Afghan Hook vs Crochet Hook

[KathyGates]

Hello, I have a question. Today I ran across a pattern that is calling for both a J/10 afghan hook and an I/9 crochet hook. I have the I/9 crochet hook, but what is a J/10 afghan hook? Is it just the next size hook or is this something special?

 

Kathy

[jimbo]

A good question. An afghan hook is one that is a bit similar to a knitting needle with a hook instead of a point and no knob on the end. The difference is in length. An afghan hook is longer than an ordinary crochet hook. Also most afghan hooks don't have a thumb rest, so it's smooth and the same diameter through it's length. Now here's another one. What's the difference between an afghan hook and a Tunisian hook? I'm not so sure on that one except that the Tunisian hooks I've been asked to make are even longer and typically have a knob on the end opposite the hook head.

Hope that helps, and I'm hoping for to see more feedback as well, hopefully comfirming what I just told you.

[KathyGates]

Thank you Jimbo, that is pretty much what I was thinking it was, I looked for them on a couple of the shopping websites, but the pictures were not clear at all. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I have no idea about the Tunisian hooks either, I have been seeing some mention of Tunisian stitched items, but have not gotten to check them out to see what they even look like.

Kathy

 

A good question. An afghan hook is one that is a bit similar to a knitting needle with a hook instead of a point and no knob on the end. The difference is in length. An afghan hook is longer than an ordinary crochet hook. Also most afghan hooks don't have a thumb rest, so it's smooth and the same diameter through it's length. Now here's another one. What's the difference between an afghan hook and a Tunisian hook? I'm not so sure on that one except that the Tunisian hooks I've been asked to make are even longer and typically have a knob on the end opposite the hook head.

Hope that helps, and I'm hoping for to see more feedback as well, hopefully comfirming what I just told you.

[RoseRed]

A tunisian hook is an afghan hook. My Grandmother never called her hooks or her stitches tunisian - she always called it the afghan stitch or her afghan hook.

 

They come in all sorts of different lengths and have a stopper on the end. Some of them even have a (usually plastic) cord on the end with the stopper on the end of that for wider projects.

[HappyOldCro]

Since the afghan hooks are used to hold wide pieces (stitches are worked in rows instead of one at a time), the length of the hook needs to accomodate the width of the piece you are making (squares, strips or even the whole ghan) they come as a cabled version to hold a whole afghan. No thumb rests because it would create an issue with being able to slide the stitches up and down/off and on the hook.