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Refinishing a crochet hook

A 25 cent bin at a thrift store offered this lovely old crochet hook that was a bit rough from wear.  I'd used a piece of glass to smooth the hooks I am carving from tree branches so thought it would work on this one. 

It did - on this side.

But this side resulted in ripples.  I don't know why.  ????

Some sandpaper evened things up.

Also in the bin were two pairs of knitting needles and when the man at the cash register added up the cost he charged me for each needle separately.  I  laughed and asked if he also charged for shoes separately.  He looked confused for a moment and then realized what I meant - he didn't know knitting needles came in pairs.

Rescued. Reclaimed?

This 'pup' looks like it was rescued from the ocean at Ogden Point and then placed on the newspaper box with the hope the owner would see it.

Yet another kind of beach combing. 

BIG!!! crochet!

This is the hook,  on loan from a lady who tells me it is Peruvian.

This is it in comparison to  a 15 mm and a size Q
hook.

The difference is in the width between shaft and point of hook - and boy, does that make a difference!

First of all - the method of crocheting changes because you need a very loose tension on the left hand (I am crocheting right handed)  to make the wide scoop.

Secondly -  it is a WIDE scoop! 

Here is how it looks in tunisian crochet (the bottom rows)  and single crochet (the top ones)

It is fun!

A close up of the hook  -  it is so pretty.

Sad sagas of badly stored fibre........

........ but this one has a happy ending.

Over the years I've come across yarn and handknit items that have been stored in basements or attics or sheds or trailers etc.  in plastic bags or cardboard boxes or trunks etc.- conditions that have caused the fibre to smell or host moths or rot etc.  Usually the things are the stash of someone's mom or wife or grandma who died many years ago and the family did not know what to do with it at the time;  so they kept it.  And now they want to get rid of it but want it to go to a good home. 

If it has moth damage or has signs of moth eggs, most - if not all! - people who work with fibre will not want it - it could infect our stash.   If it has any indication of dampness, it will also be treated with suspicion, because balls of wool may look fine on the outside but once you begin to unroll one it could come away in pieces, having rotted.

If it smells like smoke from a smoker's household or in a fire - no.  I once bought a gorgeous handknit sweater that even after many washings and airing smelled like an ashtray.

A musty or moldy smell, (or that 'used clothes' odour that seems to becoming more prevalent - I suspect laundry additives) can be - conquered!

  On the weekend I purchased eight balls of lovely linen fibre.  Wool I would likely have passed up because of the musty smell - but - linen, I could not resist.  

Two immediately got wound into skeins and hand washed in baby shampoo and rinsed in vinegar and water  (I would like very much to know of other's experience with what to use) and hung outdoors for the sun and wind and moon to have its go at eliminating the odour.

Well, it is working.  Enough so ........

.... that last night in the gloaming I wound all but two of the balls into skeins. 

And, as sometimes happens,  I got a sense of whoever's stash was being 'rescued' with a mutual appreciation and gratitude.

Here they are waiting on the wash and rinse.

I have not had much luck with getting rid of the smell from books - actually, no luck at all - but this was more a booklet with centre staples so it's been on the deck since the weekend with different pages open to the sun etc. and the odour is going.  Hooray!

Art in the park

Someone took the time and made the effort to place these objects in the flower bed in a small local park. 

It was there for a day.

I like the grouping of items.  Was it serendipitous, do you suppose - a gathering of street combing as it happened on a stroll? What is that white vessel?   Did whoever remove it make use of the stool and the cane and the ????
If it was the city clean up who removed it - did he have some thoughts of appreciation before the dismantling? 

Toilets

A recent article in the paper about a combination toilet - sink got me googling and finding many such references to this interesting item.  It also twigged a memory of describing a bathroom here.   

Knitting : outside the box

The needles made from two pieces cut from a child's skipping rope;  the non-working ends formed by inserting the rope into toggle buttons taken from an old parka;  the working ends slightly sharpened in a pencil sharpener. 

I wondered what it would be like to knit with totally flexible needles.

Half of the yarn (r) is handspun fleece and the other half is handspun acrylic batting,  thick'n'thin: on purpose.

The needles can either hang down on either side of the lap or -

nestle with the yarn.

It is a worthwhile experience.

Trugs made from ties

What started here is continuing with these trugs* made using three ties.

* a trug is traditionally  a shallow wooden or wicker basket used by gardeners to carry tools or flowers;  this design with its single handle on a slant reminds me of trugs so I had this in mind when putting these together.

In this one two ties were put wide end at one end with the third narrow end between them so, of course, the other end had two narrow ends with a wide end between them.  The depth was shortened with thought of trug.

"Wonder-what-would-happen-if-all-three-wide-ends-were-put-together......." led to an even more slanty-handled bag, even more trug-like.

They 'work' just fine for the photo - and for a test stroll around the house.

The one I made earlier and am using as a purse continues to serve well.

Wonder what four or six or eight ties would result in.......

Pictures in thrums and the thread not used

No need to discern meaning.  Just to marvel and admire.

Saving seeds for next year's planting

The fact of the pods turning ivory and crisp with the peas dried and still green delights me.