Yarniss Crochet Hooks 14 Piece Set

It's beyond me how these have so many good reviews. I'm definitely a review led buyer, but I feel as if I've been seriously mislead when it comes to these hooks. So here's the good and the bad. Good: They're lightweight and come in a cute case, if you don't mind digging around in a hodgepodge of hooks. Ok, so that may that's more of a so so, versus all good. For the less than five minutes I used them they appeared comfortable to use, but since they're already packaged up to go back I can't give a long term rating on this. They also come with a little tube container with a nice selection of darning needles to weave all of your loose tails in. Um...yeah, that's it for the good. Bad: I don't know where to begin, so I guess I'll start with the lesser of all evils and build up. As I said, though the case is cute, it's pretty much useless and just thrown in so you feel like you're getting more for your buck. It's actually more of a bag than a case. You have to dig through a hodgepodge of hooks piled on top of each other to find the one you want, instead of opening your case to find your hooks each in a slot of their own where you can easily see which one you want. While the size is clearly marked on each hook, it's on the rear of the hook, which doesn't seem logical to me. It's imprinted on the front, but is barely distinguishable. So if you have a proper case, where each hook has its own spot, you'll have to place them in backwards to be able to quickly see which hook is which. And for the random person reading this and sarcastically saying in their head, "But aren't they different colors," yes they are. And that may work for remembering which is which for your most used hooks, but one isn't likely to remember which is which on their lesser used ones. Hence labeling them with the sizes to begin with. As soon as I pulled the first hook from the case I could see cut marks on the rubber handle where it met the metal portion of the hook. Multiple hooks had this issue, albeit some more than others. My assumption is that they simply weren't cut properly during manufacturing. The last, and most significant issue is that the hook size and depth is different form other more well known brands. I've had the same set of Boye hooks since I rediscovered my love for crocheting as an adult, many many years ago. They're the plain, nothing fancy, metal hooks. The problem is, I'm now 50 and have had arthritis for many years already. My hands are starting to feel it when I crochet, so I needed a more ergonomic hook. These fit the bill and didn't break the bank. And they had great reviews. I grabbed the trusty, and probably most common, H hook to test them out. I repeatedly kept dropping my yarn. At first I thought it was simply because they were new hooks to me and I needed to get used to them. But it quickly became frustrating. I haven't dropped my yarn off my hook so bad since I was an early teen just starting off with crocheting. So I pulled out MY H hook and gave it a whirl. No issue. Back to the new ones and starting dropping my yarn right away. Not only was I dropping my yarn, but it appeared as if I was having tension issues too. I say appeared, because my finished stitches looked larger than what I'm used to from my H hook. I decided to try a larger hook with some thicker yarn. You know, like giving the littlest of hands those big thick crayons, because they're easier to hold? The dropping issue remained, but the "tension" problem seemed to be worse. I stopped and looked at the needle as if it could teach me how to crochet with it. I honestly didn't think that ergonomic hooks would necessitate relearning how to crochet. While staring at it for answers that big hook just seemed to be so huge, literally. I didn't remember MY hook being that big. So I pulled out my N hook and was blown away at the side to side comparison. I've included photos for those who will read this and think I'm crazy. I may be slightly, but not about this. The heads of the hooks are quite obviously two different sizes, one being MUCH larger than the other. Not only that, but the depth of the hooks are different, with the ergonomic one being shallower. Yureka! I'm not crazy and I don't need to relearn how to crochet. No wonder I'm dropping my yarn and my tension appeared abnormal. Now maybe my set is defective or something, but I doubt it. The smallest of the hooks it's hard for me to tell if they're different by looking. Have I mentioned I'm 50? Once you know what you're looking for it's definitely visible on the medium size hooks. And as you can CLEARLY see, when you move into the larger hooks, well, even these 50 year old eyes can tell that they're not even close to being the same. I can see that even with my glasses off. Ultimately, I can't recommend anyone buy these. Between the obvious manufacturing defects with the cuts in the rubber handles, to the shallow hook depth, to the larger hook heads, these simply aren't anywhere near good enough to deserve the 5 star ratings many people are giving them. Frankly, I'm not even sure they're worth the one star I'm forced to give them. Maybe the cute case, well bag, and the darning needles meet the requirement for a one star review, but that's about it. In the end, I'm still left wondering where all of those five star reviews came from, because these hooks definitely didn't come close to deserving anything more than maybe, just maybe, one star.