I have been crocheting for ten years or so. (This time.) I never really thought about how I hold my hook or why until I decided I needed/wanted to share some low vision tips for crochet on this blog. I mean, I knew I hold my hook with a pencil grip, but I never thought about why other than it’s more comfortable.
I’ve tried to change my grip over the years, but I always go back to the pencil grip. There are other ways to hold your hook and I talk about two of them and share a video for a third.
Pencil Grip
I’ve mentioned this a couple times now. With a pencil grip, you hold your crochet hook like a pencil. I use a similar grip with a fork and chopsticks, if that helps you imagine it any better. For me, I can hold the work as close as I need to in order to see what I’m doing. However, depending on the hook, sometimes my fingers tingle/go to sleep. I’ve been told that this grip can aggravate tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. I crochet a lot by feel. I move the fingers of my left hand along with my chains and stitches as I form them. This way I can feel a mistake before i see it. But that’s more a topic for another post than for this one.
Knife Grip
This is an overhand grip, like using a knife to cut your food. I have tried to use this grip several times, but it doesn’t work well for me. My tension isn’t good and I can’t get it close enough to see well unless I have my elbows out like chicken wings. I know with practice, my tension would improve. I can’t figure out a way around the elbows being out, though. If you use this grip and have low vision, would you give me some tips on how to make it work?
Body Brace
This isn’t a grip, per se, but more a method. In it, you brace your hook against your body, wrap the yarn, and then lift the loops up and over the yarn and the hook. This video shows it better than I can describe it.
What grip, or method, do you use? Or do you do something entirely different? I’d like to know so I can figure out how else to make adjustments and accommodations as they’re needed.
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