The Sewing Place

What do you think this was for then?

LeilaMay

What do you think this was for then?
« on: September 17, 2020, 11:11:04 AM »
I bought an old sewing tin - because I wanted the tin really - and it contained all the usual stuff. Dirty buttons, halves of poppers, rusty pins and needles and some old flat curtain rings.

But also this  . .   [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  

Now what do you suppose someone did with this? Two fine crochet hooks, badly soldered together, one bent at an angle that reminds me of dentists tools! As it was still in the sewing tin I presume it was for some textile craft, but I've no idea what, and nothing else in the tin gives any indication.

Suggestions welcome  :)

Greybird

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2020, 11:13:53 AM »
I think it's for fishing out something that's gone down a plughole.

wrenkins

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2020, 11:15:16 AM »
I know my granny used to crochet with what was basically thread and would have used hooks that small. Could it be the handy equivalent of knitting needles 8s and 10s in one place? Does crochet work have bands like knitting does?
I don't know would be my answer.  :laughing:
Harbouring resentment is like swallowing poison and waiting for the other person to die!


LeilaMay

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2020, 13:07:52 PM »
Thank you all :)

It just seems to me like it was put together and bent like that for some textile-y purpose, some craft that I can't figure out, or for finishing some craft  :S
If it had been used for something completely different I wouldn't expect it to end up back in the sewing box?

Should I chuck it out as as a useless bit of tat, or put it in a vinatge sewing box as a "don't know what this is" thing? Along with the scissors that have one blade on one side, that slots between two blades on the other side - that might have been for shoe/leather work?

:)

Acorn

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2020, 13:34:05 PM »
@LeilaMay Those scissors sound as though they might be for cutting out patterns for stained glass work.  They cut a thin strip out of the paper, so when you cut the pieces out of a design you can use them as templates for cutting glass templates because there will be space between them for the lead came.  (Did that make any sense?  -< )

I have a pair, but they cut so badly they have never been any use.

[ETA  these. ]
« Last Edit: September 17, 2020, 13:35:52 PM by Acorn »
I might look as though I'm talking to you, but inside my head I'm sewing.

BrendaP

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2020, 15:36:24 PM »
Crochet hooks go right down to 0.4mm diameter - fine enough to crochet with fine sewing thread!  The very tiny ones, 0.6mm and smaller, are used for making 'sewings' in bobbin lace, and sometimes bending them makes it easier to grab the required thread.

However, there's no reason known to me as to why a lacemaker would want a teeny hook on both ends, especially as they can cause a nasty injury if the hook gets under a fingernail  :scream:  so I think that @grey is right; it's a crude tool for fishing something out of a plughole or other inaccessible recess.
Brenda.  My machines are: Corona, a 1953 Singer 201K-3, Caroline, a 1940 Singer 201K-3, Thirza, 1949 Singer 221K, Azilia, 1957 Singer 201K-MK2 and Vera, a Husqvarna 350 SewEasy about 20 years old. Also Bernina 1150 overlocker and Elna 444 Coverstitcher.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.

Ploshkin

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #7 on: September 17, 2020, 16:00:57 PM »
It's the sort of bodge our grandmother would have done (though I don't know if she soldered).  I used to love going to visit to see what harebrained, heath robinson thing she'd been lashing together to make a job 'easier'.
Life's too short for ironing.

SkoutSews

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #8 on: September 17, 2020, 16:14:15 PM »
I don't think I could crochet with that as the soldered join would hurt my hand and the length, with additional hook, would get in the way.

Puzzler

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #9 on: September 17, 2020, 20:05:27 PM »
The length of the hook puts me in mind of Tunisian crochet but you don’t need a hook either end and the hook is straight not bent. So like Wrenkies, I don’t know.  :P

LeilaMay

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #10 on: September 17, 2020, 21:07:59 PM »
@Acorn thank you for the scissor info - you were spot on!  Nice to know what something is :)

Thank you everyone else for the discussion and suggestions. Like you, I had thought of odd things it might have been, but kept hoping there was some unusual textile craft I hadn't heard of LOL

Best wishes to all
leila

*Do you thing we should have a 'odd things' thread?  :)

BriarRose

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #11 on: September 17, 2020, 22:53:29 PM »
When I had problems with internal stitches following a surgery, went to the doctor who looked at the problem, then sent his nurse after his "tool roll." it arrived, and he grandly unrolled the most complete set of steel crochet hooks I have ever seen. Yep. Crochet hooks. Dozens of crochet hooks. He used the hooks to reach the subsurface stitches and pull them up to be removed.

He retired a few months later and I have always wondered who inherited the crochet hooks.
It's just fabric. We can out-think it.

Elnnina

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #12 on: September 18, 2020, 18:03:47 PM »
Leila May, a long time ago Knitmaster knitting machines had a silver tool a bit like half of your instrument but the other end to the hook it was deliberately bent, and I must say this has been the most useful tool ever for getting into something and wiggling it about to loosen say a knot, or to aid in the unpicking of stitches.  For some reason Knitmaster stopped including this silver tool in the box of accessories and including a double end crochet hook tool similar to the one linked to on Amazon.  Incidentally I have often referred to my silver tool as my probe as in Dentist's probe.

LeilaMay

Re: What do you think this was for then?
« Reply #13 on: September 19, 2020, 08:42:27 AM »
Leila May, a long time ago Knitmaster knitting machines had a silver tool a bit like half of your instrument but the other end to the hook it was deliberately bent, and I must say this has been the most useful tool ever for getting into something and wiggling it about to loosen say a knot, or to aid in the unpicking of stitches.  For some reason Knitmaster stopped including this silver tool in the box of accessories and including a double end crochet hook tool similar to the one linked to on Amazon.  Incidentally I have often referred to my silver tool as my probe as in Dentist's probe.

Ah! Well maybe it was a home-made one of those then! Thank you :)

Thank you everyone for the discussion - always a strange thing to find the contents of another persons sewing box and wonder what they were like. Thank you.