Laffing Horse Crafts

I normally use glass beads on the ends of my afghan crochet hooks. I carefully pick out the bead that I think goes with the texture and tone and grain of the wood. The beads are either hand-crafted by Sage and Tom Holland or carefully selected from my collection.

This time, having finished a move, I could not find my bead stash. I had to fall back to my lathe and turn some pretty beads to top the sticks.

I’ve had some fun lately, though, turning captive rings or jingle rings as seen in my regular crochet hooks, and I didn’t want to give it up. I also knew I could not turn a regular captive ring in such a small space and a large space would make the sticks look odd.

Introducing the sliding ring. It’s smaller, tighter and does not slide up and down, but spins around.

Here’s some pictures…

Size 10, 20-inch long custom knitting needles for Susan. They’re birch with cherry tops.

And a size L 14-inch long crochet hook for Sarah. It’s oak with a walnut topper.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Or just the N size.

This is a size N (10 mm) crochet hook turned and carved out of a very light piece of walnut. It is about seven-inches long and features a comfortable engraved (size on front, and year, wood and signature on back) thumbrest and double jingle rings on top.

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Popularity: 84% [?]

So, a customer gets a hold of me the other day (Hi Linda) via email and says:

You said on your website that if you don’t see what you are looking for, ask. Have you ever made a whistling crochet hook? The end of the handle is carved into a working whistle. I found a photo of one a while back and have attached it. I would love to “whistle while I work”. {GRINS} I tend to be drawn to the unusual, or as Sarah would say, downright strange. If there is a possibility that you might consider making one, let me know. I want it! (Referring to your earlier post on Facebook, I would think that a whistling crochet hook would be pretty darned clever!)

Here it is!

She asked for a size G (4 mm) and that’s what she’s getting.This particular one is cherry. Take a closer look, though…

Now, I have to think up a name or a tagline… Whistle Sticks? Yarn Tootin’ ! Amaze your friends, annoy your dogs! If you have suggestions, email them to me. Meanwhile, I’m off to the shop to make some more… these are fun!

Before anyone else asks, there are no piccolos or flute or recorder (Hi Sheila) versions in the works. No trumpeting trilooms, either. However, now that I think about it, a slide trombone broom might help to get into those hard to reach corners…

Popularity: 29% [?]

See what I mean?

I admit it. I am a geek. I’m a nerd. I like computers and watch sci-fi (loved the new Star Trek movie, but love Serenity more, and haven’t seen Avatar yet, but I will…). When I finished the end of this crochet hook I was reminded of a scene from a sci-fi flick wherein a double star was throwing off matter to create a planet. A binary star. A binary crochet hook made by a woodworking, broom making, computer using web-designing geek… made out of wood, made by hand.

Your daily dose of irony?

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Popularity: 100% [?]

I wanted a challenge, so Jen suggested I do a smaller hook. And I did!

This is a size F (3.75 mm) turned out of a lovely piece of black walnut, but it’s got a little extra elegance added in. Between the sleek tapers to the shaft and again to the end, there’s a small embellished grip. At the end, there’s a very fine captive ring (some call this a jingle ring). Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 36% [?]

Random Orbits – Triple captive ring, cherry, size I crochet hook

Popularity: 32% [?]