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...

[spoula]

Hi MeToo, I was little around 7 when my mother showed me some stitches. I remember the hardest thing was for her to explain to me how to wrap the yarn in my left hand. I never got the hang of that and I have bad habits that I cannot break. My in-laws (mother in law and sister in law) both crochet with the pencil hold.They are both reall good at crochet and knitting. It looks like something you can buy out of a store made by a machine. I wish I could crochet or knit like them.
I am taking a break from the little crochet top I am making it is not my hands that hurt this time it is my back. (poor posture while sitting)

The weather is warming up and I will bring my wicker chairs out of storage and put them on the porch and spend my summer in a comfortable chair and doing crochet or other needle work. I want to do some embroidery too.
Spoula

[MeToo!]

I remember the hardest thing was for her to explain to me how to wrap the yarn in my left hand. I never got the hang of that

Boy, do I ever know what you are talking about. To this day, I don't think I am holding the yarn "correctly" in my left hand. I keep seeing those countless photos and videos showing you how to wind the yarn around your little finger, then weaving it around your other fingers. That's nuts, I can't do it.

[spoula]

Hi MeToo. Me either that is why my tension is wacky.

Spoula

[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.