An Ode To The Crochet Hook

What’s your favorite crochet hook? Well, we each have one size, brand, or type of hook that we prefer. For me, the closest thing to hook heaven is Clover Soft Touch hooks. I prefer an inline hook rather than a tapered hook. I also much prefer a traditional hook to a double ended or tunisian hook. Those make for slow going for me. LOL. They are perfect for some crochet projects, resemble knitting more than traditional crochet (if that’s your goal) and often have mindless patterns that require a lot of repeat stitches. Well, I guess that can be said for any type hook.

Next, what material do you prefer in a hook – wood, aluminium, plastic, bone, ivory? Good luck trying to find an ivory hook these days! I’ve never crocheted with one, but I believe they may have been among the first crochet hooks ever used. Makes sense that ivory or bone would have been used early in the history of crochet. I’ll have to research that!

There are serious ‘camps’ regarding favorite hooks. For regular aluminium, I like Susan Bates Silvalume because they’re inline and inexpensive. For plastic, I have an old set with no name, but they are superior to most of the plastic hooks produced in the past ten years, IMO. I do like my L hook in Crystallite. Why? Because it was the only L hook I could find when I needed that size.

For wood hooks, I prefer those with no turnings – Brittany and Turn of the Century hooks are two very popular wooden hooks that have a lot of turnings on the ‘non-business’ end of the hook. Just don’t seem to fit my hand properly. I have found two wood hooks I like. One is the Lacis rosewood. These are finely crafted and come in smaller sizes – but not for thread. I have also recently purchased several Jenkins hooks in very large sizes. I am very impressed with these hooks. They are meticulously finished, have a silky feel, are inline, and are well balanced. They do have two turnings, but they are simple and do not interfere with the straight barrel that I prefer. It’s fun to have a size V hook with which one can whip up a two-stranded scarf in an hour – as I did on Christmas Eve when I remembered that a certain friend was coming over for brunch the next morning and I had nothing for her! Two strands of off white yarn, one RH acrylic and one wool with a simple gold thread in it produced a pretty scarf that suited the recipient.

Then, there are the really high end hooks – Greydog comes to mind. I have held one of those hooks and it was exquisite. But, at $60+ each, I won’t be popping for one of those anytime soon!

When it comes to thread crochet, our choices are more limited. I think we have metal and that’s it. I did find a set of Clover Soft Touch thread hooks which I was able to order through my LYS. They are wonderful hooks. I also own a nice assortment of steel hooks that are real workhorses. Just don’t let your kid use one to fish something out of some tiny opening. The finer points bend quite easily. Then you have what more closely resembles a dental instrument than a crochet hook!

I’m sure I’ve missed some hooks. Over the years, there have been hooks produced by many manufacturers (some still in business). Inox and Aero come to mind. And, what about those new lighted hooks? Whichever hook you use, whichever one suits your hand and your fibers is the RIGHT one! It’s nice to have choices, but we don’t all need to buy every hook out there – or do we???

Come back soon for my take on wooden hooks.