Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hook Experiment

So here's the experiment. I crocheted two swatches with two different 4.00mm hooks, a tulip, and a clover. The yarn used was Knit Picks Swish DK in I-forget-which color.

The swatches consisted of 20 chain stitches, followed by 2 rows of single crochet, followed by 3 rows of double crochet, followed by another 2 rows of single crochet. I crocheted both at the same sitting, in the same light, and in the same mood, with the exception of the chain and first two rows of single crochet on the tulip, which was done separately (long story).

These are the results, after I ironed each swatch, and tried very hard not to stretch them:

 As you can see, the tulip is noticeably larger than the clover, and has more curvature.

 These are the measurements:


The clover is about 12cm along the bottom curvature, about 11cm along the top curvature, and about 5.5cm tall.



The tulip is around 13.5cm along the bottom curvature, around 11.5cm along the top curvature, and around 5.5cm tall, maybe just a smidge more.


So what does this mean? The tulip produces a larger width, but not that much larger a height, than the clover.

Recall from my previous post:


The tulip (etimo in this photo), has a larger diameter than the clover at the proximal (fancy word) throat. Not fancy: I mean closer to the pad where you grip it.
I don't feel like I have the ability to accurately check on the various diameters on the 4.00mm hook, so I'm gonna assume the situation is similar. That would mean the size of the hook, 4.00mm, mostly determines the height of the stitch, but the diameter of the throat close to the pad determines its width. I'm not sure what to hypothesize about curvature.

This is sounding like an 8th grade science fair project, so I'm gonna sign off, for now.