Best beginner crochet hooks

[Authenticcelestialmusic]

I crocheted a bit as a child. I am not proficient but my ds 7 wants to learn. I’m happy to watch some tutorials and learn with him. He is good at following printed instructions and has good eye hand co-ordination (he completes lego/mecano builds without adult input) so hopefully he will pick it up ok. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what wool and hooks would be good to use? Or any good you tubers? I don’t want to spend a lot as he may not enjoy it or keep it up. He would like to make squares that can eventually be turned into a blanket. Thank you.

I got a set with various sizes for about £5 in a local craft shop when I first started to crochet. Someone bought me this for Christmas and these hooks are very comfortable and come with other useful tools for crochet.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00Y7QWHUO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_92MHPBGDCMM6S3S58JC1?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I bought my first wool from Poundland. Just a plain double knit colour to practice with.

I now buy most my wool from wool warehouse online or mariners wool which is a good price at a local shop but shut at the moment unfortunately.

Bella Coco or jayda in stitches are both on YouTube and are easy to follow. Be careful about the difference between UK and US terms. Not really a problem on video tutorials but can be confusing when working from a written pattern.

Metal hooks and aran (sometimes called worsted) weight yarn

I love Clover Soft Touch hooks. They are around £3.60 each on eBay. If you’re using dk yarn you’ll probably only need a 4mm hook.

Use a light coloured yarn as it’ll make the stitches easier to see.

Thanks. I will look at all your suggestions.

Hooks are a bit marmite - my mum can't stand my hooks with thick handles, and I can't use thin metal ones anymore.

I quite like the Clover soft touch and there's another type I use whose name escapes me (I have a bloody lot of them cos I usually lose one and then buy a replacement and find it again) but I have wrecked the fuck out of my thumb overdoing it in the past.

I'd suggest getting a 4mm and 5mm - 4mm will do standard DK, 5mm for aran, but also it might well be worth him doing the starting chain in the larger hook till he gets used to it as there's few things more likely to put a beginner off than trying to work into a too-tight starting chain - for a long time I used to do my chain in 5mm and then swap to 4mm until my tension stabilised itself. I also used some colour change yarn to start with which helped me track which stitch was going where.

Just be mindful that US and UK terms differ - I'd probably stick to one nationality youtuber or the other to start with for him.

I love Alison Russell's tutorials on You Tube