Hook brands - pros and cons

[perigrine]

Hi folks,

 

I've been on a quest today [just for the heck of it] to find out what the different brands of hooks are, and get the blurb about them off a web site. Been trying to find pictures as well, but that is harder than I thought, as most are all nicely wrapped up in thier packages.

 

I was wondering if people would like to add thier thoughts on the specific brands that they use/have used. Personally, I prefer to use Milward or Disc hooks. They are shorter than most others, and the head is more tapered (?). Next preference would probably be Aero. Course, I got mine off Ebay so I have no idea if they are sold new in Australia.

 

I also have only *just* found out that some companies have um, sub catagories - like Susan Bates Luxite and Silveralume.

 

Ugh, maybe I should also include the countries they are most commonly found in. Milward, Disc and Aero (?) are British. Semco and Birch are Aussie ones. Boye, Lion, and Susan Bates are the USA ones. That I know of.

 

So far I have this -

 

Hook Brands:

 

* Addi - Addi Crochet hooks are great for those who have arthritic

 

hands or even if you are just taking care of your wrists to avoid

 

carpel tunnel. The handle is slighly flexible and makes crocheting more

 

comforable. The hooks are very smooth and glide through the work.

 

* Aero - Aero hooks are very popular in Europe. They are smooth to

 

crochet with and at a very affordable price.

 

* Balene -

 

* Birch -

 

* Boye - Boye hooks have a slight bump on the hook portion which

 

may cause some crocheters to work more loosely

 

* Brittany -

 

* Clover - Designed for comfort. This hook has an extra wide

 

cushioned handle. The gold colored metal hook assures that your work

 

will be smooth and the handle stays warm to the touch.

 

* Crystalites - Acrylic crochet hooks. Lightweight and fun to use.

 

* Disc -

 

* Lion - Lion brand crochet hooks feature bright, fun colors. Each

 

size is a different color which makes for a very attractive display.

 

All pieces are plastic.

 

 

* Milward -

 

* Patons -

 

* Profi - Made in Germany to the highest standards, Profi crochet

 

hooks having a comfortable rest in the handle and gold tips. The

 

smaller sizes also have a hook protector.

 

* Semco -

 

* Susan Bates - Susan Bates has an inline hook. An inline hook is

 

designed so the hook end is exactly in line with the shaft, and the

 

hook on the end of the shaft is more flat

 

* Tulip -

 

* Unbranded -

Would anyone like to help?

[LI Roe]

I use Susan Bates hook, even like the Crystallites (in the larger sizes) though a lot of people don't like the Crystallites. I find Susan Bates to flow easier for me, the Boye hooks seem to catch the yarn more and it just doesn't flow. I am always reading about the other kinds of hooks that people like. One of these days, I will have to try at least one of them in my favorite size. Other than the Crystallites, I prefere aluminum, though I do have a few longer wooden hooks that were given to me.

 

Your info is great. Thanks for listing it.

 

LI Roe

[Nay65]

I usually use Bates aluminium or Brittany hooks. I find the Brittany hooks flow in a similar way to the Bates and the sizing is the same as with the Bates. I'm not too crazy about Crystallites, but I do use the larger sizes.

[justwantacraft]

I use susan bates luxite and Crystallites although the smaller sizes will break I can find them online for a buck a peice. The head of the hook is the perfect shape. Sometimes if it is a little rough cause its plastic I just take a emoryboard and sand the rough edges down and goes through yarn like butter. I do like the feel of wood ones but they don't give in use too stiff.

 

 

[jpr54_]

I prefer Bates hook.

and then the Ariel(4.5mm)-I purchased it online on ebay.

 

joanne

[Katchkan]

I am going to be odd man out here. I am a boye hook person. I have always used a boye hook and am most comfortable with it. I do prefer an older boye thread hook over the newer ones. I do not like the newer ones. They just dont have the same feel and don't flow as easily. I have used a few other brands and find myself reaching for my tried and trues when I want to do any serious crocheting. I use boye's both for my thread work and for my yarn work.

I bought me a clover hook and I find nothing wrong with it, I quess just habit has me using my boye hooks. though I think when I really want to crochet I want to think about the work and not the hook and for me I find that is the case with my boyes and when I change hooks I start thinking about it and don't get into my piece.

[deneen]

I use Bates because I like the inline heads, cannot crochet with the Boye. The Brittany Hooks are wonderful-they have the in-line head also.

[momofgmd]

I have to agree with Katchcan. I much prefer the Boye hooks. I have only used Bates and Boye. I have a few Bates hooks because that is the only hook anyone sells in my town. I lost my Boye G hook (I think my kids took it somewhere), and I had to buy an aluminum Bates hook to finish a project. I bought a Crystalites set at that time, but I took them back. They had a flaw on the side of the hook that caught on the yarn with every stitch. All but one hook of the six hook set had this flaw. Sometime I think I might like to try a bamboo or wood hook, but we'll see.

[KristinOmdahl]

I love the silvalume Susan Bates hooks. Haven't yet tried bamboo or other fibers, but love, love, love the silvalume for metal hooks. The yarn flies off the hook.

 

Kristin

[dhaunae]

I'm a Boye or ToTC girl. I have and occasionally use the Crystallites particularly in large sizes, but I break them far too easily; they seem to last through one good-sized project for me and then break on the next. My absolute favorites are the ToTC wooden hooks; next favorite is definitely Boye. My Susan Bates pretty much sit in my hook caddy and act decorative

[Chiscrochetcrazy]

I have always used Boye and nothing else but I had one Bates hook laying around that I never used. I have been having this issue with my hook catching the yarn and snagging it so I decided to try the bates well needless to say I went out & bought a set of bates. I'm really liking them alot. I have never tried any of the wooden or fancy hooks I'd rather spend money on better yarn or more yarn and patterns.

[natalie058]

I'm like Lani - I LOOOOVE my Turn of The Century hooks, but if you start adding all the little independant hook makers to your list, you'll probably double the length, LOL.

 

I also noticed that the Clover Takumi hooks are missing from your list. (Those are the Clover bamboo hooks.)

[nataleeza]

I'm really no expert when it comes to hooks - but I thought I'd add my 2c.

 

I've bought both Birch and Semco hooks, and they appear to be made by the same people. There really doesn't appear to be any difference between the two brands. I have no idea how to describe them, so that's all I know

 

They are the cheapest and most widely available hook in New Zealand.

[perigrine]

 

I've bought both Birch and Semco hooks, and they appear to be made by the same people. There really doesn't appear to be any difference between the two brands.

 

Oh, now this is interesting. My Birch (from Spotlight) hooks have a pointier 'beak' on them - kind of like this V, while the Semco (Kmart) has a beak more like U and is much closer to the Aero in feel.

 

The Patons ones I have picked up from the op-shops are just horrid. They have a straight shaft, no grip, and the way the head is made looks like someone just got a knife and hacked a section out. Ok, maybe I am used to 'gripped' hooks, but I wouldn't buy another Patons if you paid me.

 

The Tulip one I found was a 'I need a 5mm hook *now*' one that I found also in an op shop. It works, just. It has rough edges where the head um, separates from the shaft and is too shallow to work with properly.

 

Now this blue one I got off Ebay is an unbranded one, and that is the one that sent me on this quest to see if I could find out what it was. Its great, Aero type head, with a nifty groove along side that catches the yarn I still haven't found out what brand it is.

[perigrine]

I also noticed that the Clover Takumi hooks are missing from your list. (Those are the Clover bamboo hooks.)

 

I knew the list wasn't finished. I'll start adding the sub catagories too I think. Its those little ones that just pop up from no where I have to find the names of and see what people think about them....like that wierd plastic one with a pineapple on the end I found

[perigrine]

What an effort.

 

I now have pictures for 'all' but the Disc, Birch and Semco (exactly what I have at home, but of course, my camera isn't up to taking finely detailed pictures *grumbles*) If anyone has these hooks and a suitable camera, I don't suppose you'd be able to take a picture and send to me?

 

That goes for any of the others I may have missed as well. please, pretty please?

 

If anyone would like a copy of the file, it would be best to email me and I'll send it on (its a Word doc), coz I am certain that it violates copyright rules in regard to the lifted pictures and blurb off web sites.

 

And I still haven't found out what the blue hook is.....

[hollier2002]

The only hooks I have tried are Bates and Boye and out of those 2 I definitely prefer Boye. I learned to crochet with the Bates hooks because they are the ones that came with the Learn to Crochet kit. But I needed another hook for some reason, and bought a Boye and I was completely won over.

[chsarrow]

I use Bates because I like the inline heads, cannot crochet with the Boye. The Brittany Hooks are wonderful-they have the in-line head also.

 

Exactly what is meant by inline heads? I have always liked Bates because I can crochet without the yarn and hook getting sort of "tangled"!

[perigrine]

Exactly what is meant by inline heads? I have always liked Bates because I can crochet without the yarn and hook getting sort of "tangled"!

 

yah...I'm confused about this too. The blurb from the page I got the info from makes it sound like the others are ..well..crooked. I can't see how, when hook shafts are rounded anyway. Maybe they mean in-line with the grip?

[goldi316]

Until seeing various discussions on differences with the various brands of hooks, I never really paid all that much attention to it. My collection of hooks is very heavy on the Boye aluminum and until this past year, that was all I ever used. Then I got the larger set of Crystallites. They're very pretty and mostly work well, though they do tend to be rough along the seamline created when the acrylic was poured into the mold and this naturally causes the yarn to snag, very annoying. The emory board trick was a critical tip to receive, to smooth those edges down, otherwise the hooks would be practically useless.

 

Being the magpie that I am, I couldn't resist picking up the set of regular sized Crystallites anyway, those colors were too pretty. I have tried to use them (after smoothing down those rough edges) but they just don't feel right to me, and the yarn doesn't slide as smoothly on them as it does on my aluminum hooks. So now they're just for show.

 

I'm still dreaming of someday owning a TOTC or other wood hook someday. I have never used a wood hook though, but I trust the many glowing reports I've read about TOTC to not worry about trying one out before adding it to my collection. Someday...

 

I have a (nearly) complete set of Lee Ward steel crochet hooks which I inherited (along with the vast majority of my hook collection) from my ddmil. The set is stamped "made in Germany". Sizes went from 00 up to 14, I'm missing 6, 13 and 14, though that could just be because they are somewhere else in the mess of my belongings. I also have some Boye steel hooks and recently picked up some Bates in a clearance basket at JoAnns. I haven't had a chance to use any of them enough to state a preference yet.

 

I would also like to check out some of the hooks, or the holders for them, designed to help with wrist and hand problems. Like many, I am a good candidate for developing carpal tunnel and other repetitive motion injuries, and I have noticed that working with the smaller size hooks does cause some stress to my hand.

 

And peregrine, expect to hear from me - I would definitely be interested in your file! Thanks for putting all this reference info together, it's very helpful.

[luckygrrl]

yah...I'm confused about this too. The blurb from the page I got the info from makes it sound like the others are ..well..crooked. I can't see how, when hook shafts are rounded anyway. Maybe they mean in-line with the grip?

 

I don't know what this term means, but from my usage I'm guessing that perhaps it means that the Bates hook part is the same width as the rest of the hook. I know that versus my Boye aluminum hooks, they don't get skinnier where the hook part starts. If you look at a Bates hook and a Boye hook side by side, you can see the difference. I'm assuming that's what they mean by in-line... I could be wrong!

[Dejhia]

I have always used metal hooks. I have a lot of Addie hooks that I love. I lost one so I recent got a clover soft touch hook to do a project, and I like those better than my Addies ..... Now, I have to justify the expense of a new set of hooks.... Plus, I'm not sure if I want to get a set of Covers... I was given as a gift an Addie Bamboo hook. I had never used anything besides metal before, and I really like the wooden hook... I like the way it feels, and I work a lot closer to gague in it... I'm working on my first project where I'm actually on gague and not modify the pattern becuase I work to tonight... But, the Cover's are nicer on my wrists.... I guess I'm just indecisive, and can't figure out which ones I like best..

[jpr54_]

i think comfort level with hook is also determined by how one holds hook-

i tend to hold hook above shaft on where size of hook is stamped-

what are the names of parts of hook?

joanne

[natalie058]

Crochet Hook Anatomy & Historical Info from CGOA

 

And also I found this -

 

Crochet For Dummies Hook Info

[luckygrrl]

I was just at Jo-Ann's today, and happened to notice their vibrant display in a separate section from their regular crochet hooks. When I looked closer, I saw they had several crochet hooks that were their 'house' Jo-Ann brand. Seeing that they had an M hook, which I didn't already have, I got it. Tt seemed like the hook part wasn't quite as deep as my other hooks, so I was a little wary, but I much prefer plastic hooks so I wanted to try it out (and it was such a pretty orange sherbert color, how could I resist? ) So I tried it out today on part of a hat I was making with Lion Brand chenille thick and quick, and it was smooth as a dream! I was really quite impressed.