Review – Tulip Steel Cushion Crochet Hook

Notes: I’m a natural left handed, ‘knife’ holder – but can work pencil hold and right handed.  I’ve worked all 4 styles for this review, but mostly for my natural preference.  My preference for hooks is straight, tapered with a deep throat.  I also have very small hands.  Obviously using a hook for an hour is different to using one for a month and some of my ‘issues’ might simply be due to habitual practice and adversity to change 😉

 First impressions

I was asked to review a Steel, gold tipped 0.5mm Crochet hook

  • A rubberised handle which is warm to the touch and feels very secure in its attachment to the hook (there are little moulding holes at the far end of the handle and you can see the metal of the shaft through them)
  • Sizing is in black on a laser inset label, easy to read with American and metric sizing.
  • Hook and shaft are steel with a gold plated head
  • Very light in the hand, with the weight being slightly back of centre
  • Has a tapered, medium throat and a semi-pointed head
  • Similar length to my ‘vintage’ steel hooks
  • Not as tactile as the Chiaogoo,
  • A .5mm hook is standard sizing and the hooks come from .5mm to 6mm (changing range)

Working with yarn

The Hook

Despite the difficulties of working with a .5mm hook (it took me ages to find a yarn fine enough – ended up with a single strand of embroidery floss) I am trying to be as fair and as reasonable as possible in reviewing this hook

The hook is a standard speed, I didn’t notice any difference in those terms to my usual hooks.  It is smooth on a variety of yarns, but due to the extreme fineness I did find it difficult to get a ‘yarn’ that the hook would pick up and hold onto,  but that was having yarn too thick than any fault of the hook.

The throat for me isn’t as deep as I would like, and though the head isn’t as pointy as some I still found it very easy (easier than normal in fact) to split the yarns (again this could be a feature of the small size of the hook)

There is a sudden and fairly abrupt taper to the hook (probably to add strength), though this didn’t really affect me in working the hook would be unsuitable for the taller stitches and bullion type stitches as it would be difficult to get a consistency of loop size.

The hook worked very well with the single strand of embroidery floss, but anything ‘larger’ was frustrating and difficult to manage.  It did however work very well as a beading hook, inserting very well into 4/0mm beads with laceweight yarn.

The hook also came with a protective cap – partially to protect the hook from damage, and partially to protect the crafter from impaling themselves on the hook when reaching into the project bag.  Most hooks of the smaller sizes (about 1mm down) should come with this.

The Handle

The handle is a plastic rubberised material which is warm to touch, and the double flat sided thumb rest is a nice, comfortable touch.  There is a raised section on the ‘back’ of the hook with the company name ‘embossed’ on the handle, and this could potentially irritate pencil hold users.

The handle was comfortable in knife hold, and I was comfortable using it in pencil hold.

The laser printed and embedded label looked like the sizing information would last, not sure how it would hold up under extremis, but you’d have to be deliberately picking at it to make it look tatty or damaged.

Note:

Given the pack also included the 4mm and 6mm hooks I thought I would say a quick word on those as well.  The handle is a different shape, with a wider, half circle thumb rest and a shorter handle overall, giving a longer metal hook area.  The hook itself lacks the gold touch, but they are nice solid hooks.  Again a throat that is medium deep and a semi-pointed head.  I used both hooks in projects and found them comfortable to use, but not as nice to touch as the Knit Pro.  The shafts are lovely and even and maintain a standard size all the way to the handle.

I was perfectly happy using the larger hooks in projects, and didn’t notice any differences really to my usual hook choices.

I know these are the hooks of choice of many ‘professional’ crocheters – including Doris Chan.  The fact that you can buy these in colour coded sets would appeal to some purchasers (including me).  The Rose Etimo set and the Steel crochet hook set are both beautifully presented and cover most sizes that people would use.  More obscure sizes are available by special order, giving the single largest range of sizes I have ever seen from one manufacturer.

I also note that Tulip do Giant crochet hooks (7 – 12mm) and these sizes are difficult to get hold of in the shops.  They are colour coded aluminium, and there is a trend in crochet at the moment to work with a larger hook than is called for in the yarn to get drape and lightness.

Pros

  • Light
  • Comfortable to use in Pencil and Knife Hold
  • Medium depth throat
  • Warm to touch
  • The gold tip adds a sense of luxury
  • Legible sizing.

There is a matching style from 2mm to 6mm with a gold or silver coloured aluminium hook and shaft., but a bigger and slightly flatter handle.  The gold has charcoal gray handles and the silver is shades of pink.

Cons

The embossed tradename might rub some users

Rubberised handle gives the sense of a work tool rather than luxury item (least favourite of the handle materials for me, and bang in the middle for handle shapes)

Some don’t like the thick ‘pen’ type ergonomic handles

Personally not over keen on the moulding holes in the handle

Would Suit

People who prefer

  • Either hold
  • Warm feeling hooks
  • Broader holding areas

Would I buy one?

This is a really nice versatile tool.  It lacks some of the ‘luxury’ feel of the others but it is a solid and well made piece of equipment that would suit a wide range of users from complete beginner to ‘old hands’.

I like the option of buying sets with scissors in a purpose case, and Tulip has one of the broadest ranges of sizes I’ve seen from a single manufacturer.

 

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