I'm happy to report three exciting crochet hook developments.
1) Exquisite New Crochet Hook Sets for Connoisseurs
Want to give or get the perfect gift for the next special occasion? Check out these beautiful new "Etimo" sets from a Japanese company called Tulip:
I think of them as my "Cadillac" hooks because of what they feel like to have and to hold. The size range of the gold-tone aluminum set is 3.25 mm - 6.0 mm; the range of steel thread hooks is 0.5 mm - 1.75 mm.
2) Denise Interchangeables: Now for Crocheters Too!
Knitters have long enjoyed a spiffy build-your-own-perfect-needle-for-each-project system, organized in a portable kit. Take a look at the crochet hook version here.
3) Tunisian & Double-Ended Hook Size Crisis, Addressed
Consider the L/8 mm crochet hook. For years I've had one brand (blue Crystalite) for regular crochet, and gee, none for Tunisian crochet. Eventually I found a set of "Easy Tunisian" M, N, P flexible hooks (on eBay back when they were discontinued). Note, still no L.
The next smaller size is almost* universally 6.5 mm ("K"), so with no L/8 mm, there's a 2.5 mm gap between a K and an M hook. That's too big for designing purposes. *I've seen one brand that's 7.0 mm, though not for Tunisian unless you make narrow strips.
Even the 1.5 mm gap between K and L hooks is weird! Such a gap does not exist between any other hook sizes until you get to the jumbo hooks. Traditionally (and inexplicably) there's a 3.0* mm jump from a Q/16 mm to an S/19 mm. *Q hooks can sometimes be 15 mm or 15.75 mm, depending on the brand.
That 6.5 mm-9.0 mm range is pivotal for certain kinds of fashion looks, certain kinds of yarn textures, and certain kinds of stitches. Without the right hook for the job, the designs can't come out their best, or worse: simply can't happen at all. Tunisian crochet designs are especially vulnerable.
Besides the Denise hooks mentioned in #2, look at all the choice I have now with the ChiaoGoo Tunisian L/8 mm hooks I brought home last month from the CGOA Chain Link Conference. Bigger photo here.
2009 is turning out to be my Year of the Crochet Hook. The last time I blogged about new crochet hooks was January 2007!
