Cushion Grip Crochet Hooks | Are They Worth The Expense

Are you like me and have used basic aluminum crochet hooks for the majority of your crocheting career? Or have you jumped right into using cushion grip crochet hooks? I recently purchased my very own set of cushion grip crochet hooks. And, I wanted to share my opinion on whether I think they are worth the expense or not. Let’s dive in! 🙂

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I will start out by saying I have used basic aluminum crochet hooks for over 20 years. And, they have definitely gotten the job done! Cushion grip crochet hooks can get expensive. And, they might not be in the budget at the moment for a lot of people – I actually used my Mother’s Day gift money to purchase mine – So, I definitely understand if that’s the case. I just thought it would be fun to find out a little bit about my experience with these cushion grip crochet hooks. And, hopefully this review will be helpful for you if you are considering purchasing your own set.

the cushion grip crochet hook set i purchased

I purchased the Tulip TP1166 Etimo Crochet Hook Set on Amazon. It came with 8 different size crochet hooks as well as an organized carrying case with scissors, tapestry needles and ruler. I have never owned a case to organize my crochet hooks and let me just say, I am a fan! Another very popular set of cushion grip crochet hooks is the Clover 3672 Amour Crochet Hook Set . They come with 10 hooks in the set and are a little cheaper. This particular listing doesn’t come with a carrying case or any extras. I have heard a lot of great reviews on those hooks! I had never heard a review on these Tulip cushion grip crochet hooks though, so I was excited to test them out!

important features of crochet hooks

Some of the most important features for me in a crochet hook are:

• Are they comfortable to hold?
• Does the yarn move smoothly over it?
• Can you crochet quickly with an even tension?
• Are they visually appealing for photos and videos?

I wrote down a list of questions I would have liked to have known the answers to before purchasing my own set of specialty crochet hooks. I hope these answers give you an idea of whether these specialty crochet hooks are for you or not.

how expensive are they?

I paid $55 for my set of Tulip Crochet Hooks. They are originally $79.99 on Amazon. I don’t have a craft store near me, so I’m not sure what kind of a deal you can get there, but I thought $55 was a pretty good price for what you get. The carrying case is a nice gray color with sparkles. It rolls up and has a magnetic closure. I really do like having all of the sizes where you can see them as opposed to a pile of crochet hooks in the bottom of a bag that you have to rummage through (my usual dilemma lol). I also like having the zipper pocket to hold your other notions like scissors, ruler and tapestry needles.

are cushion grip crochet hooks more comfortable to hold?

The answer is yes, yes, YES! This has been the common theme with the reviews I have heard about cushion grip crochet hooks and I can definitely say it’s true. These crochet hooks are super comfortable to hold and give you such a great crocheting experience! I do have to say, the one thing that I don’t like about basic aluminum crochet hooks is that sometimes the end of the hook will poke my hand (shown below). Do you have this problem, too? For long projects this can be uncomfortable, so I definitely think these cushion grip crochet hooks will eliminate that problem!

did it take some time to get used to them?

It did take just a very short time, but honestly you really get into a rhythm quickly. The softer grip makes for such smooth crocheting. I was actually surprised with how quickly I adjusted considering I have used the basic aluminum hooks for so long. You may be thinking….well, does this apply for both types of crochet holds? Let me answer that for you! 🙂 I am normally a pencil hold crocheter (shown above), but sometimes when I am chaining or using bulkier yarn I will use the knife hold. The good news is – I tried both holds with these crochet hooks and got the same result!

do they help you crochet faster?

This is kind of a tricky question to answer at the moment and I feel like I need to follow up after I have been crocheting with these cushion grip crochet hooks for a while. Basic aluminum definitely has the upper hand in the time-crocheted-with department. 😉 How I came to my conclusion at the moment is by making swatches with both types of hooks. I made 1 swatch in the Starburst Stitch (I have a tutorial for this stitch [here]) and a swatch in Single Crochet. Timing myself with a stopwatch on the rows of each swatch, I found that they were very close time-wise.

I do think that over time the cushion grip crochet hook will become faster – first, because they are more comfortable to hold; and secondly, because the soft grip also adds some resistance which helps the yarn not slip around as much.

is your tension different with cushion grip crochet hooks?

Let’s talk about tension. Using the same swatches where I timed myself for speed, I also paid attention to the size of those finished swatches and the way they looked. I didn’t block them so that I could get an accurate measurement. The measurement came out almost exactly the same on both sets of swatches.

starburst stitch swatches:

I used a 5mm crochet hook for both of these swatches, and as you can see, they are almost exactly the same size. As I was crocheting, I felt like the cushion grip crochet hook stitches were slightly looser, but when I went to measure, it turned out they weren’t. Honestly, I think that the stitches just felt looser because the cushion grip crochet hook was just so comfortable to crochet with. When I look at these two swatches side by side the cushion grip crochet hook swatch does look slightly more uniform to me. What do y’all think?

One thing I did want to mention…

The Starburst Stitch requires you to have multiple loops held on your hook at one time. At first I thought this might get challenging since the cushion grip took up quite a bit of the hooks real estate. But, I found the opposite to be true. The loops were held in place nicely before I was ready to pull through all of them. Now, I only ever had 10 loops max on the hook at one time, so I can’t vouch for more than that. But 10 and below worked great!

single crochet swatches:

For these swatches I used a 3.25mm hook for both. The results were basically the same – the swatches were almost identical in size. And the tension was very similar as well with the cushion grip crochet hook possibly having a slight edge.

what sizes does the kit come with?

As I mentioned in the beginning, this Tulip TP1166 Etimo Crochet Hook Set comes with 8 crochet hooks. The sizes included (shown above from left to right) are:

• 3.25mm
• 3.5mm
• 3.75mm
• 4.0mm
• 4.5mm
• 5.0mm
• 5.5mm
• 6.0mm

These are all sizes I know I will use a lot! I am especially excited about the smaller size hooks for amigurumi. Those projects will definitely be more comfortable to crochet using these hooks! I do, however, wish that the set came with a 4.25mm. That is a size that I use quite frequently.

my likes and dislikes about these cushion grip crochet hooks

likes

The main plus for these crochet hooks is that they are so comfortable to hold! Since I had never used them before, I had no idea what I was missing. It truly makes the crochet experience more enjoyable, and if you crochet a lot like me, I think you will feel the same way.

Another thing I love is that they are gold! That’s honestly what drew me to them in the first place. LOL! The only thing is, they weren’t quite the shade I wanted. I was hoping for a more true gold, but these are slightly on the orange side of gold. Minor detail though! 😉

I also really like the case they come in. Like I said, my crochet hooks have never been so organized, and it makes me want to get a case for all of my hooks! It’s so nice to just roll it out, spot the hook you need, and go right to it. As opposed to fumbling around for the right size in the bottom of the bag. LOL!

dislikes

And now for the dislikes…

Besides not being 100% happy with the shade of gold, there is really only one other thing that isn’t my favorite. I’m not super excited that the words/size are printed on the hook. Over time that printed size might fade making it hard to remember which is which + I don’t love the way the words look being printed this way. That is one thing, however, that I really do like about the Clover 3672 Amour Crochet Hook Set. The sizes are actually imprinted in the rubber so there will definitely not be any fading there.

That being said, those are just cosmetic things and really don’t affect the overall crocheting experience – which we all know is most important! 😉

so are these cushion grip crochet hooks worth the expense in my opinion?

Drum roll please…..

If you haven’t guessed what my answer was going to be already – which I’m sure you have 😉 – I definitely think these cushion grip crochet hooks are worth the expense. It took me over 20 years to splurge on them and I used my Mother’s Day gift money this year to do it, so I definitely understand if not everyone is in a place yet to be able to purchase these specialty crochet hooks. If that is the case for you, DO NOT WORRY! Like I said, I have used basic aluminum crochet hooks for the entirety of my crocheting career and they have worked great! I just wanted to give a little info + my experience and opinion on these babies.

I hope y’all enjoyed reading and I will see you soon!

here is a video all about my cushion grip crochet hook experience. press play!

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Cushion Grip Crochet Hooks | Are They Worth The Expense

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