Modifying Hooks with polymer clay.

[MeToo!]

Some hooks' flattened area (suitable for knife hold) are so large that even placing a flexible grip (of one type or another) is not enough to make the shaft suitable for a pencilholder like me. I need a perfectly round hook handle.

So, I've been busy making polymer clay covers for 3 of my hooks (so far) and I just love them, even though they look a bit, how shall I say, home-made. Does anyone else here do this?

When I first learned to crochet 40 yr. ago as a teenager, everybody that I knew used the pencil hold. Now, it seems to have gone the other way.

[spoula]

Hello MeToo, I hold my hook between my thumb and index finger is this the knife position? I can't do the pencil hold. What is Polymer and how do you make the holders?

My crochet hooks are very old and most of my favorites are the flat kind and my hands do get tired.

Spoula

[MeToo!]

Hi, Spoula. Here are pictures of both ways of holding your crochet hook. A picture can say it so much better than I ever could.

https://shop.mybluprint.com/crocheti...-crochet-hook/

I don't give a hoot what anyone says, the reality is that if you use the pencil hold, the flattened part of the hook makes it non-ergonomic and uncomfortable.

The hooks with the flat part - that's 99% of all hooks - were designed with the knife grip in mind.

[spoula]

Hi, Spoula. Here are pictures of both ways of holding your crochet hook. A picture can say it so much better than I ever could.

https://shop.mybluprint.com/crocheti...-crochet-hook/

I don't give a hoot what anyone says, the reality is that if you use the pencil hold, the flattened part of the hook makes it non-ergonomic and uncomfortable.

The hooks with the flat part - that's 99% of all hooks - were designed with the knife grip in mind.

Hi MeToo. I looked at the link you posted and I crochet with the knife grip. It is not my hand that the hook is in that gets sore it is the left hand where I hold the thread with my index finger stuck up in the air. I know I should stop and rest and stretch but I cannot. That is my problem.
Spoula

[MeToo!]

Hi MeToo. I looked at the link you posted and I crochet with the knife grip. It is not my hand that the hook is in that gets sore it is the left hand where I hold the thread with my index finger stuck up in the air. I know I should stop and rest and stretch but I cannot. That is my problem.
Spoula

I know what you mean. My left hand occasionally gets sore & crampy but I am having so much fun, am really on a roll, but keep on going nevertheless, until I am forced to stop and rub my hand and then go and do something else. We're like addicts, sometimes...

[Nova55]

It seems to me that the crochet hook that was really designed for the pencil holding people is the Addi Swing. They are expensive, but if you can you might want to try one to see if it works for you.

[MeToo!]

It seems to me that the crochet hook that was really designed for the pencil holding people is the Addi Swing. They are expensive, but if you can you might want to try one to see if it works for you



@Nova. I have looked at that hook left and right, over & over, and cannot determine for sure if it would be suitable for pencil holders. I have gone to a few crochet hook review sites, and they claim that the Addi Swing is not good for pencil holders.

I have quite a variety of hooks to my name, and my fave so far - because of its sharp point - is the Addi bamboo hook. It is a straight, simple cylindrical shaft, thankfully no flattened thumb rest, and I make it work for me by placing a pencil grip on it. I can't make a clay cover because you have to bake it, and I guess the bamboo would burn.

I have only two of these, bought some yr. ago, and am having difficulty to find more, at least for a decent shipping price. Fiberwild, who I bought them from, has gone out of business. Woe is me.

Thanks muchly for your info and suggestions, Nova.

Also, speaking of hooks, I have an oddball in a small size (for thread) made by Louet Kollage. Each size has two versions, rounded tip and pointed tip. The pointy tip is really pointy. But it's hard to find them now, you have to hunt around and then they really ding you.

[MeToo!]

@Nova. What do you think of the shank length of the Addi Swing? Is it my imagination or is it abnormally short? The one in your picture, above, is long, but others I've seen on the internet are too short.

[Jean Marie]

Hi,
I looked at the pictures of the knife hold and the pencil hold. I hold the crochet hook with my thumb and index finger on the shaft of the hook and my other fingers above the hook or next to my index finger. My fingers pretty much stay in the same place when holding the crochet hook but my thumb moves back and forth when I crochet. I think that's the knife hold. Anyways, I know someone who holds the crochet hook a different way. She holds the hook with her hand underneath the hook.

[Nova55]

@Nova. What do you think of the shank length of the Addi Swing? Is it my imagination or is it abnormally short? The one in your picture, above, is long, but others I've seen on the internet are too short.

I measured the one I have, and measuring straight from tip to end it was 6 & 5/16ths inches long. I thought most hooks were about 6 inches, except for the small steel hooks, which I thought were about 5 or 5 1/2 inches. Comparing the Addi in the photo to mine, the one in the photo has a much longer shaft than the one I have.

As for the Addi being good for pencil grip, I did forget that there are variations of pencil grips, and the Addi might not work with all of them. What I was thinking is that the wide curve of the handle would sit between the bottom thumb joint and the first knuckle. But of course, the bottom line is what works for you, and that's all that counts!