The hook test

As we all know I've been crocheting a baby blanket of late (it's very nearly done!), and for this project I've been trying out some new hooks. These particular hooks were a freebie on a magazine. Typically I can't remember which magazine or who makes the hooks. But I think they're Knit Pro Symphonies.

They're certainly pretty enough to be Symphonies - multi-coloured, smooth-as-silk wood, and, usefully, they're double ended. So five hooks give me 10 different sizes. The yarn slides nicely along the polished wood and while the tip of the hook isn't especially pointed I've had no problems inserting it into the stitches, even the foundation chain was no more problematic than usual.

The 'barrel' of the hook is nice to hold, with a carved flat edge where my thumb sits nicely. This edge has also got the hook sizes printed on it. But, and here's the rub - literally - with the hook sizes printed just where my thumb rests the white writing is quickly getting rubbed off. The only way I'm going to be able to fix this is carve the sizes into the wood with a knife.

The double endedness is another problem. It's certainly useful, but the hook is just the wrong length for me. The 'other' end, the end not being used, sits right on the fleshy, sensitive part of my palm - it's called the Mars negative mount in palmistry, according to Wikipedia! This makes the hook really quite uncomfortable to use, though the way I hold my hooks might have something to do with it. I have my hand on top, rather like holding a knife, whereas anyone holding their hooks more like a pencil, with the hook on top, is likely to be fine.

The hooks are the same size as my 'normal' metal ones (I measured) and they could do with being a touch longer. I've got quite small hands so I think this is a problem that most hookers (hee hee) will have. Just an extra couple of centimetres would have made all the difference.