I have a fun giveaway today for all my fellow crocheters out there. A few weeks ago, I received a crochet hook with a custom handle made for me by Lisa Clarke of Polka Dot Cottage, asking me to try it out. The tiny crochet hooks (US#9/1.25mm) that I use to crochet stones are tricky to get used to using, their tiny handles aren't much to hold on to and they easily turn while I'm crocheting. What a perfect product upgrade! Lisa's crochet hooks have a custom made polymer clay handle that makes crocheting with steel hooks much easier and more comfortable. I asked Lisa to tell me a little about how she came to create these hooks. Here's her story:
I've been a polymer clay artist since 1996, but I only learned to crochet about a year ago, when I inherited a big pile of my grandmother's granny squares. Since then, I've become thoroughly "hooked" on crochet. It seemed a natural progression to merge the two interests into a polymer-covered crochet hook!
I work mostly with the millefiori technique, which was borrowed from the glass technique of the same name. I build "canes" of clay that have a pattern running through them, and I use slices from those canes as veneers to decorate a variety of objects. You can think of a millefiori cane like a tube of slice-and-bake holiday cookie dough. When you slice through it, the image on the cross-section is the same no matter where you cut.
My canes are nearly all square-shaped, and feature repeating patterns, which makes them great for tiling thin slices together into a large patterned sheet. I can do several things with this sheet, including wrapping it around the handle of a metal crochet hook.
Once the hooks are cured, I spend a lot of time sanding them and buffing them to make them super smooth, and give them a nice shine.
I have built a rather massive collection of millefiori canes over the years, and any of the patterns may be used on the handle of a crochet hook. I’ve tried to keep the custom ordering process simple and minimize the choices so as not to overwhelm anyone. But those who are not easily overwhelmed, are welcome to chat with me about other options any time!
Lisa has graciously offered to give away one custom crochet hook to one lucky commenter (U.S. only please), just leave a comment on this post about what crochet project you're working on that you'd love to have a hook like this for. In addition, she is offering a 10% discount on any custom crochet hook ordered by wise craft readers until 10/31/12 (just enter "WISECRAFT" at checkout).
10/22/12- Giveaway has been closed and winner has been chosen, thank you to all who entered.
