Tulip Etimo vs Susan Bates

What each one is

The sizing difference is the interesting one

This gets less attention than the grip and matters more often. The Tulip set is marked in millimeters and steps in halves: 2.00, 2.20, 2.50, 3.00, 3.50, 4.00, 4.50, 5.00, 5.50 and 6.00mm.

American lettered hooks step irregularly, and they skip. If your gauge lands between two lettered sizes, there may be no lettered hook in the gap - but there is usually a metric one. For anyone crocheting garments, where a half-millimeter changes the finished measurement, that is worth more than the handle.

• The cost of metric marking: a US pattern written in letters needs converting on every project.
• The cost of lettered marking: the steps are uneven and the fine end is coarse.
• Either way, buy on the millimeter figure - see hook size chart.

Head shape, which is a real choice

Susan Bates is the American reference for the in-line head: the hook is cut so it sits flush with the shaft. That enters a tight stitch easily, which suits tight crocheters and amigurumi, and it splits soft yarn more readily.

Tulip's head is its own profile rather than a textbook in-line or tapered shape. Most people find it closer to the middle. If splitting is your problem, the deliberate answer is a tapered throat - see inline vs tapered crochet hooks.

Who should buy which

1. Long sessions or aching hands: Tulip. A cushioned grip over a blanket is a different experience from a bare shaft.
2. Garment crocheters: Tulip, for the metric half-steps.
3. Anyone still working out what they like: Susan Bates. It costs almost nothing and it answers the head-shape question.
4. Chunky and blanket crocheters: Susan Bates, or another large-size hook. The Tulip set stops at 6mm.
5. Amigurumi: Susan Bates, whose in-line head is the classic choice for tight stitches.
6. Anyone wanting one good gripped set: neither, necessarily - the Clover Amour is the usual all-round answer and sits between them on price.

What comes in the box

This is a larger part of the price difference than it looks. The Tulip set is not simply ten hooks.

• Ten hooks in a fitted zipped case, which is the difference between a set you carry and a set you lose.
• Two darning needles, for weaving in ends - a thing you need on every single project and which is always missing.
• A pair of scissors, sized for the case.
• Nothing with the Susan Bates, which is sold as a hook.

If you own none of those things, the set is closer in value to the bare hook than the price gap suggests. If you already have a notions bag, you are paying for duplicates - see what belongs in a starter kit.

The comparison this completes

This site already compares Clover Amour vs Susan Bates and Clover Amour vs Tulip Etimo. This is the third edge of that triangle, and it is the one with the widest gap between the two hooks - which is why the answer is less about which is better and more about which question you are asking.