Disclaimer: I was kindly sent free samples of the products listed in this review, and this post does contain links to various products from the relevant company, however I have not been financially compensated by the supplier in anyway to write this review. All opinions expressed are my own and based on my own experiences of using the products.
A month or so ago I was approached by the company Ritohobby.co.uk (RITO) to see if I‘d like to review some of their products. RITO are a Danish yarn and hobby craft supplier, with over 15,000 products, and they‘ve recently set up to supply their wares in the UK.
I’d actually been thinking of writing a blog post for awhile now about tools for crocheters soooo, in a bid to kill two birds with one stone, I mentioned my idea to RITO and they said they’d love to have their products featured in such a post. Not long after I was sent an express parcel full of things that I for one use regularly as a crocheter!
I took a few weeks to try each of the products and this is what I discovered…
C is for Crochet Hook
The first thing I lifted out of my parcel was a set of nine Infinity Heart crochet hooks.
Now they pretty much had me with the rainbow-ness of these hooks! I’m a bit of a rainbow magpie and I love that the hook sizes are all in different colours…
And of course if you are going to crochet then you need a crochet hook of some sort. This would make a perfect starter pack as it contains sizes 2mm to 6mm (US sizes 0 to H/8).
It’s no secret that I’m a crochet addict and that I crochet ALOT – like every spare second I have, so I do have a lot of hooks. My preference, after a lot of experimentation, seems to lean towards the ergonomic style of hooks. What’s an ergonomic hook? Well it’s a hook that’s been designed to alleviate any pain that can occur while crocheting. Most ergonomic styles have some sort of enlarged handle which makes the crochet hook more comfortable to hold and they can come in all shapes and sizes.
Whether you pencil hold (like me), knife hold or hold your hook in your own special way the Infinity Heart hooks come with a soft silicone non-slip handle for the users benefit – and I can confirm that they are extremely comfortable to use!
I tested them out with a few different projects and liked them.
As the rainbow colours are for different sizes it makes the hooks quite distinctive (once you learn which colour means which size hook) – though the size of the hook is also written on the bottom of each handle.
I found that the aluminium hook end was also nice and smooth so I didn’t get any snags on the yarn I was using. I was suitably impressed with these hooks and they are now getting use on a regular basis.
F is for Fluff
Now as I make a lot of amigurumi I use a lot of toy filler, so I was delighted to receive 250g of white Infinity Hearts filling for toys, dolls and pillows in my parcel.
I was very excited by how it was packaged – sad I know but look! It was all vacuumed packed so it made it really thin, which I thought was really cool!
But don’t let that put you off – when the bag was opened it all fluffed up nicely and the 250g I got seemed to go a long way. The filling is able to be machine washed at 40° – which is especially great for children’s toys and has been prior tested for allergies and carcinogens.
I can’t really say much more about the filling except it’s great for amigurumi and that I’m sure it would work really well for other knitted and crochet items. I’m sure I’ll be getting more in the future when I’ve run out.
S is for Stitch Markers
I think stitch markers are such an essential tool for crochet – I don’t know how people do without them! Whether you are using them to mark your place when crocheting in the round or if you are using them to mark the end of a row, I would suggest to any newbie crocheter that they should try a few.
RITO kindly sent me a whole Knitting Accessory Set with 88 different pieces in to try.
Some of the contents were definitely more geared to knitting, it had stitch stoppers for the end of needles and needle row counters. It also had these odd little plastic circles in the box which I had no idea what they might be for. Thanks to Google I found out they are for knitters to mark increases and decreases; sliding them onto knitting needles as you work.
But the ones that I would (and did) use the most were the variety of locking stitch markers and split ring markers. I really love the little antique-y metal bulb pins!
Each of these were easy to attach and it’s great that they come in the useful little box to keep them in – I swear someone eats my stitch markers!
They are also very light so they don’t cause any pulls or distortion to your stitches and the bright colours mean they are easy to find against most backgrounds.
I think stitch markers are a bit like stationery – you can never have to many and these will get lots of use from me.
S is also for Scissors
I happen to be a little bit addicted to pretty scissors! So when I saw that there were some Embroidery scissors in my package from RITO I got very excited!
Every crocheter needs a good pair of scissors by their side. Or if you are anything like me, who puts hers down somewhere then can’t find them again, several pairs of good scissors.
These scissors are solid and well made and very good value for money I think. They fit in my hands comfortably when I used them and they are also very sharp! The cutting action is nice and smooth and they cut yarn easily without snagging or fraying it.
If you want a pair of really good scissors without breaking the bank, this is a great choice!
DISCOUNT CODE:
And now I have something special to share with you! The lovely people at RITO have set up a product code for 10% discount off all products for all KCACO-UK followers from now (17. October) until 31. October. At the checkout just enter the code: KeepCalm
I hope you’ve enjoyed this product review, I’d love to hear what you think – or if there are any other things you’d love me to try and review in future.
Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx
