Clover 3672 Amour Crochet Hook Set, 10 sizes

Why it's worth it

A ten-piece set of ergonomic crochet hooks with soft rubber handles, covering the sizes most patterns call for. It's the rare craft gift that a beginner and a twenty-year veteran will both use, and it unwraps like something you chose rather than something generic.

Hand pain is the reason people put down a hook. A LoveCrafts survey found that most crafters feel discomfort in their hands or wrists after a couple of hours of work. The Amour handles are wide, soft and gently triangular, so your fingers aren't pinching a thin aluminum shaft all evening. Crocheters who'd nearly quit because their thumbs went numb consistently point to these as the thing that fixed it.

The hooks matter as much as the handles. Each one has a polished aluminum head with a middle-of-the-road tip — not so pointy that it splits yarn, not so blunt that it skips stitches. Yarn slides off cleanly, which is what people mean when they call a hook fast. The Spruce Crafts named this the best overall crochet hook set, and the fiber-arts forums have landed in the same place for a long time.

From our review of 7 gifts for knitters and crocheters

What we like

• +Hand pain is the reason people put down a hook
• +The hooks matter as much as the handles
• +If your person crochets at all, this fits

What to know

• –These are for crocheters only
• –The handles run a little short for large hands, and some owners wish they were longer