Bamboo Crochet Hook Review

This week I'm staying at my boyfriend's place, and thought I'd be perfectly happy crocheting the socks I started about half a year ago to get them out of the way. Wrong! I wanted to crochet other stuff since I'm not enjoying making these socks, but had only brought a teeny tiny hook with me, so the boyfriend graciously offered to take me to Walmart and buy another hook and some yarn. They didn't have any metal hooks, so I just grabbed the 5.0mm bamboo hook figuring it'll be basically the same thing but eco-friendly. Wrong!

There was definitely a learning curve to using this new crochet hook. Firstly, bamboo itself is a rougher material than the smooth metal I was used to. While it felt pretty similar in my hand, it was much harder to run it through the yarn. This, however, is not necessarily a bad thing. While it was initially very frustrating to be slowed down, I realized it was helping me loosen up my stitches. I am perpetually making my stitches too tight, so I definitely recommend a bamboo hook to anyone with this problem, especially beginners who haven't learned to be conscious about their stitches. After finishing a dish cloth I had quite gotten used to this aspect of the hook and was nearly up to my normal speed, but with looser stitches.

That said, it also has a prominent downside. I'm not sure if it's because of the bamboo material or the actual hook is too shallow, but I am constantly losing my yarn on this hook. Sometimes I have to try to yarn over two or three times before it finally catches. This is something that hasn't gone away with a little practice, at least not for me. I'm on my third dish cloth and it still happens fairly regularly. Maybe more practice will help, and seeing as I have no other options for hooks right now, I will definitely touch base to let you guys know if anything changes this week!

Curious about trying a bamboo hook? Order one up and tell me what you think. If you prefer bamboo hooks over metal hooks, let me know why in the comment!