Survey for individuals with arthritis and love to crochet for school project

[gabby9565]

Hello Friends!! For a school project, I am designing a crochet hook for individuals with arthritis to make crocheting more comfortable! Could you please spend 1 minute filling in my survey if you feel comfortable? It is anonymus too! Thank you soo much 🙂

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdA70ZU-2yb5rU2nTfxoxTCGhI35WbHQW41gzboyUQyN9nvow/viewform?usp=sf_link 

Edited February 25, 2022 by gabby9565
I wanted to fix the link so it is easier to press

[gabby9565]

Thank you to all the people who have filled in this survey! I am so grateful and I hope to design something impactful!

[Granny Square]

Comment:  I didn't take the survey, but I think there are aspects of the craft and tools missing in your survey, and some tweaking could give you more accurate results. 

There are 2 styles of crochet hook, inline and tapered, and 2 'families' of grips, overhand and pencil hold.  So you will have likely have respondents in 4 'groups' (tapered pencil, tapered overhand, inline pencil, inline overhand).  I am 'tapered pencil'.

The type of hook you are calling 'standard' is the tapered style, and some crocheters are adamantly 1 hook style or the other, so you might 'miff' some inline hook fans by calling tapered style 'standard'.   I totally understand 'different strokes for different folks', neither is better.  I can't tell whether the Clover Armour are tapered or inline, I've never used them.  Do some googling on 'tapered versus inline' and you will see the difference - for the common US brands, Bates hooks are inline, Boye hook are tapered.

There are some hook shafts that are very specifically designed for one hold or the other.  The 'standard' ones in your list, and probably the Clover Armor/soft grip would work with my pencil grip. 

If you are holding like a pencil, the big fat handles are hard on the hands & wrists - imagine writing notes in class for hours on end, before computers, with a heavy weight at the end of your pencil (my wrists hurt just thinking about it).  So, the 'big butts' on the Furls are a definite NO for me, and probably the Addi Swings (I haven't tried either, but the Furls especially make my hand hurt just looking at them) but overhand grippers will love them.

[greyhoundgrandma]

Just a comment on the option of one handle with interchangeable hooks: I (and I think many crocheters) often have multiple projects going at the same time and leave the hook with that project until it's completed. I have an interchangeable set but don't use it a lot. I do better with multiple hooks in the most frequently used sizes.

[gabby9565]

Thank you both for your feedback and insight! I will definitely consider pencil/knife grip + tapered/inline hooks @Granny Square and how interchangeable hooks aren't necessarily functional @greyhoundgrandma as I may have thought! Very grateful for your replies  

[Bailey4]

I bought a set of interchangeable hooks with a larger handle.  I love the handle my challenge is they aren't firm in the grips as the ones that are made individually as ergonomic hooks.  The hooks tend to slide out of the handle a bit and this makes them far less ergonomic as you have to focus on the hook staying in the handle in order to crochet.  They don't snap and hold. If I could find a set that was inline, had a comfortable handle, and didn't slide I would use them as I keep my hooks on a side table.  Unless a project is traveling with me I rarely put my hooks in a bag as they are likely to get lost in transit.

I'm a modified knife grip/inline hook user.  While I like a bigger handle to hold on to and have used Bates Bamboo and some of their other ergonomic hooks for years, there are hooks that are just too big for me like the furls and the addi. 

I'm not sure what your knowledge is of thread crochet hooks but having misplaced my Bates Bamboo thread hooks I replaced them with Tulip Etimo as I find it next to impossible to crochet without some kind of handle on the smaller thread hooks. Since my options for ergonomic hooks are limited for thread these work but not a fan of them for yarn.

Not a Clover user although many are.  I picked up one of their thread hooks and have since replaced it with a Tulip.  I found I was catching it too often to make it practical.  I am not a fan of their larger yarn hooks.  Again when it comes to what fits your hands it is personal.

[gabby9565]

@Bailey4Thank you so much! Your reply is extremely insightful and I will take this into account when designing  

[Granny Square]

Bailey4, getting a little off the OP's original topic - I'm a thready, and now that my hands are older (ahem) this works fairly well: I wrapped a couple of rubber bands around the 'grip' area of thread hook I usually use,  and slid one of those foam grip things that are for meant for pencils over the bands, which works for my pencil hold.  

For a little $ outlay, you might try the same thing but maybe 2 or 3 pencil grips end to end for your overhand grip - worst thing that can happen is you now have a supply of grips for pencils...

(the other solution is that I bought some Boye interchangeables, they have a 'G' hook size body, but the heads won't be user-friendly for you). 

[Bailey4]

Thanks for the suggestion.  The tulip etimo hooks are working for the thread hooks.  I tried a couple of different brands when I started working on Barbie clothes again last year and the Tulips worked out best.  I found the available sizes and they have their own storage box now so I don't lose them again.

For my yarn hooks I still have my Bates Bamboo hooks and I've picked up a couple of their ergonomic hooks that I love.

I picked up a set of inline interchangeable hooks a while back and I do love the handle but they don't lock in and they slip and that is just annoying.