Recently I started experimenting with carving my own crochet hooks. It’s difficult to find afghan (tunisian) crochet hooks that are wide enough or long enough. So with just a paring knife and some old 120 sandpaper, this was my first attempt at any hook. The head was a good shape but not deep enough to carry yarn well :
I found a better stick for my second attempt, so, I introduce, my imperfectly perfect afghan hook !!
She’s about 10mm in width, and a massive 47 cm long !!! She’s not totally straight, but the width is even all along. I finished her off with 800 sandpaper so she’s actually shiny even before painting, and after a test run, the hook head is now pointy enough and deep enough, and she works beautifully !! Super silky smooth too !
I’ve always wanted a wider and longer afghan hook, and I managed to whittle one out of a very long twig. The yarn on this hook is a super thick yarn 🙂 You see, with tunisian (or afghan) crochet, you must have a hook several sizes larger (in width) than your yarn. Since you can only get hooks usually up to 5mm in width, the yarn had to be very fine to prevent the work curling. Hooks any larger than this usually have to be ordered from overseas at great expense. A friend recently paid $65 for one after allowing for differences in the exchange rate, and also postage. (Note: Afghan (tunisian) crochet hooks must be long because the stitch is worked in two passes. The first pass holds all the stitches onto the hook, and the second pass takes them off, hence the need for a lengthy hook.)
She’s not yet totally refined. She needs a light coat of clear paint, and I’m wondering what to do with the end. I can either drill a little hole and put a cable in with superglue, or I can find a nice decorative knob to either screw in or glue on.
It is actually very smooth and has a beautiful grain. It’s amusing to me that she started as a simple stick from my garden 🙂
I envisage that if I start using pre-manufactured dowels from the hardware store, I can have a longer and straighter hook, any width I want ! Basically as long as I want !! The question is: How long is too long?
And . . . why can’t I stop carving everything I find? Ha ha ha . . . check out my carrot . . .
