How to Hold a Crochet Hook

I’m starting to become a little insecure about how to hold a crochet hook. It seems as though everyone around me holds it one way and I the other. Can you relate or am I the lone wolf here.

In fact, I recently watched a youtube video where the gal was demonstrating both techniques and she made some sort of comment about my chosen grip being awkward. Awkward? It doesn’t feel awkward to me. If anything, her grip is awkward. But apparently not to most of my friends and family!

20+ years ago my grandmother taught my twin sister, my mother and I how to crochet. And it’s engraved on my brain that the way I hold my hook is “the right way”. Really, I remember her saying there was a right and wrong way. As a new hooker, I wanted to do it right, so I chose my grip.

Now, I wonder, “Have I been wrong all these years?” Most crocheters these days say that either way is right. But do they really believe that or are they just appeasing people like me?

Case in point, I went to a knitters and crocheters group the other day and one of the gals was staring at me while I crocheted. Then, she and my sister started talking about how I hold the crochet hook…as if I was some sort of alien. “Hello,” I thought, “I’m right here in the room.”

So, based on their conversation, it should come as no surprise that Yarnovator (my twin sister) and I each hold the crochet hook differently. It was shocking to me when I recently found out that one of us holds it from beneath like a pencil and the other holds it overhand like a knife. It seems strange to me that we are similar in so many ways yet different here, on a matter of technique.

And what about my mother? After all, she was there when my grandmother taught us “right from wrong”. She’s apparently not picking sides because she holds the crochet hook both ways. Literally…for every stitch she holds it both ways. She starts out her stitch holding the crochet hook like a pencil, then ends the stitch holding it like a knife! I have to admit, I’ve never seen anyone crochet quite like that. She definitely has both bases covered.

How to Hold a Crochet Hook – The Conclusion

So, what will I do about how to hold a crochet hook? Will I change my technique to blend in with the crowd or band together with others who crochet like me and start a crusade? I think I’ll just turn on the tv and work on my next project and crochet the way I know to be the right way.

How do you hold your crochet hook? Take the poll below letting us know.

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