruned hook, this one has smoothed bark all along the thumb rest and a spot near the foot.  Interesting it is to have bark at the thumb rest.  It's BEAUTIFUL and functional.  Smooth enough, but with a texture that will help the grip.  More beautiful grain.  That old tree knows how to make pretty grain!  That or that bear has a very discerning eye for hook wood.  A smallish hook, this beauty hits the scale at the G mark (4mm).  It's 6 3/16 inches (15.7cm) long.

Hook #3 is the first hook made from a shocking discovery up on the ranch.  We have a Pear Tree!  Yup, it's been there for a long time and has somehow gone unnoticed all these years.  Easy to do because it's nestled in among some really tall fir and tamarack trees.  It even has tiny pears!  So this hook was made from a broken branch and shows some really interesting grain structure.  It's layered.  Hard to see in the picture, but there are concentric layers of different colored wood  that make for a really unique looking hook.  You can get an idea of the color difference by looking closely at the thumb rest.  See the two crescent shaped dark areas?  Those come from a ring of darker wood that extends the full length of the hook.  The dark layer appears again near the shank part, then disappears at the throat area.  Nifty, eh?   Size?  It's a 7mm (not a K, not an L but in between) and it's 7 1/4 inches (18.5 cm) long.  A Peary nice hook!

Hook #4 is another Bear hook, paw selected by our resident black bear from the old apple tree.  That guy does a great job selecting wood, cause this one is another beauty.  How he can tell how pretty the grain will be under all that bark is beyond me, but I'm not going to argue the point.  This hook has even more grain contrast than you see in the photo and it's ALL pretty.  You'll see.  It's an H (5mm) and is 6 3/4 inches (17.5 cm) long.

Hook #5 is not apple wood.  It's not from any tree on the ranch.  But it's a real beauty.  Not really sure but  I think this is Honduran Rosewood.  I usually mark my hardwood blanks but this one didn't have a mark so I have to go by eye.  It's beautiful dark wood and very hard.  So hard that I was able to make this one in an unusually small size.  It's an E!  (3.5mm)   and is 7 1/2 inches long (19cm).  A beauty of a hook and a rare size for Jimbo hooks.

Hook #6 is another one of those yagotme (ya got me) woods that is strikingly beautiful that it pains me not to know it's name.  It even puzzled the guy at the hardwood store where I found it in a bin with lots of other hardwoods.  He did know the price, however.... expensive!  But this wood is just incredible in color and chatoyance.  Seems like you can see deep into the grain, and parts just glisten. Very hard wood and not so easy to work with, but the results are worth the effort.  This one is a J (6mm) and is 7 1/2 inches (19cm) long.

Hook #7 is the product of our summer trip to the Oregon Coast where I visited a shop where Myrtle wood was sold.  I found a piece of Spalted Myrtle that practically begged me to become a crochet hook.  I was a bit skeptical that Myrtle would make good hook wood, but gave in and you see the results.  What you don't see is the other side, or any of the amazing spalted figure along this hook.  And what you don't experience till you have it in your hand is how light this hook is.  For it's size it's incredibly light weight.  And grain?  It's got it all, ribbon, chatoyance, spalting, contrast, it's all there.  Size?  Interesting.  I went to my "Gourmet" gauge for this one because it didn't fit the Bates.  The size is 12mm, which the "Gourmet" gauge says is an O.  There's no "O" on the Bates gauge but you'd expect an "O" but what you find at 12mm is a P.  Whatcha gonna do?   What I can tell you for sure is that this beauty is 8 1/4 inches (21cm) long.

Hook #8 is another Bear hook that, at this time is sold but I wanted to show you another of the Bear's talented hook wood selection.  The guy's brilliant!.

Ok so there we have it!  We'll start the auction immediately and end it this coming  Wednesday Oct 16th at 10pm Pacific time.  Please bid by email to me at jimbocrochetwhittler@yahoo.com .  I'll post bids as soon as I can, but please be aware that tying bids will be settled in favor of the earliest to arrive.  Also, please increase bids by $5 minimum.  Ok, here we go!

BIDS
Hook #1
Carla with $25

Hook #2
Maureen goes $25
Sups bumps it up to $30

Hook #3
Doug goes $30
Pam bumps it up to $40

Hook #4
Joyce bids $25

Hook #5
Sups with $25
Scott ups to $35
April takes it to $40

Hook #6
Joyce bids $25
Sups ups to $30

Hook #7
Doug's bid is $40

Thanks for dropping by!
Jimbo