Howdie from NE Washington State

[yarncat]

Welcome,Jim!

[Kelle]

Welcome jimbo! Beautiful hooks and story I've never used a wooden hook but might be tempted based on your pictures! Anyways, glad you found us, you'll it here!

 

~K

[jimbo]

Hi Jim! Welcome to Crochetville!!

 

Those are gorgeous hooks, thanks for sharing. I fixed the links for you so they would show up, and you can read here about using Photobucket to show your pictures.

Wow! Thanks for the help Julie! I am practicing again, and tried to follow the steps you recommended for a couple of pictures of a g-hook i'm making for Busybee. And while i have your attention, would you take a look at the notch (i call it gullet) on this hook? I like to make them as big as possible to accommodate various yarns, but it seems there's a point of diminishing returns... the neck gets thinner as the gullet gets bigger. And i worry about the head breaking, especially with small hooks (G is a very small hook for my clumsy fingers to make.

Anyways, thank you soooo much for what you do on this really fantastic site! I welcome your comments.

On to the pics.....

[jimbo]

What a nice story, Jim! Welcome, from New Mexico. I've never seen hooks made from apple wood, and would be interested in seeing yours. I hope this finds your sister well

Thanks Mary and my sis is doing fairly well these days... even made it up here awhile back. Unfortunately it was for a funeral. But she did a fantastic thing for my birthday. She used that red handled hook you see in the photos to make a rag rug. And what made my eyes get a little damp, was that she made it from shreds of old work shirts donated by all the guys in my family, including my sons, grandsons, nephews, and the brother who recently passed away. Its now a family heirloom and will have a place of honor in the cabin i'm building on the ranch.... if i ever get it done.

[jimbo]

from Ohio

 

Loved the story and so glad you got some of the farm back.

 

sondra

Thanks Ohio Mama

Yes i was able to get 30 acres of the old place back, including the ground where our house was (its no longer standing). Lots of really great memories from that place, and not just for me.. i have several older brothers and sisters who grew up there, and who are almost as glad as me to get the place back in the family. Thanks for the welcome!

[jimbo]

Hi Jim and Welcome to Crochetville from Buenos Aires, Argentina! ~ You'll like it here!

Wow!! You're a ways away! Thanks for the welcome! What a wonderful place this is.... i'm having trouble keeping up with all the kind greetings!

Its really good to be here.

[jimbo]

Hi and from the of Texas.

I your hooks, nice work... Want some Cedar or Mesquite???

You know, i have made some hooks from cedar that grows on the ranch, but i'd bet your cedar is different. I hesitated to make them from such soft wood, because they might break easily. But i guess if you're aware of that tendency and crochet loosely, they would work fine. They're soooooper light.... almost float away. So yes. And mesquite? Never worked with it before. If the grain is fairly straight and there's no really soft pith in the center of the stick, i'd love to give it a try. It'd be fun to make a hook from wood of each state... or better, from each country!

[jimbo]

Welcome jimbo! Beautiful hooks and story I've never used a wooden hook but might be tempted based on your pictures! Anyways, glad you found us, you'll it here!

 

~K

Hi Kellie! I wonder if you had a teacher by the name of Janet Harsin when you were in grade school in Kent. She's a great friend of mine... we grew up together in Colville.

And you've never used a wood hook? Better try one.... at least i'm more partial to wood (maybe its cause i make wood hooks eh?) and i should know from my vast experience as a crochetier (big HA here).

Thanks for the welcome!

[kariholtz]

Welcome to C'ville, wonderful hooks! You do great work.

[jimbo]

Welcome to C'ville, wonderful hooks! You do great work.

Thanks so much Kari. What a great place you have here! Never found so many nice folks in one place.... at least on the net.

Hay, if you have time sometime, i'd love to see your handmade hooks. Mine are pretty rustic, but they seem to work well, and in all my searching on the web, i've never come across any that are similarly made... seems that all other handmades are lathe turned. So if you have some carved hooks, i'd love to see shots of them.

Thanks big time for the welcome. (i hope these "quick replies are the right thing to be using??)

[busybee]

Oh Oh Oh Jim, I saw it I like it. Cant wait to try it out.

 

I would also love to see a pic of that rug your sister made you. I know its very special to you. Great sister to make that for you, but im sure you know that.

[jimbo]

Hi Jim, Yes your pic post works, I just got back from scrolling like a mad women trying to find them............. But it was well worth it as I got to see some of your other work too. Christmas light necklace, Hair sticks. SO GOOD. Your so Talented.

ok, here you go... this is a detail but you can see all the different flannel shirt strips. The last one on the rim is mine. She did all this unbeknownst to me. Very nice birthday present eh?

and oh yeah... the top picture os of a rug hook i made from birch with a "trigger" to help pulling. Its about a Q+.

[Kelle]

Hi Kellie! I wonder if you had a teacher by the name of Janet Harsin when you were in grade school in Kent. She's a great friend of mine... we grew up together in Colville.

And you've never used a wood hook? Better try one.... at least i'm more partial to wood (maybe its cause i make wood hooks eh?) and i should know from my vast experience as a crochetier (big HA here).

Thanks for the welcome!

 

Jimbo: nope, didn't go to school in Kent (actually a smaller town to the south called Sumner), I just landed here as an adult.... and I just might have to try a wood hook! Happen to know where I could find one ....hehehe

 

~K

[natalie058]

Hey there Jim, welcome to the board!!

 

Your hooks are really just beautiful, I love how they're so rustic and organic looking... Very unique!! I'd love to get myself one for Christmas...

[grrlsmom]

Welcome! What a cool story - the story behind the hooks is really special! I spent most of my childhood in an apple tree or a willow.

[jimbo]

Hey there Jim, welcome to the board!!

 

Your hooks are really just beautiful, I love how they're so rustic and organic looking... Very unique!! I'd love to get myself one for Christmas...

Thanks Nataile, but i just carve a hook on the end of a stick and smooth the whole thing out. The tree does all the creative work. I find some unbelievably beautiful textures and colors under that bark. Each time i make one i'm amazed and at the same time disgusted with myself for using the same wood for bonfires or the fireplace... such a waste. But, there's more wood on the ranch than i could ever carve up into hooks so my self deprecation is usually short lived.

I see you're using a drop spindle. I'm fascinated by them too, and made one as an experiment. I know they are usually turned, but the whorl (or is it sworl?) is an inch thick slab cut from a 3" dia chunk of tamarack. Not perfectly circular and definately rustic, but it seems to spin ok. I wasn't sure about the dimensions... drop spindles seem to be not very intuitive to me for some reason. Would you mind measuring yours and letting me know?

[jimbo]

Welcome! What a cool story - the story behind the hooks is really special! I spent most of my childhood in an apple tree or a willow.

Great to hear from someone who appreciates an old favorite tree. That tree has provided us apples, food for deer and bear, and now crochet hooks. Pretty special tree. I have to say, though that the wood is really gnarly and finding a straight hook stick amongst the dead branches isn't easy.

Here it is in winter (this isn't a black and white photo, mind you.. it gets pretty snowy up there but its soooo peaceful and quiet you can hear the raven's wings beating as they fly over)...

 

[WendyUK]

Hello

[Tikki]

Patman!!!!! I'm so glad you finally came and introduced yourself! Told you all these nice people would love to see your hooks.

 

I only found out you were in eastern Washington today though the woodworking post you answered at craigslist. Last year, I wanted to look for fossils at a public digging place near Colville but we wound up west of there in Osoyoos instead.

 

I'm over in Seattle and love that there's so many Washingtonians here at Crochetville.

 

I think it's wonderful that you got back some of the land that was so much a part of your childhood and that you give your sister things you've made from there that have such great sentimental value. Things like that really show how much you love someone because you took the time to make it.

 

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

 

 

 

[jimbo]

Hello

Hello Wendy

This is astounding! I was just seconds ago looking at your introduction and saw those huge throws you made. Then i check my own and here you are! Must be karma or esp or something on that order.

I was thinking how nice it would be to work with some English beech. Are there any beech trees near you? Or am I confused in thinking beech are abundant in the UK.

And I confess to being charmed by your accent, even in script. I hope we run across one another again in Crochetville.

[jimbo]

Patman!!!!! I'm so glad you finally came and introduced yourself! Told you all these nice people would love to see your hooks.

 

I only found out you were in eastern Washington today though the woodworking post you answered at craigslist. Last year, I wanted to look for fossils at a public digging place near Colville but we wound up west of there in Osoyoos instead.

 

I'm over in Seattle and love that there's so many Washingtonians here at Crochetville.

 

I think it's wonderful that you got back some of the land that was so much a part of your childhood and that you give your sister things you've made from there that have such great sentimental value. Things like that really show how much you love someone because you took the time to make it.

 

Welcome to Crochetville!

 

 

 

 

Tikki!!! Thanks so much for referring me here. I posted a note in CL thanking you but it didn't look like you found it. Oh this is soooo much nicer than CL. (shhhhhh the trolls might hear us).

And you know what? The place where you were going fossil hunting (very likely Republic) is about 20 miles from my place on Deadman Creek. Course i'm stuck here in Spokane most of the time, but i'd be living there in a heartbeat if... well i suppose for lots of reasons, one of which is i don't have my cabin built yet. Profits from carved hooks don't stack up very fast against construction costs... even if i'm doing it pretty much myself.

Anyway, i'm so hooked on this place that i hardly check cl anymore...ok maybe a couple times since but what i see is more nastyness.

Now if i can figure out how to start some new threads in the appropriate forums... I want to talk with some folks who do rug hooking cause i'm intrigued with making some rug size hooks. And i want to get into a discussion about grip style, and ergonomics....oh i can see i'm going to get in real trouble with my wife for spending too much time on the computer.

I owe you big time Tiki

Thanks again!!!

Jim

[jacqui]

Hi and welcome from Australia! I would love to buy one of your hooks its obviously a lot of love people can feel in them by the sounds of it.

[Tikki]

Tikki!!! Thanks so much for referring me here. I posted a note in CL thanking you but it didn't look like you found it. Oh this is soooo much nicer than CL. (shhhhhh the trolls might hear us).

 

We use Troll-B-Gon in liberal amounts to keep them away so until a more virilent strain comes along, we should be safe.

 

About finding straight pieces for the crochet hooks, have you considered using somewhat gnarly ones? I've been thinking about this for a while because I've collected some gnarly driftwood sticks that I've thought of using for crochet hooks (though I'll probably never get around to making any.) If you held the piece in you hand to see which way it naturally wanted to rest, then you'd have a rough idea where the hook should be facing. (I'm just full of ideas. It's the doing part that bogs me down. )

 

Anyway, I sent you a message. Cheers!

[dennymare]

Welcome Jim from Oregon, I love the looks of your hooks and your story. So nice to make something with your memories isn't it. As others have posted I would be interested in seeing more of your hooks.

Mary

[jimbo]

We use Troll-B-Gon in liberal amounts to keep them away so until a more virilent strain comes along, we should be safe.

 

About finding straight pieces for the crochet hooks, have you considered using somewhat gnarly ones? I've been thinking about this for a while because I've collected some gnarly driftwood sticks that I've thought of using for crochet hooks (though I'll probably never get around to making any.) If you held the piece in you hand to see which way it naturally wanted to rest, then you'd have a rough idea where the hook should be facing. (I'm just full of ideas. It's the doing part that bogs me down. )

 

Anyway, I sent you a message. Cheers!

Ha!! Thats EXACTLY what i do... hold the stick and decide which way lays best. But its best to know if you're a pencil holder (overhand) or a toothbrush holder (underhand). I'm told by the venerable MissieJ (we GOTTA get her to register here) that the overhand is the old style and underhand is the modern style. I'd like to take a poll here to see how the crochetiers here hold theirs. In my experience so far its about 50-50. How do you hold YOURS? I need to know you know.