I know it has something to do with needlework, lacemaking or knitting but I just don't know exactly what it is. Has anyone got any ideas please? I put the clothes peg into the photographs so that you could see the size of the mystery object. Sorry the pics are so big but I wanted you all to see it in detail.
It is and old time clothes pin to hang your laundry out on a clothes line to dry.Thats all they made for years.
Oh...ouch...ugh....that looks like it would hurt real bad My first thought was to say an old fashioned clothes peg too. I have been knitting for most of the last 40 years and have never seen something like that used. It might be from a knitting machine, I have never used one so I really don't know. I used to make bobbin lace and never had one of those either. I don't know about making other types of lace tho.
My only thought is that it may be a kind of netting needle, as the notches would allow the storage of the additional thread, by wrapping it around... or maybe it was to use with leather?
Fiber combs (carders) are much larger than that. More like a pair of paddles with many rows of spikes covering each one. Once the fiber is spun into yarn it is not combed. A shuttle, similar to but much smaller than one used in loom weaving, is used to make and repair nets. I am still trying to find pictures of parts of knitting machines to rule that out.
I have a cotton carder sounds like what you just described .My Aunt many years ago made cotton matteresses and she carded the cotton to get all the seeds out of it and then would lay the cotton in the bed ticking layer by layer.Gosh toni you did bring back memories.I will take a picture of my aunts old carders as soon as I get a camera .I'm almost afraid to try anymore since WalMarts ruined 8 rolls . I will try again.
Nothing to do with lace as mum makes lace and I have never seen anything like that in her work tools. Tatting maybe?
I came across it when I was cleaning out a box of stuff that used to belong to my mother. It's driving me round the bend trying to figure out what the heck it is!!! A friend even suggested that it might have been for scarifying skin and then taking blood!!! :-?
The only thing I can think of with a tip like that is a fish stringer. Could it possibly be that and the ridges are for scaling the fish? Just a guess. I did a quick Google search and didn't see a fish stringer with that type of metal part, but then some of the pics were not very clear. I will check at work tomorrow to see what they have.
You may be onto something with a fish stringer Sharon... http://www.picassoamerica.com/catalog/p ... 6ad2aaab8a What's really interesting are the grooves along the side. They should be either to hold something (like the string theory) or maybe to grasp onto something (like barbs of a sort). Very peculiar looking object.
