Tag Archives: hook

Review – Chiaogoo Bamboo & Steel Crochet Hook

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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 😉

For this review I tested a 1.8mm hook.

First impressions

  • A lovely smooth handle which is warm to the touch and feels very secure in its attachment to the hook.
  • Laser etching of the size (in metric and US) is clear and easy to read.
  • Very light in the hand, with the weight being slightly forward (like a dart)
  • Has a tapered, deep throat and a pointed head
  • Slightly shorter in overall length than my ‘vintage’ steel hooks (and by slightly I mean a difference of less than ½”
  • Touchable and I found myself wanting to hold the hook just to see how it fit in different parts of my hand.
  • A 1.8mm hook is a slightly strange size as longer term UK crocheters would be more used to a 1.75mm or a 2mm sizing.

Working with yarn

The Hook

The hook is very slick and smooth on a variety of yarns and threads, creating a sense of almost no friction.  The tapered head and deep throat are very good at picking up, and holding onto, the yarn and it was easy to get up a decent speed (for a new hook, there was very little ‘learning curve’).

The length of the metal hook part is suitable for most stitches (including shorter bullion stitches). Though the hook shaft does taper slightly wider into the handle I don’t think that would bother most users.  You’re not going to be doing Tunisian, but the start of the handle is about the same place as the thumb rest on most of my other brands of crochet hook so has the same shaft length to go at as a standard hook (the Lantern Moon hooks have almost no thumb rest and don’t have this issue)

The head is a nice point which inserts into the stitches very nicely with a clean motion and made easy work of the crochet thread, 2ply and cobweb weight yarns I tried with the hook.

I’ll be honest, I adored the metal section (the hook and shaft) of this tool.

The Handle

The handle is so smooth it almost feels waxed or plastic (surprisingly) – but it is warm and comfortable to hold.  It has a nice stable grip and is very easy to hold in terms of touch.  I found myself picking it up just to feel it, and automatically held it in pencil hold, fairly far down on the shaft.

Chiagoo Hook profile

I have a slight preference for the thin straight hooks with a relatively long handle and I found in knife hold that the end of the handle of the Chiaogoo was short enough that it rubbed uncomfortably on the outer edge of my palm – however I have very small (almost child sized) hands, and that might not be an issue for a ‘normal’ person as the end of the hook should nestle more into the palm.  Pencil hold completely solved this problem.  Incidentally I have this exact same problem with my shorter straight hooks, so it’s not an issue specific to this hook.

There was a little learning curve in finding the ‘right’ place for me to hold the hook. The shaping goes from a lovely flat plain at the back of the hook to a more rounded shape at the front.  When you pick up the hook, your thumb wants to sit at the point of change, but I found in practice that this positioning was too far back for me and I wanted to work further up the hook.  I also found in this ‘natural’ hold (the one you want to adopt on picking up) that it was difficult to get the little bit of roll needed to move the hook, which used a little bit more wrist action than I was used to – but nothing drastic.  For me I found moving up the handle slightly to the more oval lozenge shaped barrel solved those problems.

Pros

  • Very light
  • Comfortable to use in Pencil Hold
  • Very fast hook
  • Nice deep throat
  • Warm to touch

Cons

  • Uncomfortable for me in Knife Hold
  • Hand placement on Handle shaping needs a little thought/practice to find the ‘sweet spot’
  • Slight ‘plastic’ feeling of bamboo
  • Some might find the hook too ‘fast’ (slick)

Would Suit People who prefer

  • Pencil hold
  • Warm feeling hooks
  • Broader holding areas
  • Light hooks

Would I buy one?

This is a really nice tool, but I don’t think I would, simply because of my own personal preferences of working style.

If I had bought one as a trial I wouldn’t be disappointed and would consider it money well spent, but I probably wouldn’t buy any more (maybe in a sale, but even then only maybe)

I loved the hook but wasn’t over keen on the handle, if I could get that fabulous hook on a straight shaft I’d buy the set!

For “scientific purposes” I handed Mr TuesdayFortnite the Chiaogoo, a Clover SoftTouch, One of my Vintage steels and a Lantern Moon for comparison.  My partner, a natural right handed, non-crocheter picked up all the hooks like a pen.  He also naturally held the Chiaogoo down on the shaft but preferred the feel of my Clover soft touch and was surprised to hear the Chiaogoo was bamboo.  Having taught him how to chain, he discovered he is actually a knife holder and found the Chiaogoo much less comfortable to hold in knife hold (and he has bigger hands than me ;-).  His favourite overall was the Clover, but he could also see the appeal of the Lantern Moon.

 

Review – Tulip Steel Cushion Crochet Hook

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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.