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Hero Crochet Hooks...I'd like to know more about them, maybe buy some?


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So my husband's granny died several years back. His papa is still alive, but is no longer living in their home due to health reasons. Recently we (the family) got together and had to liquidate the estate. I inherited Granny's crafting supplies, especially her crocheting tools, as I'm a crocheter and it was something we both shared and my in-laws cared very much to make sure I took possession of her hooks and tools.

In her hook collection (and oh boy, did I find a lot of things I knew nothing about, more things I'll need help with, trust me) I found a couple hooks branded Hero. I'd never even heard of the brand! They were interesting. But I could find next to nothing about that brand online! In fact, the most information I found about that brand was from an old thread in this forum from years ago and that's how I ended up joining discovering this forum and wanting to join in the first place.

Does anyone know about the Hero brand of crochet hooks? Who here owns any?

While I can't buy any at the moment (financial crisis due to an extremely bad actor), would anyone be willing to sell any Hero hooks they have in their stash? (I'm more interested in the yarn hooks, not thread hooks, but I'm not necessarily against buying thread hooks.)

Google has really been failing me about these hooks! I feel like the knowledge of this brand primarily exists through living word, with crocheters themselves that were either alive while the brand was still available, or know of the brand from relatives/crocheters before them.

Any information anyone could provide would be extremely appreciated. Please tell me what you know, if anything!

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I probably participated in that thread you found.  I love my Hero (yarn size) hook set, which were a Christmas present probably in 1970.   

Sorry, not selling any!  Boyes are fine, and are what I use for my thread hooks and size gaps in my Hero set, but I borrowed some calipers a while back and found out that Boye sizing is not as accurate as the Hero hooks.  

 

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I went back and checked, you didn't, actually.

I want to get a pair of calipers, just out of curiosity. But on the very rare occasion that I follow a pattern, I almost never follow the gauge for it. I grab one of my bigger hooks and just start going. It usually turns out just fine if the pattern doesn't confuse me into oblivion. 

One of the Hero hooks I have has been used so much that it has cracks in it and has warped. My husband and I plan on making an ancestor shrine, and when we're finally able to, I plan on getting a small display case meant for a pen and put the damaged hook in it and put it under his granny's portrait. It was her hook, and she continued using it, furthering the damage to it, but smoothing the metal and keeping it usable. 

Well, usable in her grip. She used a pencil grip, I use a knife grip. If I manage to force a pencil grip, the hook can be used. In a knife grip, it's unusable. But a pencil grip is extremely painful for me and I can't sustain it. So I think retiring what was obviously one of her favorite hooks and placing it in an ancestor shrine would be the best thing to do with it. 

 

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Aw, sweet to keep a remembrance of your husband's grandmother.  Cracks--wow!  I can sort of see warped, the thin bamboo needles I knit socks with are quite warped but still functional (see below).  I have a pencil grip for crochet (overhand for knit, go figure) but never warped any hooks so far.  I do a lot of small scale threadwork doilies on steel hooks a lot smaller than those needles, but steel is tougher stuff.

Re: "if the pattern doesn't confuse me to oblivion" -- not sure if you are a newish crocheter, but my experience learning crochet pre-internet with no one to ask if I got stuck:  Sometimes when I find a pattern line / that is confusing to me/ I split it up into steps / like I'm doing in this sentence / so I can follow it easier.  Another thing is to follow exactly what a pattern line says, even if a first reading doesn't make sense; don't assume it said Y but meant X without testing y first; sometimes it really meant X after all,  but most of the time Y is correct and I learn a new 'thing'.  I mostly avoid self-published patterns unless I am familiar with the designer, there are a lot of ghastly self published patterns out there.

 

sock needles.jpg

Edited by Granny Square
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Oh, I loved Husband's granny as well. We had a good relationship. Losing her was so hard. There are still days that we just break down over missing her, five years later. They were close, and we didn't get to spend as much time together as we wanted to. 

Yes, cracks! I'll try to take some pictures that show the cracks decently enough to see what I mean. They're amazing to witness.

Definitely not new to crocheting. I've been crocheting for nearly twenty-six years, lol. Self-taught through books and a lot of experimentation and trial and error back in the 90s. I didn't even have reliable internet access until after 2006. And couldn't watch videos online regularly until sometime in 2007-08. I had a couple instructional books that didn't tell you the difference between UK and US and one came with US hooks but used UK terminology and none of them were very kid-friendly.

I don't really question what the pattern is telling me to do, really. At least, I don't think I do? I mean, I'll go, "Is this what it's asking me to do?" And then try to do what the pattern is asking, and see if it looks right. Not think that it was asking something else of me.

I really struggle with patterns, part of which being reading them. And yes, I absolutely break them up. In fact, I have to completely rewrite them because I can't read them in real time while actually crocheting. While you might not be able to tell it by chatting with me (because I've never believed it to be a legitimate excuse for poor writing), I'm dyslexic. Some days are much worse than others. Depending on how much pain I'm in from other physical issues I have, I may not be able to cope with it as well. So I really struggle to read patterns.

What I have to do is go in and read the pattern and carefully (and using a terminology/shorthand reference, even though I do know a good deal of it) translate the pattern into longhand. While doing so, I also break it up into smaller steps, like what you were showing.

I also suffer from a lot of brain fog when it comes to certain kinds of things, and I just think crochet patterns happen to fall into that category. I have trouble learning new stitches, and if I don't frequently do certain stitches, I'll forget them. I used to have my own stitch. See, I used to hdc incorrectly, and it kinda became my own personal stitch. It looked beautiful, especially in self-striping and boutique style yarns. I'd be complimented on it constantly. It was my signature thing. For a decade. I made a couple projects out of sc and dc, and because of circumstances, after that, I stopped crocheting almost completely for about two years. The things I worked on during that period of time I was making out of dc. So I didn't use my stitch, which a crochet friend called the J stitch, after me.

I can't do the J stitch anymore. I can't remember how I did it. The stitch that was my signature, I can't do it.

I think there's something in my head when it comes to crochet that's just...broken. I'm happy and lucky to be able to do what I'm able to do. If something cool happens, I need to document it, or I'll lose it forever. And if it's a stitch I'm trying to learn, I need to keep in practice, because I'll lose it.

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Videos are readily available on YouTube. It's just a lot of them are pretty terrible quality. Sometimes I find really great quality diagrams. I actually have a stitch book that has really good photos/diagrams. I just...need to find it again.

I don't go terribly out of my way to learn too many stitches at once. Honestly, I crochet because it's relaxing to me and it helps my irrationally out of control anxiety (I don't respond well to medication). So it's not the worst thing in the word. Yeah, there's stuff I really wish I could do, but y'know, sometimes, with the right yarn, the right hook, and consistent tension, even the most basic of stitching can make a beautiful blanket. And when you finish that blanket, and it feels soft, and the weight is nice, and it's snuggly, and you just can't wait to hurry up and cuddle up underneath it?

Yeah, that's pretty awesome and rewarding.

Please, don't feel sorry for me about it! It's frustrating, sure. But I love crochet. Even if I can only do the basics. A soft, snuggly blanket is still a soft, snuggly blanket. Love still went into making it. My in-laws still don't understand how I can spend hours and hours with 'a little stick and string' and make a scarf, let alone a blanket.

That's plenty good enough for me! Everything else is just a bonus!

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  • 2 months later...

My very first hook I purchased was a Hero hook.  I have always really liked it's shape which is somewhat between a Bates hook and a Boye hook.  Sort of a flatter wider head.  I have noticed that the newer Hero hooks began to resemble a Boye hook and lost their unique look.

I have since collected a ton of thse hooks on eBay and could probably dig out a full set of them without even noticing it. 

Aero brand (generally from the UK/Canada) is a similar shape to the old Aero.

Some of the Clover hooks definitely look like the old Hero; however the Clover hooks have handles that are much shorter than the Hero hooks.

If you can find a vintage Pryms set off eBay and look at the hook heads, sometimes they look like Hero hooks.

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  • 4 months later...
On 9/30/2021 at 6:24 AM, MaryPat said:

 

I have since collected a ton of thse hooks on eBay and could probably dig out a full set of them without even noticing it. 

I have a lot too but I cant seem to find a D or any sizes above a K.  I didn't even know they came larger than K until I was asked to trade for one.  I love love my Heros they are so nice and slippery.  I like the Clover Amour too...they are similar in slippyness (yes its a word). 

I do have a K that is huge, bigger and taller than all my others....one of these days I will find a caliper and size it properly.

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@Granny square. 

  I mostly avoid self-published patterns unless I am familiar with the designer, there are a lot of ghastly self published patterns out there.

No kidding.  I could regale you with stories about ruined projects thanks to "designers" who were so proud of their creations.  Maybe I should stick to patterns from full time professional designers working for the yarn companies.  

 

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  • 10 months later...

I was also looking up hero crochet hooks after I inherited my great grandmothers and absolutely fell in love. They are my favorites to crochet with. @GalaxyCrocheter I’m in the same boat as you that the only thing I could find about the hero brand was on this website in 2008! So strange. I have been going to antique stores to find old hooks, in hopes of finding more heros. In the process I’ve gotten very into collecting antique hooks. Currently trying to find resources about how to date them and figure out what brands are from where and where they have gone over the years. Also trying to learn how best to clean some of this nasty hooks I’ve gotten that haven’t been taken care of 😝

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