neck cozy, Inox/Prym hooks

neck cozy

You may have noticed that I've been making a lot of scarves lately. heh

When trying on some scarves I had on hand (for his trips into the snowy land of Wisconsin), hubby mentioned he liked the shorter length.

With that in mind I started looking at neck cozies. How much shorter can you get, right? I found this pattern and decided to make one in manly colors. I haven't put the buttons on yet - there were no instructions but I guess you just sew them on. There were also no button holes designated as such.

wood pin

As it happened I had just received two cute little wooden needles, so I decided to use one as a shawl pin. I think it works quite well and very easy to use.

Megan Rose is modeling the neck cozy while wearing a hat I made last year while working up the Bulky Men's Hat. Of course, she is obviously not a man though both the hat and cozy were made with a man in mind. The hat is a bit large on her, but I didn't want her head to get cold. We have to take care of our models. She also insisted on wearing my jingle bell Christmas earrings. :-)

As I may have said before, my favorite hook is my aluminum made in Germany H Inox hook. These are no longer manufactured and I'm sure anyone who has one is holding on to it. They were made in Mexico at one point and there are some similar that say made in India, but I don't know if those were listed as Inox or Prym or some other. The Prym hooks replaced the Inox once upon a time and are listed as Inox in some places. They are not the same as the original, but are similar in coating and design. I find the length close to Bates hooks.


Every now and then I go off and try to find these again, hoping to run into some original ones. I saw the aluminum Prym hooks listed at The Pattern House and decided to get a couple in the H and I that I use most often.

The order was delayed, but to my surprise and delight, when it arrived, I found the cute little wood pins and also a slap wrist pin cushion. I love it and have already used it several times. 

This little item has really been a help since I've been lying on the sofa more in the past few days between the strained back muscle and this cold. The cushion  can be worn on the wrist as shown above, or on the finger as I have it here.

Unfortunately, two of the hooks ordered were plastic rather than aluminum. Debra has been very quick to correct this problem and also to find out from her distributor what happened. I couldn't be more pleased with the service. She is sending me Bates Quicksilver hooks to replace the incorrect Pryms. I will return the incorrect Pryms to her.

I can understand how the error occurred from the store end. The hooks look very much the same and, in the wrapper, you can't really tell the difference. As soon as I took it out of the package, however, I could tell the difference. (This is me glad that I didn't wait a few months to open them!)

If you drop it on the floor, it makes a very different sound too. Even so, I wasn't convinced I was right until I asked my husband his opinion. He immediately said the I hook was plastic. The plastic ones also bend slightly even when in the package. As a store owner, however, I certainly wouldn't want to have to try and bend every hook that comes in to be sure it is aluminum. LOL Also, the price must be different, even for them, so they would want to get the right item.

This little snafu made me curious, so I pulled out my grey hooks. The one on the far left is plastic. The two next to it are Pryms. The H Prym hook is about a quarter inch shorter than the others. The one on the far right is an Inox made in Mexico and the ones next to it are hooks that look like Prym but say Made in India. I don't have the original wrapper so I don't know if these were indeed Inox or Pryms or some lookalikes that I saw and tried. Most of them are the same in length, but the "true" Inox, to me, have the right weight / length / smoothness etc. Of course, hooks are very personal. Each crocheter works differently and what works well for me might not for you.

You know I have plenty enough hooks, but isn't it funny that if I'm in a hurry that one hook is the one I turn to.

Happy crocheting!