I’m so close to my Berzelius scarf being done! I’ve got about 4.5 ribbons done, so all that’s left is finishing up the final ribbon, working the edging, and then weaving in the ends. (Maybe I should tackle weaving in the ends first so I have less to do.)
Yesterday when I went to continue on my scarf, I couldn’t find my hook! I knew it had been right by the couch, but when a quick search wasn’t turning anything up, I decided to use another hook in the same size. Woah, what a difference! What had been a very smooth, pleasant experience suddenly seemed difficult and… squeaky. Like what you’d expect cheap yarn to feel like, not the luscious Herriot that I adore.
That led me to looking much harder for my original hook. I found two hair ties, bits of yarn, a circular knitting needle, a tape measure, a combo needle/hook, a glove, and a note from Christmas…2011. Finally, I found my hook!
I think everyone here will likely agree that the yarn we use is really important to our happiness not only with the finished object, but also our enjoyment during creating the object. But it’s easy to forget that our choice in hooks and needles is just as important as our yarn choice.
I would expect a big difference if the hooks were different materials (plastic, metal, wooden), both hooks are metal. One (green) comes from my Meme’s stash (French-Canadian nickname for Grandmother) so I’m not certain if it’s aluminum, but that would be my guess, and the other (blue) is a Susan Bates’s that I picked up at a Big Box craft store, so it’s definitely aluminum.
Let’s take a quick look at the different parts of a hook, so we’re all speaking the same language:
Some of the big differences in the hooks were the shape of the point, the surface of the throat, and the paint treatment.
The points of both of these are very different. You can see below that the Bates hook has a much more rounded point than green one. I found that this made it more difficult for me to get the hook into the stitches.
Another difference was the surface of the throat. You can see below that when the throat was cut on the Bates hook was not fully smoothed before the paint was applied. I don’t have any other Bates aluminum hooks, so it’s impossible for me to tell if this is how Bates hooks are typically made or if this was something that slipped past on product inspection. It caused much more resistance against the yarn which slowed me down and made it more cumbersome.
The final big difference which is impossible for me to photograph is the difference feel of surface. It’s hard to tell if it’s just the paint treatment or if the metal was smoothed more on the green one before it was painted, but it feels different and the Herriot yarn downright SQUEAKED as I moved the loops to the shaft. Yuck! Not something I like or equate with crocheting!
A small difference that didn’t seem to affect me much for this project, but could on others was the depth of the throat. You can see below that the Bates hook has a more shallow throat underneath the hook itself. I was worried at first that my yarn wouldn’t catch on the head, but it caught just fine.
Now, even though I’m not a fan of this Bates hook for this project, that doesn’t mean that I won’t find it perfectly acceptable when paired with another yarn in a different project. Each hook or needle has its place when working with different materials. Although, I think the reason why I don’t have any other Bates in my hook stash is that when I was a regular crocheter I found that I didn’t like working with them in general and Boye fit my hand better. That may be different for you! And my favorite hook is a wooden hook that was hand made.
Next time I’ll get to show you my finished scarf! I can’t wait!
