How to Hold the Crochet Hook and Yarn

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In this lesson you will learn how to hold your crochet hook, the yarn and your crochet piece. You will be shown different variations for how to hold the crochet hook as well as variations for the yarn.

This lesson has been crocheted with the “Schachenmayr Catania” yarn in the color Golf Green with a 2.5 mm crochet hook.

How to Hold the Crochet Hook

For knowing which crochet hook suits you best, the first thing you need to know is how to hold a crochet hook. There are 2 commonly used ways how you can hold a crochet hook. Which hold you finally use for crocheting depends on you personally.

However, the holds shown here are not set in stone, which means that you will most likely use one of the following positions, but in your personal, adjusted version.

The Knife Hold

The first hold is the knife hold (or knife grip). With this you hold the crochet hook like a knife, with the thumb on the flattened space with an aluminum needle or on the rubberized handle of the crochet hook.

The Pen Hold

The second hold is the pen hold. Here you hold the crochet hook just as if you were holding a pencil. But as with the knife position, not everyone holds a pen exactly the same.

Neither of the two variants is better or worse but simply a personal decision which you can work better with and which feels better for your hand.

How to Hold the Yarn

Much more complicated than how to hold your crochet hook, may look how to hold the yarn. The whole thing may look a bit difficult at the beginning, but it is easier than it looks. It just needs a bit more practice until the yarn “flows” properly.

A good yarn hold is characterized by the fact that there is always enough thread to crochet with without you having to pull it out of the skein manually and that the thread itself has enough tension.

With every stitch you crochet, the thread on your hand gets shorter, so you always have to make sure that the thread is long enough for you to be able to yarn over with the crochet hook to continue crocheting.

In contrast to the crochet hook holds, there are countless variations on how to hold the yarn, which can be adjusted according to your own experience, so that they work best for you. The following variants represent in my opinion the “standard” ways of how to hold the yarn.

In general, regardless of how you hold the yarn, you should keep your yarn in a bowl with a smooth surface (for example a glass or ceramic bowl) so that the yarn can roll on without resistance.

How to Hold the Yarn Example 1

• Step 1: First you place the thread on the inside of your left hand.

• Step 2: Then place the thread between your little finger and ring finger.

• Step 3: Now position the thread from the inside of your hand over your index finger. And this is already the first variation how to hold your yarn.

• Step 4: If you have problems with this position, for example that the thread does not have enough tension, you can wrap the thread around your index finger a second time.

You can influence the tension and release of the thread in this position with your little finger and ring finger by holding the thread that runs between these two fingers more or less tight.

How to Hold the Yarn Example 2

Example 2 is similar to example 1, but this time do not wind the thread from the inside of the hand over the index finger, but hold the thread from below under the index finger and then over the index finger.

• Step 1: First, place the thread on the palm of your left hand.

• Step 2: Then lock the thread between the little finger and ring finger.

• Step 3: Lead the thread under the index finger and then over the index finger. This is already another variant you can use to hold your yarn.

• Step 4: If you have problems to hold the thread as described in step 3 by not being able to keep enough tension on the thread, try the position again by wrapping the thread around your index finger.

How to Hold the Yarn Example 3

The last example shows my personal method to hold the yarn. All the wrapping around the finger of the other examples disturb me personally and is stopping my crochet flow because the thread gets stuck too often. Therefore my yarn hold is kept very minimalistic.

• Step 1: Start again with the thread on the inside of your hand.

• Step 2: Afterwards enclose the yarn with the little finger. The little finger regulates the tension of the yarn and is loosened when more yarn is needed or closed when there is enough. The index finger is used for fine tuning to always get an approximately equal tension of the yarn by moving it closer to the crochet piece or away from it.

• Step 3: The middle finger and the ring finger are also closed now. However, the yarn is not hold tightly, but rather enclosed in a relaxed manner, since this is usually the most natural position for the hand. Finally, the thread is placed from the inside of the hand over the index finger. Done!

How to Hold your Crochet Work correctly

No matter which way of how to hold your yarn you choose, it is always important that you hold your crochet work with two fingers and close to the crochet hook to get enough tension to be able to crochet the stitches.

After you crochet some stitches, you always grab anew with two fingers as close as possible to your crochet hook, where the actual crocheting is happening, to keep the same level of tension with every stitch.

Difficulties at the Beginning

Finding the correct yarn hold may be more complicated than finding the correct crochet hook position. But this is not because a correct way to hold your yarn is particularly difficult but rather because of the possibilities to hold and wind the thread.

Don’t expect to find the perfect position on the first day, but try different positions and experiment. Many factors will influence one the way you hold it, be it slightly sweaty hands, hands that are too dry, the type of yarn, as well as your own hands and which fingerings are comfortable for you and which are not.

You will find out what exactly a good thread tension means as soon as you actually start crocheting. You will see for yourself when the tension of the thread is too taut or too loose while you are crocheting. This can only be found out by active crocheting.

Finally, this is how it can look if you hold the yarn and the crochet hook together. This pictures shows how I personally hold my yarn and crochet hook. Of course, this can look totally different for yourself in the end, with your own, most comfortably variants.

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