Is there anything "wrong" with how i crochet?

[onidrase]

I first learned how to crochet from my aunt, and after a while of doing what she taught me, i branched off into looking at videos online to learn new patterns and stitches that she didn't show me.

 

After a while I began to notice that the way I feed my yarn into the project is nothing like how others do it. While pretty much everyone twists the hook a lot to wrap the yarn around the hook and pull through, I tend to use my hand to wrap around the yarn and the hook does little more than pull through the stitches. Its hard to explain.

 

considering I've seen nobody else use this method or even mention it when i've been looking at videos on how to "properly" hold the yarn, it's making me a little nervous about if this is a bad habit that needs to be broken.

 

I've been stressing about it a bit and have been looking at several other ways to hold the yarn but every type i try my hand just ends up feeling crampy, my stitches are either way too loose or way too tight, and my motions feel a lot more jagged to me. I have a harder time keeping the yarn coming in, as i feel like it snags to my fingers a lot with a lot of the methods of holding it. I like the way i go about things now, but i don't want it to become somehow problematic in the future when i try to do more complex projects.

 

here's a quick video i took, not the best example since i was paying too much attention to everything but my crocheting and having a hard time keeping in frame,but it should give an idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RU-SMARkno

 

so is this a totally find way to go about things, or should i keep trying to find a new way to hold my yarn that does work for me?

 

Thank you.

[Granny Square]

Coming from someone with tendonitis and now arthritis (no fair!) issues - "if it feels good, do it" - crochetwise that is - if it is comfortable and gives you the right end-product, why change?

 

It can't hurt to try something different, who knows maybe you'll find a style you like better, but don't feel you need to just because your style isn't the most common.

 

It looks like your aunt (or whoever taught her) may have been a knitter too, your style looks a little like English style knitting (throwing).

[mandymae]

I recently taught a friend to crochet. I am one to say do what makes you comfortable when you crochet as long as the basics are right. She started crocheting exactly the way you do. By "throwing" the yarn around the hook. I don't crochet that way at all and I don't know how she came up with the idea. It makes her comfortable to do so though. It drives me nuts to watch her, but her finished items look fine.

 

Bottom line... If it works for you don't feel like you have to change it.

 

When I teach people to crochet, a lot of people start with "throwing" the yarn around the hook, but most eventually get to a point to where they really use the hook to push and pull. If it's not slowing you down or driving you crazy, I don't see why it would be a problem.

 

I've only seen one or two other people hold the working yarn they way I do. I crochet left-handed and knit Continental the usual way right-handers do. When knitting, I wrap the yarn around the pinky of my left hand. I've never been able to hold the yarn that way for crocheting. I hold it between my index and middle fingers, sort of as if I was holding a cigarette. (At least I think that's how people hold cigarettes; I've never smoked.) I hold the edge of my project that I'm working into between my thumb and other last two fingers of my right hand.

 

I do it that way, too! I try to teach people to wrap the yarn around their pinky, and most do, but I've tried and can't get it!

[LaVonneK]

Hey if its comfortable that way keep doing it.  I am a right hander, knife hold,  I tend to hold and push the loops around on my crochet hook with my finger and my left hand my thumb and middle finger tends to hold the stitch im working on.  My friend says I crochet weird, but its comfortable for me.  She does the pencil hold and it looks very dainty how she does it.  She's German and that was something they learned in school same with knitting.

[Katieallen311815]

wow, good discussion going on. I tend to agree with those that say it really isn't important how you hold the yarn, i taught myself, and  tend to toss it over the hook, much like Amy, I too hold the edge of the peice with thumb and finger. Im considered pretty fast, so speed has never been a problem, and to try to feed the hook whilst holding the yarn a more conventional way, is much slower for me, probably only cause Im not used to it though. My sister, who also crochets, does a bit of a different way too, than conventional and it has never slowed her down.She used to worry about not doing it the way I do, and I told her, your way works for you, mine works for me, don't worry about it, crochet is very much a personal thing, and I will also  restate, that it is whatever you are comfortable with, nothing more, nothing less, as long as the stitchs are coming out as they should, so be it. You can always try to retrain yourself, but I found it is tedious and slow, so always fall into my old habits. ah well, to each his own....   

[FrLopLady]

speed might be the only thing that maybe would be a reason to change.  That said there are a lot of people who can't crochet fast in any method and still enjoy the journey!  I have seen a person that crochets as you do, but she was very slow at it.  You don't seem to have that problem much, but throwing the yarn in knitting is slower than the continental method too.

 

If it isn't broken, don't fix it!

[wheat]

From watching your video, it seems that you may well have a lot better control of yarn and by extension, your tension/gauge as you work.  With that thought, it may be you are really better off than those who have been taught more traditional ways to manage their yarn.  The way you hold your hook may also give you more versatility and I would be willing to bet that whomever taught you also Knit, since there is a very strong similiarity between the nicknamed "Knife" hold and how one holds Knitting Needles. So again, your way may be better than others.

 

To the best these of my knowledge there are no "Standards" in the true sense of that work, The Craft Yarn Council's are really voluntary and were more or less developed so that "designers" had something to work with that benefited the sale of "Craft" Yarn. 

 

Again, to the best of my knowledge the only standards that exist (and are mandated for publication by Japanese publishers) are related to Stitch Symbols and to a small extent, the diameter of their hooks. 

 

This lack of REQUIRED Standards is why giving the Diameter of a hook used is essential by deisgners to best support those who would use their pattern - but still not mandatory.

 

IF what you are doing is comfortable for you AND the fabric you create "matches" your expectation, THEN there is no reason to change.

 

It may mean that you will have to work thru some issues with instructions from time to time because the illustrations in a pattern or book may not match your style.  Should you give the other method a try?  Maybe, but I don't think you need to be concerned any more than you should be concerned if the pattern gauge says you should a 5mm hook to get 4 to the inch stiches, but you find you need to use a 4.75mm hook - so long as the fabric looks right, ends up with a satisfactory hand and texture - what you do is not wrong, just different and quite possibly better. 

 

The important thing is this is supposed to be fun, so do it the way the allows you to

 

Enjoy The Making

 

Wheat

[Amy]

I have actually seen quite a few knitters crochet by "throwing" the yarn around the hook, they same way they do while knitting.

 

If this method of holding the hook and yarn work for you, it's not causing any kind of hand pain, you're satisfied with your speed and ability to maintain proper tension, then keep on doing what you're doing.

 

I totally agree with Edie Eckman that it doesn't matter how you hold the hook and yarn, as long as you're able to form the stitches properly. You could crochet with your feet if you had to. (I have a video somewhere of designer Tammy Hildebrand doing this. She was showing us what she had to do when she had a hand/arm injury and had to get a lot projects done by a deadline. She couldn't use one arm at all, so she used her feet to finish the projects for photography.

 

I've only seen one or two other people hold the working yarn they way I do. I crochet left-handed and knit Continental the usual way right-handers do. When knitting, I wrap the yarn around the pinky of my left hand. I've never been able to hold the yarn that way for crocheting. I hold it between my index and middle fingers, sort of as if I was holding a cigarette. (At least I think that's how people hold cigarettes; I've never smoked.) I hold the edge of my project that I'm working into between my thumb and other last two fingers of my right hand.

 

My method probably won't work for a lot of people, but it works very well for me.

[magiccrochetfan]

Again, here's my take on this:  IF a person wants to follow patterns and create articles that look like things they see friends make and see in photos in books/online, then it is necessary to crochet the standard sttiches.  That is, the stitch itself needs to be structured as the standardized stitch.  If on the other hand a person wants to create original art pieces, sometimes called freeform, they can do whatever they want, make any kind of "stitch" or knot or whatever holds the yarn (or other material) in the configuration they want.  

 

Making a standardized stitch depends on the way the yarn itself is looped and pulled through other loops.  It DOES NOT depend on the way the hook and yarn are held.  A quote from Edie Eckman's book Crochet Answer Book, page 16 " Hold the hook in your dominant hand ini the way that is most comfortable for you.  The most common ways to hold a hook are shown below.  [illustration of the pencil hold and knife hold.] If you hold the hook a different way from those shown, and it works for you, then don't feel you must change your technique."  (Italics added by me. )   And on page 18   "It's okay to hold the hook and the yarn in any way that is comfortable for you....As long as you are happy with the consistency of the stitches and are comfortable while you are crocheting, you are correct."  

 

One of my favorite new reference book, Margaret Hubert's Complete Photo Guide to Crochet, has very clear photos of how to form the stitches.  The photos show the yarn and the hook and each step of a stitch is shown.  But there are no hands in the photos, and no discussion of ways to hold yarn and hook.  I think the message is clear that the way one holds the hook and yarn is immaterial and all that matters is how the stitch is formed.  Not so long ago, the knife hold was considered a non-standard hold and only the pencil hold was considered correct.  

 

Onidrase, you might want to look for these two books at your local library and they are well worth investing in for your personal bookshelf too.  Even though there are many videos etc online, i still think that a good reference book is esssential 

[RoseRed]

Actually, there are two standardized ways of holding the hook.  One is the knife hold and the other is the pencil hold.  They have names.  They're defined.  They're standardized.

 

There are also standardized definitions of how to create the basic stitches.

 

You didn't understand what I was saying.  If a pattern is using a standardized version of a stitch (which most of them do) and a person is not working with that specific stitch - the pattern is not going to turn out the way it's supposed to.

 

When talking about standardization it's also important to point out that US and UK standardized definitions of stitches are different.  If you don't know which you are working with and use one for the other the pattern will not come out the way it's supposed to.

 

The CGOA and the Craft Yarn Council have worked very hard to standardize and catalog these things so that people today can have an equal understanding of them.  Open any instructional book and they all pretty much say the same thing.  A dc is a dc.  Unless you're working from a UK pattern and then it's a sc.

In the years that I've been here I've found that the people that have the hardest time following a pattern are the ones that don't know the basics.  Once they do - it's a whole new world of creative endeavors.  I'm sorry if you find it off-putting. It is what is it.

[Aisles]

There is on 'Standardized way to hold a crochet hook or yarn or the material and saying so just puts people off from crocheting.

 

And holding the items different ways does not effect one's success or not to follow a pattern.

[RoseRed]

There may not be a 'correct' way but there is a standardized way.  If a person wants to be able to follow patterns then learning the standardized way is beneficial to them.

 

When I teach people to crochet - I teach them the 'correct' way and when they're comfortable I encourage them to play around and experiment.  Once you get the basics down - the world is open to you.

[Aisles]

There is no correct way.

 

Everyone person ends up doing it the way they feel most comfortable with.

 

If doing it one ways hurts your wrist or fingers then don't do it find another way.

 

It really annoys me when people say oh but your doing it wrong when all that matters is the stitches come out and are as neat as possible and you are happy with the overall end work.

 

Don't worry about how others hold the hook, the item or yarn find what is best for you and enjoy what you are doing

[deedes]

I used to crochet that same way for years.  Its just been within this past year that I changed.  One day I started doing it the "other" way, and now find that I like it better.  It didn't take long to re-train myself, I just made a conscious effort for a few days.  But I agree with most everyone else, whatever works for you.

[Shining_Star]

I recently taught a friend to crochet. I am one to say do what makes you comfortable when you crochet as long as the basics are right. She started crocheting exactly the way you do. By "throwing" the yarn around the hook. I don't crochet that way at all and I don't know how she came up with the idea. It makes her comfortable to do so though. It drives me nuts to watch her, but her finished items look fine.

 

Bottom line... If it works for you don't feel like you have to change it.

[sarisue]

I comes down to - do you want to learn to do it correctly or are you happy with the way you do it?

I agree

 Yes if it works that's good but If you don't try different ways at least a few times you'll never know if you could have found a better way. When I started mega years ago I did it the knife hold but had a book showing the pencil hold and was determended to do it that way and liked it a lot better.

[Gingerbread Girl]

If it's what works for you, then it's "right". Everyone does things their own way. There ultimately is not true right or wrong. I do not hold the working yarn in quite the way most people do, but it's what works for me so I go with it. As long as you are happy with how you crochet that's all that matters! 

[LI Roe]

As long as you are happy with the results and it looks like it is supposed to without changing the look of the piece, I would continue the way you are going. If you notice in complex projects, that it is totally different, then you may have to change your way. But I agree, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

I also agree, if your foundation chain is too tight, try upping the size of your hook to start it.

 

Just don't let it stress you out. Crocheting is supposed to be fun, not stressful. Happy crocheting.

 

LI Roe

[RoseRed]

I comes down to - do you want to learn to do it correctly or are you happy with the way you do it?

[Real Deal]

If your method is producing the correct stitches, then there is nothing wrong with it. What I am seeing is that you are going through a lot more action than is actually necessary, but if you are comfortable with it, then that is just your way. I wouldn't worry about it if your completed pieces come out correct.

[magiccrochetfan]

having a too-tight beginning chain is very common.  the cure is to use a hook one or two sizes bigger for the chain.  this is what i do as my foundation chains are always too tight compared to the rest of my crocheting.  

 

Also there are foundation stitches that eliminate the need for a chain at the beginning http://snuffykin.livejournal.com/43642.html

i still usually have to use a bigger hook for this but it is a nice way to start.  

[Zhaylin Black]

What's that saying?  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" ?  If it works for you and you've had no trouble with your projects, don't sweat it

But I know what you mean.

I've recently learned how to finger crochet and I do it different than what I've seen.

But I figure- so long as the end result is the same, then it's all good 

[onidrase]

Welcome to the ville

 

I'll be honest with you, it would drive me crazy to crochet that way.  I very much use the hook to pull the yarn, though i do use my other hand to make tiny adjustments to the yarn position.  But that's me ;-)   And I have to say, when I try to crochet a different way it is very hard for me, so I can certainly understand the difficulty you've had in trying to work differently.  

 

Here is the important question:  How do your stitches look?  When you look at a photo of a finished piece in a pattern book, or in a stitch dictionary, do your stitches look like the stitches in the photo?  If so, you have correctly formed stitches.  (actually you could form the stitches any old way, totally unlike any thing in a book, but then you wouldn't be able to follow patterns or replicate things you see that inspire you.)  As far as making more complicated things, I don't know what you have made so far and what stitches you have learned, but most projects are made up of the basic stitches or variations of them.  the complexity comes in in the way the stitches are arranged, and the arrangement won't be affected by your working method.

 

Second question:  are you satisfied with your speed?  If these 2 things are true, then i see no reason to change your method.  (in the video your speed looks reasonable to me, and anyhow crocheting is not a race....but it's nice to feel satisfied with one's own speed.)  

 

so that's my 2 cents worth!  lol

The only issue I've had as far as i can see is when i make longer chains, my projects kind of curl in like so: http://i.imgur.com/IvhtvD1.jpg

 

it's just a slight curl at the chain stitch which i just recently started to look into, and i believe it's due to my chains being too tight, rather than inconsistencies in tension with the rest of the stitches. Usually the curl disappears after i stretch it a bit, and i'm not sure if this is normal or not, but it can be rather annoying to me.

 

As far as speed goes, i'm not super fast, but i'm faster than i am in the video, since when i was recording i kept staring at my phone to make sure it was actually recording as i worked along,so i missed a few stitches here and there.

 

i think overall it just grew kinda nerve wrecking to me to see that pretty much nobody else online crochets the same way i do

[magiccrochetfan]

Welcome to the ville

 

I'll be honest with you, it would drive me crazy to crochet that way.  I very much use the hook to pull the yarn, though i do use my other hand to make tiny adjustments to the yarn position.  But that's me ;-)   And I have to say, when I try to crochet a different way it is very hard for me, so I can certainly understand the difficulty you've had in trying to work differently.  

 

Here is the important question:  How do your stitches look?  When you look at a photo of a finished piece in a pattern book, or in a stitch dictionary, do your stitches look like the stitches in the photo?  If so, you have correctly formed stitches.  (actually you could form the stitches any old way, totally unlike any thing in a book, but then you wouldn't be able to follow patterns or replicate things you see that inspire you.)  As far as making more complicated things, I don't know what you have made so far and what stitches you have learned, but most projects are made up of the basic stitches or variations of them.  the complexity comes in in the way the stitches are arranged, and the arrangement won't be affected by your working method.

 

Second question:  are you satisfied with your speed?  If these 2 things are true, then i see no reason to change your method.  (in the video your speed looks reasonable to me, and anyhow crocheting is not a race....but it's nice to feel satisfied with one's own speed.)  

 

so that's my 2 cents worth!  lol