Yarns and Hooks

Believe it or not, your yarn and hook will effect your crochetting projects more than you would think, so it's important to get the right combination of the two in order to acchieve the desired result. If you're using a Pattern, then it will likely express what guage yarn and sized hook to use.

YARN. There is a large variety of yarn on the market, so going to a crafts store may bring a lot of confusion and indecision. Red Heart is possibly the most popular yarn brands among beginners with yarn projects, it's cheap, but it's synthetic. It's great to learn with, but once skill is obtained, spending a little more money for a higher quality yarn is worth it, greatly raising the value. Most yarns can be catagorized into Thin, Medium, Large, and Special Guages; Thin is used for lacy loops and gaps, Medium is pretty versatile, and Large is usually used for tight-fitting stitches, like the Front/Back Post Stitch. There are also yarns with loops along the strands, or "hairs" running along them. They are best used with just a Double Crochet and Polor Patterns (stripes), not stitch patterns.

HOOKS. Just like feet and shoe sizes, you use the right size hook for the right yarn. Smaller hooks allow more manuverability, but will end up going between the strands of larger yarns. Large hooks won't be able to go through the small loops of thin guage yarn, thus, a Variety pack of crochet hooks is a good idea, and usually runs under $10. There's generally two kind of hooks, Pointed Hooks and Notched Hooks. Notched hooks are usually preffered. The difference is that a Pointed hook actually looks like a hook, but a notched hook looks like a cylender with an angled notch taken out instead of a hook added. I strongly recomend the latter.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The preffered hook size for a specific guage yarn can usually be found on the package for the yarn.