We all have different crochet hooks that we prefer. I’m a Boye girl myself but I know a lot of people who like Addi hooks, Etimos hooks, and various other brands, shapes, and styles.
Whatever type of hook you have, it probably looks exactly the same as almost everyone else’s collection of those same standard crochet hooks. I know that my Boye hooks look just like every other I’ve ever seen.
But your crochet hooks don’t have to stay run-of-the-mill! There are tons of cool ways that you can decorate, embellish and personalize your crochet hooks.
Some people add clay handles to make their own types of hooks more ergonomic. Others use upcycling to make their crochet hooks unique with found objects. And some just add crochet hook decorations because they want to be able to pick their hooks out of a crowd.
Whatever your reason, here are some ideas to get you started with making your crochet hooks one-of-a-kind works of art.
Old Pens = New Hooks
FreeCraft has a basic tutorial for taking apart old pens and replacing the innards with a crochet hook. What a fun way to upcycle dried-up pens and give them a new creative life!
This article also provides a lot of helpful tips for making crochet hook handles out of a wide variety of other materials so it’s one to bookmark if this is something that interests you.
Pencil Grip Crochet Hooks
One of the quickest, easiest, and cheapest ways to decorate a crochet hook is to add a store-bought pencil grip to it.
DonnasDecembers explains how this helps prevent hand injuries and shares some tips for getting the grips into the right position.
Polymer Clay Handles
In the video above, Carol Ventura shows us how to make polymer clay handles for crochet hooks and explains why they’re especially good for the hands when doing Tapestry Crochet.
I have to give a shout-out in this section to Debi Y. because she makes many, many beautiful polymer clay hooks and also has a helpful written tutorial for making your own handles out of polymer clay.
Masking Tape
Carol Ventura told us that bigger, more grippable handles are a smart choice, especially for Tapestry Crochet. This isn’t new news. Mark Dittrick also emphasized this in his 1978 book Hard Crochet, which is an intro to Tapestry Crochet.
In this book he says, “masking tape, cloth, and a needle and thread are all it takes to turn an ordinary steel crochet hook into an impressively powerful tool.” He lays out the specifics for the best ways to wrap and stitch the hooks in the text of the book.
Knotted Crochet Hook Handle
It’s Knot Art shared this unique crochet hook decorating idea. He uses knots of paracord to build up a handle.
Rhinestone Studded Crochet Hooks
Visit A Beautiful Mess to find out how Twinkie Chan blings out her plastic crochet hooks. Twinkie has also been known to make super cute candy-inspired crochet hooks.
Cushiony Crochet Hook
Crochet Uncut shares how to use a commercial shelf liner to make a comfortable, cushiony handle for your crochet hook.
I would imagine that you could do a lot of fun decorative things with the shelf liner, such as dyeing it somehow, to make a really cool look for this type of handle. The article is written by Andee Graves.
Decoupage Crochet Hook
The items in this set were part of a giveaway over at Kathy’s Victorian Tatted Lace. She says there that the crochet hook has been decoupaged.
If you’d like to try this for yourself, here’s a tutorial by another creative blogger!
Bent Crochet Hook
This image comes from a fun tutorial by Girl on The Rocks for making a crochet hook that can go on a keychain.
Couldn’t the same concept be used to bend the bottoms of your crochet hooks into decorative designs?
Wooden Crochet Hooks
If you know how to work with wood then you can make your own wooden crochet hooks or your own wooden hook handles.
The YouTube video below shows a lot of creative options, including using a chopstick, a spoon handle, and a pencil.
Some Additional Ideas
Looking for a quick and simple way to personalize your hook? How about these:
- Putting stickers on them
- Tying a ribbon around the base
- Painting them
What other ideas do you have for decorating your crochet hooks to make them special? Share ideas in the comments below!
Once you have your cool handmade hooks, you will probably want to display them. Check out 10 smart ways to organize crochet hooks for some display ideas.
Thanks so much for including me in your post Kathryn – you have brightened my day. :)
@dlyrs Too bad it’s not Tuesday then I could have been part of your terrific Two on Tuesday happiness. :)
Thanks for letting me know you had this on your blog. There are some great ideas here for crochet hooks.
The decoupaged crochet handle is a wooden dowel rod, cut to length, ends rounded off and a hole for the slightly shortened metal crochet hook drilled at one end. My husband did it for me :-) Then I just decoupaged the handle using Mod Podge like you would for any other decoupage project using the same material I used for the shuttle and the needle case. I think it came out rather nice.
Wanda
wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for sharing the additional information about how you made the decoupaged handle. I’ve actually never done any decoupage myself although I’ve seen it on craft shows and blogs and whatnot. What a great way to personalize a crochet hook!!
For those without a handy husband, you could start with a “comfort grip” hook (scroll down to handles
http://www.freshstitches.com/ultimate-crochet-hook-review-anatomy-in-action/
and decoupage the existing handle.
That decoupage hook is very pretty..?
I love these ideas! Thanks for finding and sharing them.
@undergroundcrafter Thanks – it was so neat to see what people do with their hooks since I haven’t done anything with my own!
I love these ideas! Thanks for finding and sharing them.
i found a similar idea using pencil grips at http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Easy-Comfort-Crochet-Hooks/#step1 but in this one, they suggest wrapping tape around the hook until the pencil grip stays in place. I have tried just sliding the grips on but without a wide enough thickness, i spent most of my time chasing the grip up and down my hook. I’m going to break out the masking tape and see how that works. I don’t know how much longer my hand can handle a plain hook. i might try the polymer clay idea too! thanks for the ideas.
Although the picture are missing, the Dyakraft tutorial is available through the Internet Archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20100109192953/http://www.dyakcraft.com/feltedhookhandle.htm
http://crochetat70degreesnorth.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-decorate-crochet-hooks-by.html Decoupage instructable.
I make handles from scrap leather. I start to wind triangles of leather tip cut off, after superglue them to the handle, small side on the hook, and like paperbeads wind them to the size I like, then I cut the leather off. I roll then back and mark where I intend to make holes, punch the holes and whip stitch together…
Gives a great handling and feeling…maybe I finish with some glue to make certain the hook doors not swirl while I’m working.