Jimbo Hook auction closes tonight

[jimbo]

(March 6) Need a Jimbo hook? There are several up for bids and the auction doesn't close till 10pm Pacific time so there's still time to bid'em up. Or just drop by the old blog and say hi... always good to have some company.

[VikingRunnerGirl]

Gorgeous!

[jimbo]

Why thank you, VikingRunnerGirl. It's simple enough.. I just cut away the parts of the sticks that aren't gorgeous. heh

 

Say, not to pry or anything, but what's that contraption in your Avitar?? Kinda looks like a glider that crashed into a tread mill. But I'm betting that's not what it is.

[VikingRunnerGirl]

Ha! My dad once replied to a high school teacher who asked him how he carved his duck decoys by saying, "Well, I take a piece of wood, and then I take away everything that doesn't look like a duck."

 

It DOES sort of look like that! But what it actually is is the autosampler for our gas chromatograph at work. Both autosampler and chromatograph are brand shiny new for us so we took pictures.

[jimbo]

Aw geez, now that I look closer of course it's an autosampler for a gas chromatographer thingie. Sheesh! It samples autos. Boy do I feel silly. heh

And yeah, your dad's kinda like me... only I started off cutting off the pieces that didn't look like a duck and it turned out to be a crochet hook.

[VikingRunnerGirl]

This thing has made doing chemical separations fantastic. It's on all the time, so no taking a hour to warm up the equipment and HOPE everything runs right (our old instrument was about one step away from being held together with baling twine and chewing gum....), and the autosampler means no mucking about with syringes and making sure the injection is perfect and all that - we just prep the samples, tell the computer which numbered spot we put them in, and it does the rest! It's actually pretty fun to watch in action - that tall part in the middle of the picture goes WHOOSH back and forth and front and back across the horizontal bar, dipping into vials and injecting samples, AND it can even pick up the vials if we need it to (and put magnetic lids on them).

 

When we got it all set up and ready to go the first day there were the jokes about robots coming to take our jobs, of course. I tried to get a video of our first full run with it, but then... surprise, surprise! We couldn't figure out how to run the sequence. So I stopped filming, which was a shame, because it would have been a great example of why the robots are NOT going to take our jobs. The dialogue went something like this:

 

"Ok, it's got the first vial - oh wait, it picked it up, it wasn't supposed to do that. Wait - no, it doesn't realise it picked the vial up?? It's going to -- no, NO, don't DO that, stop, [machine bashes the bottom of one vial into the top of another, repeatedly] no, NO--! STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, STOP! How do we tell it to stop before it breaks something??"

 

(It had gotten the needle stuck in a vial top. It's working much better now, and makes us all very happy to see it whooshing around making our lives easier. )

[VikingRunnerGirl]

Totally not crocheting, but I had to share that story with SOMEBODY.

[jimbo]

And I appreciate it! You know, that may indeed be a pretty fancy autosampler and do all sorts of precision sampling BUT can it crochet? I think not. See, they'll NEVER replace you.

[ratdog]

Jimbo and Viking you two are cracking me up! 

[jimbo]

A totally expected result when you combine a chemist and hook whittler. heh Oh, and Viking? You might want to keep your new Jimbo hooks well out of reach of that machine. (jealousy)

[ExRea]

(March 6) Need a Jimbo hook? There are several up for bids and the auction doesn't close till 10pm Pacific time so there's still time to bid'em up. Or just drop by the old blog and say hi... always good to have some company.

Jimbo, 

 

Are you still making the Thready interchangable hook sets?  I have nearly worn mine out and want to have another on hand...Would you consider making me another set?  I love that hook, I tried going back to the Boyle hooks I have but my fingers cannot take it.Pleaseeeeeeee, please!

[jimbo]

Wow, you're wearing out a set of metal hooks?? You must be a crocheting MACHINE! I don't have any of the sets left to modify, but if there's enough interest I'll get more. Kind of a big investment for me and, consequently, for customers.

[ExRea]

Wow, you're wearing out a set of metal hooks?? You must be a crocheting MACHINE! I don't have any of the sets left to modify, but if there's enough interest I'll get more. Kind of a big investment for me and, consequently, for customers.

Jimbo,

I actually have an extra set of the hooks, so maybe I could send them to you???

I haven't worn out the hooks but the wooden shaft is getting 'squeaky'.   I have used a piece of a plastic bag to wrap around the screw part. I've seen plumbers wrap a screw to tighten it so it doesn't weak..  I have no idea what they call that, but it seems to work in keeping the screw tight.  What I am afraid of is the loose screw will wear the wooden part and eventually break the wood.  I hope I have explained this well enough. 

[jimbo]

A squeaky handle? Ok that sounds like a weak glue joint. If you don't mind sending it back, I'll fix it. And sure, if you want to send me the handle from your new set, I'll be happy to do you up wooden handle for that one too.

Sorry about the squeeks!!

[ExRea]

OH no, I was afraid you would want me to send it back...I cannot part with this one until I have one to replace it!  I'll send the new hooks & screw head to you first, then I'll have something to keep working with until you have the new one completed.  Is that ok?  Send me a private message with your address.  Oh yeah how much do you charge for the new handle & fix the old one?  Can I pay using Pay Pal?  For some reason I cannot use the links on your web page. Something with my computer set up I'm sure....

[VikingRunnerGirl]

I should have mentioned a while ago - hooks arrived safe and sound (and now I get to have fun keeping them out of reach of both dog AND toddler!) I've never used a hook with a proper handle before, but the I is working beautifully for me on my current afghan. And timely, too: I needed to bump up a hook size to handle a slightly smaller worsted weight, and my aluminum I is MIA! So, woohoo! They are both lovely, Jimbo; thanks!!