Odyssey of a Super Hook

I adore working with wood...and crocheting...and graphing...and many, MANY other crafts! From time to time, I get some special requests~some are simple, and some are very challenging. I love them all! In the past year, we have been playing with wood a lot, making crochet hooks, both large and small...making buttons, keychain decorations, bobbers, and even fishing lures. I get requests often for specific sizes of hooks, and sometimes I can fill the requests perfectly, others, not so much! See~I don't FORCE the wood into an unnatural shape...if it has bumps and curves in it naturally, I leave them in. It adds character and beauty to the piece.
I have received a few requests that I first thought were outrageous! HUGE hooks! Like foot-long hooks, inches in diameter! Well~ok, if that's what you want, I'll see what I can do...and guess what? I did it! These hooks turned out amazing! Huge, beautiful, and USABLE! I decided to make a little photo journey of one of our more recent hook creations, and share it with you, so~here it is...

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This particular customer asked for a hook between 6" long, and 12" long, and about 4.5" around, which is roughly 1.5" across the width. So, the first task is to find a piece of wood that will work for those dimensions. We went with a nice piece of Cherrywood. I had my son cut it to about a 9" length, as that seemed a nice medium. Then, I started the rough sanding, to remove the bark, and any foreign debris.

After the rough sanding is done, you have to figure out the best placement for the "hook". This piece of wood was pretty straight, so I got off easy on that decision ;) So, I carved out the notch, that would become the business end of this stick. Now, on to shaping and smooth sanding! You need to be very careful, and very patient with this part of the creation. Shaping a hook is not always easy, as the wood has its own ideas to compete with. Once I got the end shaped the way I liked it, I started smooth sanding, and buffing it out. It's turning out very pretty so far...

Now that it's all sanded, and pretty, and shiny, I get the best part of the hook making process~TESTING IT! Oh wait~this is a SUPER HOOK...I need something more substantial than a simple worsted weight yarn...So, I find the bulkiest yarn I have on hand at this time~#6 bulky, Bernat Fab Faux. It's really soft, and fluffy, like fake fur :)

Make my slip stitch...this is HUGE! Slide it over the hook...nice...do a short chain~just 9 chains, as it's a test piece. Wow~these chains are really big, I hope this will work...Yarn over, and do half double crochet stitches all the way across. Yay! It's working nicely! It's a little awkward holding such a large hook, as I am used to much smaller ones, but I'm picking up a rhythm fairly fast here! Chain 1 at the end, and turn, and half double crochet across another row~BEAUTIFUL! The hook works! The stitches are uniform, and easy to manipulate the hook in. I have used nearly half this skein of yarn on just 2 short rows, but look how big it is~talk about some fast projects!
So~I am happy with the finished hook, and I take a picture to send to my customer...She is happy, too! The final step in my hook creation odyssey is to package it up, and send it on to its final destination. I hope this not-so-little beauty will bring its new owner many years of delight, and many beautiful projects!