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Confused by hook size?


Rubik

Question

I have a metal crochet hook which I think is quite old and belonged to my grandmother. It is double-ended and says 0/3 on one end and 0/5 on the other end. As much as I've googled it and searched through all my crochet books I can't seem to find a definitive guide to tell me what size these are!

 

I'm nearly 8 months pregnant now and recently made a cake without flour (I knew something was wrong when it was still liquid after an hour in the oven!) so this could well be baby-brain at work...:ohdear

 

By comparing it with my other hooks the 0/5 looks about the same size as my 2.5mm hook so I checked the 0/3 against the 2mm hook but it is much bigger than a 2mm hook.

 

So 0/5 is (approx) 2.5mm and 0/3 is bigger than 2mm but smaller than 2.5mm. I wonder if it could be 2.25mm but I can't see anywhere that 0/3 is even a crochet hook size at all. I'm probably missing something very simple here!

 

This is going to keep me awake all night! Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas! :lol

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We may never know. A lot of the vintage and antique hooks weren't made to a standardized size. Even today, depending on the brand that you buy, the numbers don't match. It's usually best to go my the mm size on the hook which can be impossible if it's not listed on the hook itself.

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Rubik - Here in the US there are cards with graduated size round holes, marked with the hook size for the diameter of crochet hooks. If you can find one where you are, it could at least give you the current size if you want to use the hook.

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Since alot of yarn was home spun, and there was no standards for it, hooks were whatever worked with your yarn. Not until threads became standardized and commercialized did someone decide to do something to sell the hooks by size to match the threads being sold and used.

As mentioned previously your best bet to match hooks to the suggested sizes in patterns is to go by the mm size, and to use the card (hook and needle gauge) described earlier if your hook doesn't have an mm size on it.

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Thank you for the advice ladies! I think I will get a hook gauge, I'm so determined to get good at crochet so it's a good investment to have one anyway. I don't want to waste my maternity leave and I've always wanted to learn crochet properly so I don't know when else I'll get the chance other than now!

 

I would normally do housework but I have SPD (hip problems associated with pregnancy) so I am housebound at the moment and cannot walk - thank God for crochet and the internet or I would go insane).:crocheting

 

I have filled several bin liners with baby clothes, most of which are only good enough to be worn indoors but gradually they are getting good enough to be worn in public or given as gifts so I'm getting there slowly! :lol

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Normally I would send you off my charts, but appartently there are some major data base issues., However "later" it may be helpful to visit

Wheat Wrote What!?!?!?

and for crochet hook reference charts.

 

I am assuming from your description you have what are often referred to as Double Ended, while that is certainly correct, for this type of hook I refer to them as "double sized"/

 

With older hooks, the size indication was often written 0/3.

 

Today, most of those are labeled 3/0. These hooks size usually conform to the Japanese standards btw they are the only country I know of to actauly have codified standards for craft tools and terms.

 

If I remember correctly, 3/0 is, depending on country of origin either 2.25mm or 2.30mm. 5/0 is usually about 3.00mm

 

You "used" to be able to get from 1/0 to 10/0 (6.00mm) but availabilty has been shrinking

 

I happen to really like these for "carry around" and small sampling projects, you can have twice as many sizes in 1/2 the space. Unhappily Clover has decided they won't be importing them any longer - Clover Japan may also be discontinuing them since I was recently told I can no longer special order them so I guess when these are gone, that's it.

 

I am fairly sure I have them in their own sub-cateogory in our crochet hook section, but the IP guys still chasing Data base ghosts (right in the middle of me trying to get several hundred new yarns)

 

Of course this may also be far more information than you wanted, but if you want more details on the current sizes offered, let me know

 

HTH

 

Enjoy The Making

 

Wheat

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When you get a hook gauge, some hooks canot be measured in it, if the head of the hook is not "inline". You need to measure the shaft, but often the hook part bulges out and you can't insert the hook into the hole.

 

I have thought about getting a pair of calipers, apparently thre are plastic inexpensive ones made to measure beads. But actually ijust use the hook that gives me the results i want and it doesnt really matter if i know the exact mm. I can get pretty close by laying the hook on a ruler that has mm.

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Your hook may be from Europe and they size hooks differently than we do. Especially if they are vintage hooks. I have lots of these type of hooks in my collection and since I have a such a wide range of hooks I just compare what I have to the hooks in question. Many off the hooks I have don't even have a size on them.

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Thanks again for all the advice - my poor little brain isn't firing on all 4 cylinders at the moment so I may have to refer back and re-read the information several times before it all sinks in! That is interesting about the Japanese hooks because they were the closest format that I could find too, the 3/0. I would guess that this is a 3.25mm as it seems smaller than a 2.5mm but bigger than a 2mm.

 

About the Japanese hooks not being imported anymore - would that be to the US? As I live in the UK so if it was possible to help I wouldn't mind ordering any hook(s) on your behalf and passing it on to you if it were available for import here.

 

I'm sure the postage costs on a crochet hook can't be very much. I've had a pack of 12 sent from Hong Kong to here in England and it was only £2.50 for the hooks and the postage combined.

 

Edit:Just had a look on ebay and they seem to be selling Clover hooks on UK and US sites, I don't know if these are the ones you mean but it might be worth a look. :)

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