Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Crocheter Says "Buh Bye, Hokey Pokey"

There will be no more hokey pokey for me, or rather, for my crochet hooks.  Oh you know exactly what I mean!  ... it's when you put the right foot crochet hook in, take the right foot crochet hook out, put the right foot crochet hook in and shake it all about ...

Yes, I'm talking exactly that!  No more using gauges meant to measure knitting needles for my crochet hooks.  I am sure you are familiar with my frustration -- the trying to jam various crochet hooks into those holes the pointy knitting needles have no trouble navigating.  Whereas crochet hooks, with the various sized heads, well, I can tell horror stories that can make a sheep's fleece curl in fear!

Crochet Hook Size Gauge by
GourmetCrochet
My pups (I can say that as many of my crochet hooks are "Graydog" hooks) have a new measuring tool and it is dee-vine!  For those that want to liberate their crochet hooks from the knitter's gauge, I found it on AnniesAttic.com; don't forget, if you're a CGOA member to get your 15% discount!)  The beauty is that all I need to do is slide the crochet hook down, with extreme ease, to determine a crochet hook's true size.  As a collector, and heavy user of custom crochet hooks, this will become the most valuable tool in my crochet-toolbox!  ((As of the writing of this blog entry, I have a hook measuring guide on order with Turn of the Century.  I'm sure it will work in the same fashion as the one I have pictured here.)) 

If you use mass-produced crochet hooks, you might be thinking you are in no need of such a wonderful gadget.  And nothing could be further from the truth!  Mass-produced crochet hooks have the exact same issue. -- take some Susan Bates crochet hooks from different manufacturing locations and give them a good measuring.  You'll find they vary! Even from manufacturer to manufacturer, the hook sizes differ!   Think that crochet hook is circular in diameter?  What if it isn't? What if its slightly elliptical?  Yep, this tool will help you determine your crochet hook's true size.  I like that. I like it a lot!

Dee's customized ID Tags to use on Crochet Projects.
To help me in this quest of being more accurate with my crochet hook sizing on various projects, I decided to take the ID tags I purchased at the CT Sheep & Wool this past Saturday, and turn them into beaded stitch markers.  (On a side note, I was disappointed both sets of ID tags were incomplete; I had to combine the two packages to create a single set of ID tags. I'm not sure who is at fault, the seller or the manufacturer.)  Using beads from my stash, and in the color theme of my CGOA Chapter (Purple, Gold & Silver), I came up with these.  Now, when I pull a hook from a given project to work on another -- or when one needs to go into surgery because someone, not naming names here, snapped one in half -- I can tag the project to make it easier to resume the project at a future date.  I'm liking this a lot too.

With tools like these to make my crocheting so much easier, I just might opt to start doing the Ma-, Ma-, Ma-, Ma-, Ma-, Ma-, Macarena ...

2 comments:

Stitchy Mc Floss said...

Loved your post!

I am so glad someone finally created something for the crochet hook. It never made any sense to me to try to put a crochet hook into something that was made for a knitting needle anyway.

Love your stitch markers, what a clever idea! :)

Wishing you a wonderful day. :)

Nancy said...

Oh, oh! I better check my tags then and see if they're all there!!! I was thinking the same thing as you about my swatches/projects! Perfect to take the place of leaving my hook with them, or the note I stuck with them getting lost/ripped/destroyed!!