Anyhow, while the servers were down, and I couldn’t work on my blog, I finally got to work and pulled together all the pics of the new crochet hooks  that I have been carving.

I had kind of lost track of them! LOL!

I had to rummage around the studio to find them and get them organized and measured and photographed and photoshopped and finally up on my website.

(I have been neglecting my website because of focusing on blogworld, so when blogworld vanished, I was able to do some maintenance on my website. Hidden blessings!)

So, here’s a few pics of some of the new hooks I have been playing with:

My homage to Jane Austen and cats and dogs:

and heartfelt musings about home and hearth :

and another Snowman (we’re back into another blizzard! Oh! Will winter NEVER end?)

I have more blanks started, and since winter is such a drag, I will be finding respite in the workshop.  And that means….

more crochet hooks……..

And, oh yes, we’re also working on a series of new Jane Austen inspired spool knitters, too!

Can’t get enough of Jane!

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I was so delighted with the teacup crochet hook that I did another one.

This time, it’s a heart hook, with a teapot on one side

and a teacup on the other

Speaking of teacups…. I think I hear mine calling me right now!

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I have designed all kinds of dolls in homage to Jane Austen, including a :knitted Jane Austen doll:

Sooooooooooooo………

I am utterly ecstatic that PBS is running a series on Masterpiece theatre, showcasing all her novels.

Persuasion  was brilliant. Perfecto!  

Ditto for Northanger Abbey. In fact, it’s my least favorite of all her novels…. BUT, this interpretation was so good that I actually liked it! 

A L A S…… I thought Mansfield Park was a disaster! They totally blew it…. they made a hash of the screenplay, (Fanny didn’t get sent home?!?!?! EH?!) and missed out on great fun by down playing and minimizing Evil Auntie Norris.  And, excuse me, but Billie Piper was utterly and hopelessly miscast as Fanny.  Pituey.  I thought it stank.

A N Y H O W ! ! ! ! ! 

I am sooooooooooooooooo excited about 6 delicious weeks of Jane Austen telly that I have carved a homage to Jane Austen crochet hook! I turned it on the lathe, and am tickled pink with it.  It’s my second attempt. 

My first attempt did the exploding hook routine- kapowweeeeeeeeeeee!

but, the second one has me feeling happy.

Here she is:

Ah, Jane Austen, I’m your biggest fan…..

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When I am upset, I spend a lot of time working with wood in the workshop. So, I have got a lovely stash of new crochet hooks happening.

AND… Last night, I had the best dream! It was full of joy and delight, and it just knocked me right out of my dismay and despair.

So, today, I celebrated by painting and burning one of the new heart crochet hooks with images of delight.

Here’s ‘JOY!’

And, here’s to  j o y! 

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There’s the Ladybug Valentine Heart hook

and a few other ones

AND…. I have just finished painting and burning one of the new Heart hooks:

I have been mulling over and contemplating lots of issues-

Like….. what is home……. (we’re in the process of getting ready to move a BIG big move…). How do we create home when we leave a place that has been home, to make a new home….

Also, a door just snapped shut on a project that I’ve been very hopeful about.  Rats.

So, to re-group, I have really needed to spend time thinking about what it is I love to do.

And, to spend time DOING what I love to do.

So, I have been weaving up a storm on my small looms, and even if I say so myself,  I have been doing some REALLY terrific new designs.

And, one of the other things that really helps me get my head on straight again is to spend time working with wood.

Anyhow………. so………. I have been really thinking and doing stuff that is vital to my sense of self……

and here’s one of the things that has come out of that response to the pain of disappointment, rejection and frustration:

It’s my way of saying: I just have to stay with what I love, and find my way home in that feeling of love……….

Yep. One of the heart shape crochet hooks now has a portrait of a little house in the woods

The flash on the camera washed it out. Also, I photograph them before I varnish them, as the varnish flashes out, too, so the richness doesn’t show up.

Anyhow. This crochet hook says: Home. Love…..

and on the back:

a dragonfly. Because my best friend and I both saw a dragonfly on the uncarved hook.

So, the dragonfly stands for love and friendship, too…..

I have several friends who feel very strongly about dragonflies.

I am always awestruck when the dragonflies hatch and whirl and flicker and investigate their newly found wings.

It’s like they are saying:

‘Ah, so this….. T H I S ! is what I do now!

Yesterday, I lived in the water,

today I live in the air!’

Hmmm…. seems like a pretty good metaphor for someone who is wondering,

‘What next?’

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I’ve got a real bee in my bonnet about heart shapes on hooks, so I have been working on the two hooks from that posting. Now, there are 2 more that I have just started- I am learning how to turn crochet hooks on the lathe.

Here are the ones that I have done a combination of turning and carving on:

and here are the first two that I was wondering about before….

Now…… I need to start drawing, burning and painting the images on them.  The second one from the left is just begging for beads……

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I am so excited!

For the past year or so, I have been carving all the one of a kind handmade crochet hooks I make without having Jim turn them on the lathe.

It struck me that I should probably learn how to use the lathe to shape the length of the hook. I figured that it might save some time….. so I asked Jim to show me how to do it.

At first, I was very timid in my approach, but soon, I was just having a whirlietwirlie happydancing time!

OH! this is BLISS!

I am totally addicted to woodworking….. well that’s not quite right….. I LOVE sculpting wood.

I am NOT a woodworker. I don’t make a square corners.  Therefore, I am not a woodworker. I love to shape and sculpt wood, but I don’t have any interest in learning how to build furniture or things with corners.

Anyhow…. back to turning the crochet hooks.

I started with 3 of them:

And, just as I was about to declare the second one pretty darned close to being done, I noodged a little on the tool, and phwing! The hook splintered and flew madly off in all directions.

The one in the middle is the busted one, (duh), and you can see how I’ve started the sculpting process on the other two.

This is fun!

By the way, Jim will still continue to be the numero Uno woodturner on the one of a kind spool knitters that we make.   We both love the way we co-create on them.   But, he hasn’t been involved in making the crochet hooks for more than a year, so he’s  not feeling like I am taking over his turf on this.

aNd….. by the way……….. it didn’t save any time at all, but oh! it’s amazing to watch the wood spin and sawdust fly! Very gratifying indeed!

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I thought about it for a minute, and decided that my usual form of celebration involves making myself a really good cup of one of my fave teas…..

soooooooooooooooooooo……..

I decided that I should carve a crochet hook that is a teacup!

I don’t think they actually give people a REAL physical award, so I figured that I would make an award cup!

Who needs a big old trophy sitting on their shelf?

Nah, don’t have room on the shelves……

but a crochet hook – Oh YAH!

LOL! I know, I know,

MOST people would take the big ole trophy….. but

why be normal?

I drew a teacup and the rough shape of a crochet hook on the blank piece of wood….

Next step: Cut out the outline of the drawing:

more carving, more sanding, more shaping:

that’s a teeny doll teacup that I am using as a model

It’s been a long process to carve it, but I am so pleased!

and here it is…. my celebration Teacup crochet hook!

I love it so much…. I am so pleased that I was nominated for the The Fabbies – I wouldn’t have thought of this without the nomination!

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Actually, I’m not all that thrilled with what I CAN see, as it is mostly white, fierce and blowing horizontally! We can’t see to the fence line, the snow is so bad!

The high today is – wait for it:  -25 with a windchill of -38.

oi vey. 

It’s too cold to go outside to build a snowman, so I have been working in the workshop all week, to carve a new little snowman crochet hook.

Here’s how the snowman evolved:

First, I did a rough sketch with pencil on the wood:

Then I sawed out the rough hook:

Once I’ve got the rough hook, I can start carving, sanding, filing and shaping it:

This is a long slow process, and takes a lot of hours.  When I am happy  with the hook, I can paint and varnish it and spool knit the hat and scarf:

VOILA!

A little snowperson who doesn’t get cold feet!

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Especially since it was a fairly arduous journey to get to the shape that I loved for the hooks!

I had a happy old time out in the workshop:

and eventually, another fine and fancy feline was beaming out at me!

Mrow!

Speaking of cats and all things feline, did you know that b5, the blogging company that I write for, has a pet blog?

AND a very cute blog focused on goofy cat pics? 

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