Umm. I just had to mime it, and it's kind of like when I'm turning a key. My thumbnail is facing the ceiling, the hook is held mainly between my thumb and index, and my other fingers curl around it a little. Is that underhand?

I'm self-taught too, I've never really watched anyone crochet.

Dawn

(Let's face it, with 3 kids under 6, 2 bulldogs and one hubbie, crochet... it's a sanity thing.)

I had to grab a pencil to try - no hooks within reach, yikes - and both ways felt familiar. I suspect I do both, but I wonder if it depends on thread/yarn. Pencil (underhand) hold for thread, overhand (knife) hold for yarn? Now it's driving me crazy, lol.

I hold my hook in a pencil (underhand) grip. My grip's a bit different than a standard pencil grip, because I hold a pencil in a non-standard way. :-D I've tried the overhand grip and it just doesn't work for me at all.

Connie

I hold mine overhand with the un-hooked end poking out between my ring finger and my pinkie for stability.

~Kristen~

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I'm an overhand crocheter. I've found it's easier for me because that's the way I hold knitting needles as well. It drives my mom nuts to see me do it because she's constantly telling me, "It's easier to hold a crochet hook like a pencil!" and I insist that it isn't. ;)

Hullo,

I'm an overhand crocheter too, and I could never get myself to hold the yarn the way the usual methods tell me to :). I don't wind the yarn around my fingers, I do something weird like hold the fabric between thumb and pinky, and yarn passes through index and its neighbor. I'd have to take a picture; it's funny how I can never remeber those things unless I mime them like the real thing.

I learned to knit too, and I'd really need to force myself to hold the yarn the 'traditional' way because even then I developped my own way of doing things. My mom even says I knit backwards (?). I don't hold both needles in my hands, one is resting against my lap with its pointy part up in the air while my hands and the other needle do the rest of the work...

Both my homegrown methods are *very* fast, though, so maybe it's an advantage, not a handicap.:P

Interesting topic! I think we'd need pics. It would be fun to compare pictures of us holding our work.

*wabi-sabi freeform alien hookperson*

Great idea!
Here's a photo of how I hold a hook.

~Kristen~

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I hold mine underhand. I tried holding it the other way but it seemed un-natural.

Me too Kristen, except the end of the hook ends up in the palm of my hand, not between my fingers. That's an interesting technique you have going there. I figure, what ever works, right?

Overhand crocheter here, and the hook just rests in the palm of my hand. I find it fascinating that people hold their hooks in so many different ways! I think some time for fun I should work up a block and change how I hold the hook ever few rows, to see how it comes out.

Another overhand crocheter chiming in. I hold it like a knife. The gal that taught me held it that way but she showed me both and let me choose whichever was best for me.

Tilou, you and I knit almost the same. My left needle doesn't quite sit upright, but pretty close. I also don't hold the yarn the way they teach in books. It seemed to take too much coordination (that I don't have).