About Hooks & Yarns
- Oct 2, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 16, 2022
How much do you really know about hooks, yarns and gauge? Whether you are a seasoned crocheter or a beginner, here is a short read that might enhance your knowledge about them!
Crochet Hooks
How much do you really know about hooks, yarns and gauge? Whether you are a seasoned crocheter or a beginner, here is a short read that might enhance your knowledge about them!
Hooks come in various sizes, shapes and the material they're made of. There are also the small steel hooks that are used with very fine cotton yarns. Aluminum and steel hooks sometimes are manufactured with plastic handles for a better grip (called "soft touch" handles). These plastic handles also put less pressure on the fingers. One thing to be cautious about is that there appear to be no standard hook sizes among manufacturers. The points and throats of different brands of hooks come in different shapes and these shapes affect the size of stitch they produce.
Parts of a Hook: a crochet hook is made up of four parts - point, throat, thumb rest, and shank. The point goes into the stitch on the crocheted fabric; the throat catches the yarn. Note that the throat has to be sized accordingly in proportion to the yarn being used.
The shank holds the loops that you're working with and is the part of the hook that determines stitch size. Finally, the thumb rest is an area where you rest your thumb to help you turn the hook easily while working.
Going from smallest to largest, aluminum or plastic hooks go from size B to Q - 2.50 mm to 15.00 mm (US), and size 14 to 2 - 2.00 mm to 7.00 mm (British). One good thing to bear in mind is that the size of your yarn dictates your hook size.
Crochet Yarns
There is a slight confusion regarding yarn sizes, but don't let that discourage you. One system classifies yarn into five categories based on the approximate diameter of the yarn:
Size A - light or fine-weight yarns. Ideal for thin socks and light baby clothes.
Size B - sport or medium-weight yarns. Good for indoor sweaters, baby things, dresses, and suits.
Size C - worsted weight or knitting yarns - good for outdoor sweaters, hats, mittens, afghans, and slippers.
Size D - bulky yarns - ideal for rugs, heavy jackets, and crafts,
Size E - extra bulky - mostly used for rugs.
The other system classifies yarn based on the number of stitches per 4-inch swatch of knitting stockinette stitch:
Fine = 29-32 sts
Light = 25-28 sts
Medium = 21-24 sts
Medium-heavy = 17-20 sts
Bulky = 13-16 sts
Extra-Bulky = 9-12 sts
Stitch Gauge and Row Gauge
Pay special attention to gauge, an indispensable component of crochet. It can make or break your project. Correct size of the project depends on gauge. Gauge depends on the hook size, yarn size and the mood you're in that day.
When working with a pattern, the hook size is usually recommended, although you can choose to work more tightly or loosely than what the pattern suggests, but you need to work at exactly the gauge the pattern requires in order to reproduce the work accurately.
Gauge has two parts: stitch gauge and row gauge. Stitch gauge is the number of stitches in a given length of a row; row gauge is the height of the number of rows. Don't be tempted to skip the gauge swatch. Keep making swatches until your stitch gauge is correct; if you need to change hooks to make the right gauge, do so.
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