Crocheting Tools: The Essentials

How much to spend on crochet hooks?

You can't crochet without hooks. But costs can range from around $10 for a full set of hooks to closer to $100. All hooks will do the job, so why spend more?

What matters?

There is a lot of advice online. I found it overwhelming. I may be just adding to the noise, but here are considerations I found relevant.

My first hook came with a crocheting Star Wars characters kit. Generic thin metal; it did the job but it hurt my hand so I decided I needed some padding and opted for a cheap all-in-one kit from Amazon (costing under $15 it contained 13 lightweight metal hooks with soft-grip rubber handles sizes 2.0mm to 10.0mm and some useful accessories I wrote about in my post on non-essential tools).

Then I was gifted two bamboo handle hooks (2.5mm and 3.5mm) that became my favorites. The rubber grips of the cheap set would easily slide off the hooks and gluing them was a major fail. I needed more sizes. By this point I'd read reviews of people raving about name brand hooks and decided I had a choice to make: try more cheap sets or invest in better hooks. I was committed to my new hobby of crocheting. I went for option #2.

Well, not directly... first some hand-wringing, some debating, a lot of advice reading. Like, weeks of this. finally I made up my mind and opted for the brand most people seem to agree is the best: the Etimo Tulip (my set is pictured here; it cost around $55). And I've never looked back. So if you just want the bottom line: yes it was worth it and I wholeheartedly recommend the Tulip set if you crochet regularly.

If you want the full consideration from my perspective, here it is, broken down by points of comparison across hooks.

Hook Shape

The shape of the lip (the part that grabs your yarn) can vary and affect how efficiently you grab a loop. The mouth (or bowl) - the underside of the lip where the yarn is held - can be more or less shallow, also potentially affecting your tension; some complain that very shallow mouths lead to dropped loops. Personally, I find that I can get used to any hook shape and adjust my technique. Maybe being a novice trying different hooks helped; an expert that is truly used to one type of hook might have a different take.

My recommendation is before spending a lot on a full set of name-brand hooks you purchase one in your most used size (if you mostly do amigurumi, go with 3.5mm) to try it out.

Material

Hooks can be plastic, various metals (aluminum, steel), wood, and their handles can be the same material as the hook or added bulk made of plastic, wood, or rubber/silicone. 

One thing to consider is the weight of the hook (plastic or wood is lighter than metal; some metals are heavier than others). For small projects it doesn't matter to me, but for larger ones or when working with T-shirt yarn I prefer a lighter hook.

Another consideration is how smooth the hook is: obviously smoother is better so it doesn't snag the yarn. T-shirt yarn had too much friction with metal hooks, and a smooth plastic one was a dream. The Tulip set is so smooth, it has almost no friction with any yarn. Does your hook squeak when it's handling yarn? That's not smooth.

I've never used wooden hooks (only metal hooks with bamboo handles, which I liked). Some people really like them, but a cheap set of wooden hooks is not likely to be perfectly smooth: expect snagging.

Grip

The handles of the hooks have a lot to do with comfort and functionality. I guess I grip the hook tightly, so a "naked" metal hook made my hands achy and tired. The rubber soft-grip handles of my generic set started out great, but they tended to slide off the hooks and needed constant readjustment. Don't bother with any rubber handles that aren't attached unless you want to spend half your time pushing them back on. Also, I found the shapes of the handles and grip part more important than their composition (being soft didn't offer any benefit). The bamboo handles were equally comfortable as the rubber.

Price 

So knowing that any hook will technically work, is it worth spending more for something better? Seems to me most product reviewers say they were glad they invested in a good set. And I feel the same.

Summary: I love my Tulip hooks. The Tulips glide through all yarn types, have a good grip handle that doesn't slip out, and are very light. My only regret is not buying them sooner. I haven't tried other name brands, and did not see reviews that were as consistently good. I would have a very hard time paying much more than $10/hook though.