Time to think about presents already? / Già tempo di pensare ai regali?

Who would've thought? It's December already, typically a month for presents, either for beloved ones or for ourselves. I've been writing about Tunisian crochet almost all year long, so of course now I have to make another post on the subject, and more specifically on TC-related presents.

If you think it's time to purchase some long hooks and books to study and make practice, allow me to help you through the many choices out there. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm enjoying a collaboration with Italian blog "Maglia-Uncinetto.it" with my reviews and opinions about TC books and such (and in the future I'll write about other crafty subjects, too), but I still haven't been able to translate my reviews in English. Though, since there are many English reviews about these books, so far I'll tell you briefly about the ones I really like, and I suggest you go and search for other reviews on the web.

Now, about the presents.

Let't think about the hooks, first. 

What catches one's eye when they first encounter TC is the oh so pretty ("but how do you manage to hold it-that's huge!") long hook, or the fascinating yet odd-looking cabled one ("now, what on earth is that?"). As with other crafts, you can buy cheap instruments, or you can choose higher quality sets. I myself began with rigid hooks found at my local market, "Pony" was their brand. They were awful. The tip was so round, every stitch hurt my wrist - and oh, they were sticky. No yarn went smoothly on them. Bad experience, I recommend you not to choose these. My very first set, on the other hand, was a no-brand bamboo set of cabled hooks I purchased on Amazon. Very very cheap, but nice to work with nonetheless. They have a decent tip, and I still use them from time to time. If you like wooden instruments and you've never tried TC but want to without spending lots of money, I say try these. Many experts will tell you not to buy them as they're no high quality instruments: of course they are not, this I'm aware of and I think you are too, but if you fear you might not like the technique they might be a better choice than an expensive set you might never use twice in your life. 

If you have a few more money to invest in hooks, I'll tell you my favourite brand is KnitPro (aka Knitter's Pride), and more specifically their Trendz series. There you can choose between long and rigid hooks and cabled ones, depending on your personal taste, and they have double-ended ones too. The sizes range from 5 mm to 12 mm for all three kinds, and they're pure delight to work with. They're so smooth, the tip is pointed but not too much (it doesn't ruin the yarn), the hook is deep and  therefore they're great for both simple and complex stitches. Strongly recommended. I also like other series by KnitPro, such as Symfonie, but they're more expensive and have less sizes, so I suggest try Trendz first, then if you fall in love with TC there'll be plenty of hooks to buy later on.

My second choice, but just because of personal taste, are Denise hooks. They're shorter that KnitPro's so having rather big hands I personally find them a bit less comfortable during the first minutes of work at least: I need some time to get used to their size, but then everything is smooth. Denise hooks' tips are less pointed than Trendz' but that's no problem, because they get through the stitches just as well. What makes them really interesting to me is that they range from 3,75 mm to 15,00 mm - gotta love a nice 15,00 mm hook! They also come in cute cases besides the classic plastic ones, so they might be a nice, good-looking present.

Are you bored enough? Well, enough for today. Next time, I'll tell you about some interesting books that might come in handy to make practice with your brand new hooks.

***LETTORI ITALIANI***

Per gli argomenti trattati in questo post vi rimando al mio ultimo articolo apparso su Maglia-Uncinetto.it, "Feste di Natale all'insegna dell'uncinetto tunisino!".