Changing yarn/hooks

[cruelladvill]

I have been curious about this for some time and decided to ask those with more experience than myself. When you change the recommended yarn for a project, is there a "rule" for also changing your hook size? For example, if a project calls for a sportweight and you want to use a worsted weight, could you change your hook size to make the project come about approximately the same size? When I was doing afghans, I could adjust on my own, but with clothing items, I need to be sure before I begin. Thanks in advance!

Rhonda

[Tikki]

I would change the hook size if I changed the size of the yarn in most cases because you might not achieve the look you desire. For instance, if you wanted to make a lacy scarf and the pattern called for sportweight yarn and D hook, using that hook on a thicker yarn, such as worsted, would make the stitches tighter and may give the scarf a more solid, blocky look than you wanted.

 

If the patten called for worsted and an F hook, on the other hand, and you wanted to use sportweight with the F, the stitches may be too loose and may result in a sloppy, "holey" look. Plus I think the yarn in the loose stitches would be more likely to snag and cause odd, pulled out loops that could ruin the whole look of the piece.

 

There are always exceptions and sometimes you will find that it doesn't matter or that you actually like the way something looks if you change the yarn size but not the hook. You are never bound to what a pattern says you should do. For me, one of the joys of crocheting is getting to experiment and bring a bit of my own style to a project. It all boils down to that if you like the results then the whole thing has been a success!

[goldi316]

A word of caution about changing yarn/hooks for clothing - if you are following a pattern, you will need to be able to get your work to match the gauge, or your item is not going to be sized right. If the pattern calls for a sportweight, for instance, with a D hook, and you change to a worsted, even if you don't change the hook size, you're likely to come up with a gauge larger than what is called for, and your clothing item will be larger than what you expect. Of course, working worsted weight with a D hook, if even possible, will also result in a very dense fabric with no drape which will also not look too good.

 

I speak from experience here, after attempting to crochet a sweater that called for a sportweight yarn with an F hook, using worsted weight. In my effort to achieve gauge, I had to go down to an E, but the resulting fabric I ended up with was so stiff, it could've stood all by itself! I would've looked like I was dressed in cardboard!

 

For clothing items where size and fit matters, I would recommend trying to stick at least to the same weight of yarn as what is called for in the pattern to avoid these problems. The hook size you use will be dependent on which size will produce the gauge as called for in the pattern.