I have discovered a new method for making wood crochet hooks that I quite like. I flatten the middle of a dowel using a spindle sander, and flatten the end perpendicular to the middle with a band sander. This sets up the grip and the head of the hook at a comfortable angle. I then thin the neck to the size hook I need, and shape the head.

The bulk of the work goes into hand sanding the final shape. I use sandpaper rolled into tight tubes to access the inside of the hook, and flat sandpaper to smooth the outside shapes. I then use several grades of sandpaper until I’m down to 600 grit.

I’m teaching an amigurumi class that uses blanket yarn to make marshmallow animals. The blanket yarn calls for a larger hook than is in most hook sets, so I’m making the hooks the students will use. The next step is to finish and make them nice and shiny so they slide through the yarn loops.

I had the idea of heating up a metal stamp and burning a letter into a wood crochet hook to mark the size.

I tested several times on paper before trying to burn the letter on the wood. It works OK, but I’m not sure if I actually burned the wood, or just stamped on some soot. Either way, it is marked, but for future hooks I should be able to find a more elegant way.

I’m working on making wooden crochet hooks and noticed that when two hooks face each other, it forms a heart.

These hooks are of the larger variety for super bulky or blanket yarn. Where I like to finish my spindles with a clear matt finish, so they have some grip, the crochet hooks get a clear gloss so they slide through loops better. The hooks in the picture are unfinished, and only partially through their sanding process. It was truly an unexpected heart.