Crochet hooks

Following my bout of RSI last year I have been trying to be careful not to add to the damage or cause aggravation. To do this I've had to severely limit the time I crochet (or type) and have invested in some new hooks designed to help avoid RSI/carpel tunnel in the first place!

My local yarn shops stock two different 'comfy' hooks so I tried out both.

The captions aren't mine but certainly give an impression

First of all I tried the soft touch Clover hooks. I have a couple of sizes of these and they feel quite nice for the thumb and forefinger. The dark pad is comfy to use and the tapering of the handle to the hook makes it comfortable in that area too. The only serious drawback is that they are quite short and sit inside the width of my hand, creating a bit of friction discomfort. A not so serious drawback is that I think the handles are pretty ugly!

Next up was the Prym soft handled hook. Again this was a good thickness for comfort around the thumb and hand but I found that, with a small hook size, the difference in thickness between the hook and the handle created a hard edge that my finger found irritating. I find that my forefinger sits quite far up the hook and is constantly on the metal part, thereby my hand doesn't get the full benefit of the thicker handle.

For larger size hooks the thickness of the handle is not such a big issue so I use these beautiful Brittany birch hooks and generally find them pretty comfortable to use. They are quite long, extending beyond the heel of my hand, which I like. I've not used the smaller sizes though so can't comment on the comfort of those.