Member Comment by Cynthia C. on September 15, 2012 at 1:38am

At this time, my favorite hooks are Clover's Soft Touch. They are smooth and easy to hold. My only complaint is that I wish they made hooks in sizes larger than "J". I am currently working on a "quick" prayer Shawl for a friend who is terminally ill. I thought it would be nice to make a shawl using Lions Brand "Homespun" yarn, but the yarn requires a size "K" or "L" hook. I am using my "J" hook and trying to work loosely....which is a pain.  I have never worked with Homespun before. I am ready to pull my teeth out. It is frustrating. I tried it with my larger hooks in other brands, Hero and Boyd, but hey have a jerky feel with the homespun. My clover hook is the most smooth with the nature of homespun yarn (It's bulky fibrous twist with a fine thread twist around the fibers that hold it together).  I wanted a very cuddley soft feel so she have a tangible sense that all her friends are lifting her up in prayer and be beautiful to wear. I thought the colors were nice. Does anyone have another suggestion for a hook with homespun yarn. Aside from starting over with another yarn.

Member Comment by Emily Watson on September 15, 2012 at 6:06am

First of all, give your friend a hug from me. Now, about the hook. The only large size handled hook I know of is Susan Bates bamboo handled hooks.I believe they go to size N. Or you could make your own handle.
http://hooksandyarns.blogspot.com/2011/02/crochet-hooks-re-post.html

If you have a larger hook that is dragging, it could just need a good cleaning and waxing. Wash the hook in dish washing liquid and dry really well. Then wax it with bees wax or waxed paper.

Good luck with the prayer shawl.

CroPro Comment by Craftwich on September 15, 2012 at 8:32am

...or you could go to my Etsy store, Craftwich....just sayin'....

Member Comment by Cynthia C. on September 15, 2012 at 10:39pm

Thank you Emily for your kind words for my friend. She can use as many hugs and prayers she can get. We are trying to surround her with our love.

Getting back to the issue about  the stickiness of the crochet hook. It isn't so much the cleanliness of the hook or the thickness of the handle. Although, I appreciate your advice on how to to make thick handles from the website you mentioned. That I will keep in mind for the future. I failed to make myself clear in what the problem is. I will try and see if I can explain better my predicament. My problem doesn't have anything to do with the stickiness/cleanliness of the hook or the handle thickness.  It is with the structure of the hooks. Both the throats/shaft of the Hero and Boyd hooks have a angler shaft that fights the homespun thread structure from gliding over it (the texture of the yarn has bumps), and so there a jerk like/"hiccup" that interrupts the rhythm of the stitch formation as I crochet, especially troublesome when doing the double stitch. The problem is exacerbated because of the knobbly texture of Homespun yarn for me.This makes crocheting very tiresome for my hands and after a while painful. With the Clover the stitch formation is completely smooth process, especially in doing a double stitch using the Homespun yarn. The largest hook size that Clover ("J") has is too small for the Homespun yarn (requires "K" or "L"), hence the struggle to keep the stitches really loose with a nice drape for the prayer shawl.

Are you aware of any brands of hooks that have a smoother (less angular transition) throat/shaft? That really is my question. Thanks to a well written  article in the blog freshstitches on hook anatomy, I understand now how to ask my question better.

Again, Thank you for any suggestion or help you can give me. I would hate to have to start over since time is short here for this project. It would just be easier to buy a new hook, I think.  

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