Hi everyone!
I'm a textile goblin who dips my toes in every yarn/yarn adjacent craft I can find. I came across K-tel knitters a few months ago as some sort of vintage wooly cryptid and was fascinated. I design, 3D print and sell textile tools (tatting shuttles mainly) and I've been considering branching out to other crafts by designing tools for them that solve a problem many people have. I.E My tatting shuttles work with machine sewing bobbins, or are magnetic so they're easier to wind. Or a lucet cord fork I'm prototyping has an attached bag for finished cord that turns with the fork so it doesn't get all twisted. That sort of stuff, QOL type things. I also like to try resurrecting dead/dying crafts (shuttle knotting for example), which brings me to my query.

I am not (yet) proficient in this craft, but I'd love to make tools to help me be proficient and hopefully spread looping/fauxchet to more people.
So I'm essentially asking: what would you change about the K-tel knitter or whatever tool you use that would improve it? Anything that irks you about it? what would make it more user friendly?

Thanks in advance!

From left to right: K-Tel Knitters, Hook-A-Loop set of 4, Grant Looper, Imra-Loop, LeisureArts Loop Crochet tool, and EasyLoop fauxchet tool

Also called fauxchet, one-needle knitting, and one-needle looping, this sub is about that obscure yarn craft that first came about in the 1960’s. This is primarily intended to be a resource subreddit for those who stumble upon one of the vintage loop crochet tools that they’ve inherited or that have mysteriously appeared amongst their yarn crafting collection. We can help identify what kind of tool you have as well as provide some resources in case you’d like to try your hand at the craft. I’ll go ahead and admit that I don’t expect many people to post or even join, but I still want there to be at least some collection of resources here on Reddit for people who are curious and want to learn.

To answer a couple questions users might have:

What is loop crochet?

It‘s often described as an “easier” way to crochet, though the fact that this craft never really caught on suggests otherwise. The basic stitches in loop crochet are comparable to BLO and FLO slip stitches in standard crochet, except they’re performed essentially backward. Some other standard crochet stitches can be performed with loop crochet as well, but they’ll appear as they would on the “wrong side“ of a standard crochet project. Loop crochet is worked left-to-right across the rows, as opposed to standard crochet which is worked right-to-left. The live loop must be manually tensioned and held in your opposite hand while working with the tool in the other hand.

I’ve seen this craft referred to by a different name. Why did you name the sub “loop crochet?”

I did this primarily to prevent confusion between this craft and another common usage for the term “fauxchet.” More and more people are using the term “fauxchet” to describe machine knitting that is made to look like crochet, so I wanted to make sure the distinction was clear. “One-needle knitting” also felt like a bit of a confusing term and a bit of a mouthful for a subreddit name, so I went with what is currently used. All known terms will be acceptable in this sub though, so don’t be afraid to call it what you know to call it.

I’ve compiled a small wiki page to help users identify what brand of tool they have. This is based off the tools that I personally own as well as some research I’ve done, so there are some that I may have overlooked or not found on my own. If you don’t see your tool listed, please feel free to make your own post or send me a message through modmail.

I’ve also cobbled together some quick resources for anyone who might be interested in trying to use their loop crochet tool. The list is still fairly small, but it will be continually updated and I’m always willing to add any tutorials or other useful resources that other people might find. If you do make a swatch or even a whole FO with loop crochet, please feel free to share it here with us!