Hi all. Fist time posting here. Looking forward to getting to know you all.


Currently, I am doing the typical grind of 8 hours a day for other people. I really want out of that.... BADLY!!! The thing I love most in life (besides hubby) is crocheting and crafts. I make clothing, accessories and custom baby blankets. I want to turn this into a business. My mom, she crochets, too, and my aunt quilts. We thought about starting a custom craft site. My mom, who does a lot with E-Bay started an online store... so this seems do-able.

I am a person who is always thinking of how to make things better. I came up with an idea to create a crochet hook with interchangeable hook heads. That way a person doesn't have to deal with hooks all over the place. Everything is in one nifty little pouch. I'm current;y looking into patenting this idea and getting money to create the prototypes. My question is (especially if you are one of the crafty types), does this sound like something that would take off? Please feel free to offer any suggesstions. Thank you.

Hi craftychck!

I think I am in some of the Yahoo! Groups with you. I think that is a novel idea... and maybe I can ask my dad what he thinks for you (he is a patent attorney for past 40 years). He usually can take a look at something and just KNOW whether it would work or not.

However, with that said, and to play devil's advocate for a moment.... to make it work, the forward half of the hook would have to be one of the different size hooks, right? Kind of like the forward portion of where one of those comfort cushions does NOT cover.

So, other than all of the hookheads being half-size, how does this really benefit you as an end user? You would still have to carry around the 10+ hookheads versus 10+ regular hooks. And some people may never change from their precious J hook.

I would personally be too concerned about losing one of the hookheads to buy something like this unless replacement hookheads were EASILY acquired.

What kind of retail price tag are you thinking it will have?
Will the hookheads be easy to buy replacements?
And if so, for how much?

I was thinking of keeping them in a small case(smaller than most hook cases). Considering that these will be 1/2 size and all, I thought that was reasonable.

I was thinking of charging 25.00 for the set due to being handcrafted. Charge 5.00 on up for each replacement head- depending on what type of wood I use in the hook.

My goal was to provide a more compact alternative than the larger hook cases with all of the gangly full size hooks floating about.

As a crocheter, a couple of more thoughts...

1. I often have multiple projects going on and use the hook to hold my spot and YO. A single hook would cuase me trouble with that.

2. the first thing that popped into my mind as a problem was the spot where the head attached to the shank of the hook - I would worry about yarn getting snagged on that.

3. I lose things. at $5 a pop for a new head, I'm not going to be a happy camper.

Just my thoughts....

Lise

I haven't crocheted since our house fire in 2004, but I had a beautiful set of crochet hooks. Unlike my knitting needle case, which was enormous, my crochet hook case was the size of a paperback novel, so wieldiness would not be a consideration.

My other thought was that short of it being a special handle, something unique and one of a kind, I can't see it being particularly sellable.

That said.

If my daughter started getting into crocheting, (as if), I would have wanted to purchase for her her very own set of hooks, so that she wouldn't be using mine, and a keepsake handle with interchangeable hook heads might be an interesting gift and then would have apparent value to me: but then, it would be the handle that would be of interest, moreso than the hook heads. And, as already mentioned, it would have to be so well designed as to not snag on the wool or thread (depending on what medium the crocheter is working in).

Good luck with the idea, I hope my thoughts are of use.


Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!

I don't know about the hook because I personally do not crochet but I do know about the craft website - and there are a lot of them and some people make really good money making things for other people.

As you said, your mom did start an ebay store so you know that works. You could also post some of the items you make on some of the free craft classified websites such as http://craftersbuzz.com - you don't have to have a website to advertise your items - but you could try that and see how it goes :-).

Good luck!

Can't you just design it to work like a multi-screwdriver set? Where the different hook heads snap into the needle? That seems like it would work great.