hello from an English bloke.

[Jonzjob]

Hi folks, my name is John and  I am joining you because I am looking out for some information on the tools that you all use. I am retired and my hobby/passion is wood turning. I took early retirement after hurting me back and decided to make wooden toys, that was 25 years ago! I more or less fell into turning and got totally hooked (oh, not really meant to be a pun) and now I spend as much time in my workshop as I can. I am still as much surprised when I stop my lathe as I was when I started as every piece of wood is different.

I have recently dropped into the crochet world by a lady at a craft fair we were participating in asking me if I could make some hooks for her after she saw an example I had done. She was running the next stall to me and was doing spinning and crochet using her own thread. 

Firstly, I am not trying to sell on here, but as I am totally new to crochet, apart from knowing that unlike knitting you only use one hook and not two. I am trying to find out what the most popular shapes and sizes are and just how the hook end is formed so that I can get it right. I hope that you can help me please ? The hooks are really pleasing things to turn and I love working with wood. I have a hobby web site that explains much more of what I do and if I am allowed to show it on here then please just let me know?

I don't know if I can post a photo yet, but I will try? If it works then these are the hooks I made for the lady at the craft fair and the stand is one that I have done to see what it was like. Would this be the correct type of thing?

Please be kind as I am delicate :-0

[Tampa Doll]

Hi Welcome  to Crochetville from the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Grab your yarn and hooks, put your feet up and sit a spell.

We are always so glad to meet new friends.😁

Love your hooks.  I especially love the pipe holder you used to show them off.  I have seen a couple of them on the net for sale.

We do have a special place to show and sell your hooks, as you will see as you traverse the site.

We always welcome new members and especially men.

[Tampa Doll]

You will find the spaces under Crochet Discussions.

[Jonzjob]

Hi Tampa D and thank you for your welcome. I will have a good look around the site and find out what goes where, ta.

The holder is not for pipes and I had never thought of that? It is specifically for hooks and is similar to some that I saw on the etsy site, but it doesn't matter. I agree, they do look nice in it don't they.

As for the mechanics of crochet? I think that I will stick to my lathe at the moment, but one of my ambitions, apart from growing old disgracefully, is to make a spinning wheel. It's been a long time ambition, but I hope to get there some day?

[magiccrochetfan]

Your hooks and holder are really pretty, the colors and grains of the woods you used.  What are the numbers written on them, is it the mm size?  

 

[Granny Square]

Welcome!  Your hooks are lovely!  And I'm pleased to see that they are tapered style!  (a little crochet humor...see below)

There are 2 styles of hooks, tapered and inline--give them a google, there are a lot of sites that explain the difference.  The 'humor' is, crocheters tend to very strongly prefer one style or the other; I'm in the tapered camp, I really think it's all about what you learned on and are used to, they both 'work' equally well, but if your motor memory is accustomed to one type it's hard to use the other.  

There's also 2 basic types of 'grips' that crocheters use - overhand (where wide handles like your's work great) and like a pencil, where a slender shaft works better (but you could do a fancy finial beyond the grip area).

Another turned-wood item that would appeal to crocheters and knitters is a nostepinne. Give it a google, the one in that article is fairly plain but some have fancier handles that might be fun to woodsmith.

[Jonzjob]

3 hours ago, magiccrochetfan said:

Your hooks and holder are really pretty, the colors and grains of the woods you used.  What are the numbers written on them, is it the mm size?  

 

Well thank you ladies. What a lovely welcome. Yes Magic, the numbers are the diameter of the hooks. I was asked for 5, 6 and 7mm. The 5s are in ash, 6s in black walnut and the 7s in beech. The stand is black walnut too. It's a lovely wood to turn and I think that it smells quite like chocolat when it is turned.

 

Granny S, that looks a bit like a tool for sorting out a stomach problem, but looking at it I can understand how it works in its correct context  :-)) Nice and easy to turn too. Good practice for my skew chisels!

[Terri/LadySorce]

Howdy from Oklahoma

 Welcome to Crochetville

[Jonzjob]

Thank you Terri. You lot certainly seem to be a friendly bunch 😘

By the way, my avitar is one of the better photos of me 🙃

Edited March 13, 2020 by Jonzjob