I do both. I’ve crocheted for years (since I was about 14 or so and I’m 44 now… gramma taught me) but only ‘re-learned’ to knit last year after my Mom tried to teach me when I was about the same age as I started crocheting. The trouble was that my Mom was left handed and I’m right handed so it was hard for me to figure out from her instructions.
I gave up on knitting for a long time. Since my Mom had passed on, she left me her small stash of yarn and her knitting supplies, last year, I picked up her needles and decided that I was going to ‘re-learn’ how to knit.
I mostly make afghans and slippers with crochet but I’m doing much more with knitting. I’ve started my first top down raglan (almost done with the sleeve increases), I’ve made some tube socks and I’m just starting my first pair of real toe up socks :woot:I’m really happy about starting real socks…
Honestly, I really do like both crafts equally. Knitting is great for wearables that don’t weight a ton since the fabric is thinner while crocheting is quicker and better for large things like afghans (gotta love granny squares…).
But, my first love is crochet since I’ve been doing it for so long. Granny squares was the first thing that I learned and it’s still my favorite thing to do (well, squares in general…).
And I agree with Nichan, that I have to think a lot more when I knit. To me, crocheting is so much easier, the pattern is easier to keep track of. When I knit, I have to keep counting to make sure that I’m in the right place. When I’m crocheting, I can just look at what I’ve done and know whether I’m off or not.
One example of the difference for me is… making a shawl. I made the Seraphina shawl in less than a week, working a few hours a day on it. For a simple triangular shawl, garter stitch, it took me well over a month. I’m DEFinitely not a speed knitter
Interesting thread, as I’ve thought about the why of each in my life.
I’m left handed, no one else in my family is, and the few female adults gave up trying to teach me to crochet or knit. A civilian nurse I worked with when I was in the Army taught me to crochet, patient Mrs. Phillips!
It wasn’t until I saw a demonstration of continental knitting that this craft became possible for me. Patterns are very confusing to me if I’m required to do any math with them. READING the pattern for a Mobius scarf gave me a first rate headache.
I do both too. My Mom taught me to crochet when I was little. I never saw her knit, but have since learned that she did know how to knit too. Guess she just enjoyed crochet more at that point. I taught myself how to knit several years ago… and after much struggling with learning how to manipulate two needles instead of one hook, I finally got it (practiced on many a dish/wash cloth and scarves).
Now I enjoy doing both and not being limited when looking at patterns. That was my main reason for wanting to learn to knit. I got so tired of seeing a knit pattern that I loved and had to pass it up.
my mom taught herself when i was little and tried many times to teach my sister, never got into it…then one day in hopes i would FINALLY sit still she taught me and i took to it quickly…
years later i decided i wanted something new and taught myself to knit
I taught my self to crochet with books about five years ago and it has saved me tons of $$ on baby shower gifts. I started to mess with knitting about a year ago and I think I’m doing rather well. My Mom crocheted some but I don’t ever remember her doing so. My Grandmother also crocheted but I don’t recall anyone in my Fam knitting. I think it’s the personality that determines how well you catch on. Plus having a family member to teach you has got to be an advantage too.
I do both! I was taught both by my Grandmother so I never thought anything of it. I often do both on one project by adding in a crochet edging on things. I think I prefer crochet edgings to knit ones. Perhaps I’m strange too? My hubby sure thinks I am.
Yep…taught myself to crochet with books…Knitting was for sure more difficult…but I was fortunate to have a wonderful “crafty” lady living across the street from me…only problem is she has passed on and I still have knitting questions…
:sigh: I guess I should expand a little on my previous reply [I][SIZE=1]…I’m just not very verbose…[/SIZE][/I][SIZE=1][SIZE=2] I learned how to crochet from a Coats & Clark pamphlet that I picked up in the late 70s. I never could stand granny squares though as I found the patterns rather boring. I fell in love with the intricacies of lace doilies though but didn’t actually pursue doilies until after I learned how to knit in June of 1984. That’s when I bought a bunch of lamb’s wool that was on clearance and a pattern (the Pride of Ireland seen here - go to the bottom of the page.) I chose this as my learning project as I have a bad habit in believing I can do anything I set my mind to. My grandmother said I had the patience of Methuselah as she watched me tear out my knitting at least two dozen times before I finally figured out how to do each of the different stitches that were included in the pattern… bobbles & cables. :roflhard: I finished that afghan on Christmas Eve 1984 and it still looks pretty good considering how felted it has become. Just this past winter, I sat down for one evening and taught myself to do continental-styled knitting. It took less than a week for it to be just as comfortable as the English method and MUCH faster. Now, because I can hold my yarn in the same hand, I can literally switch from using knitting needles to a crohook to a crochet hook in one project and be comfortable with any of the methods involved.
I will say this… I am still a novice after 22 plus years BECAUSE I love to learn new techniques and haven’t always concentrated on quantity. I have learned lots of awesome tips and techniques since being part of this wonderful community!
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It’s funny that you post this because I’ve wondered the same thing! The people that I know seem to do one or the other, not both. Seems like they can’t get the hang of the other craft. My grandmother did tatting, crochet, cross stitch, embroidery, quilting, and sewed a bit (just about everything you can do with a needle! :teehee:), but admitted she just couldn’t get the hang of knitting, using two needles instead of the one hook as in crochet, but her sister knitted beautifully! I learned how to crochet from my grandma about 25 years ago (just chain stitch and single crochet), and never really pursued anything with it because I wasn’t really good at it. I learned how to knit 3 years ago at a class, and for me, the hardest part was figuring out how to maneuver yarn around two straight sticks (isn’t the yarn going to fall off of those pointy ends instead of having a hook to grab it???) and I’ve been knitting ever since, but just recently, my friend and I decided we wanted to know how to crochet too (I think if a person is willing and able to learn both, it’s great!), so we’re going to classes. While it’s all coming back to me [I]fast[/I], the crocheting to me seems a bit harder to me to get to look even, whereas my knitting seems to usually be pretty even (though maybe that took some time from the beginning and I’m not remembering that? :think:). So for [I]me[/I], maybe I will be a “one-or-the-other” yarnster, but I’m not giving up yet on crochet!
I have been knitting and crocheting for years (to many to count :woot:). I taught myself to do both from books that I had purchased. Once I understood the directions I was off and running… less than a week for both crafts.
One thing that I had to consider was that I was left handed and that the majority of patterns and instructions were for learning right handed. MY SOLUTION was to learn to do it right handed BECAUSE it takes both hands to do knitting or crochet :happydance::roflhard:
It is awkward to learn either craft to start with no matter if you are right or left handed, so go with the majority and you will have less problems (no need to read patterns backwards or put up to a mirror like suggested in books if you are doing it left handed)
I’ve been doing both for about 22 years now, and while I tend to knit more, I can crochet just about as well. I enjoy both, and I tend to use knit or crochet for certain types of projects respectively.
I’ve crocheted here and there for years. It always just “comes” to me as far as ease. I can picture what I need to do and see where I’m going with a pattern.
I began my very first knitted project a week ago. It’s a sweater for my nephew this Christmas.
I can see so many differences right from the start!
First…I like crocheting better in the sense that I can rip out mistakes and correct them much quicker and easier than with knitting.
Second…the first time I tried to hold two needles at once…I truly felt awkward and bumbling.
Third…it seems there are a kazillion different stitches and gadgets you need to knit…whereas, with crocheting…all you need is a hook and yarn.
But…even with all those reasons…I’ve got a real fire to master knitting.
Knitting produces such wonderful works with great “movement.”
Knitting also makes me feel more accomplished as it takes a bit more brain power on my part.
And knitting, it seems, allows for a bit more refinement and option choice in finished products.
I’ll always love crocheting…the ease…the speed…the delicate work…but I can see a love for knitting really washing over me.
My grandmother could do both, but she did more crochet than she knitted. She tried to teach me both when I was a kid, but it was crochet that I got the hang of, but I could never get past doing the chain and when I would start the next row, my work always curled.
I’ve been trying to pick it up again, mostly at this point, to be able to do edgings for my knitted goods. I would like to do some crochet, but sometimes the motion aggravates my wonky wrist. I’m jonesing to do an afghan and most of the patterns I find are crochet patterns, so that would be nice, too.
My Mom taught me to crotchet when I was in the 3rd grade. I enjoy it quite a bit and am crotcheting a pair of crocadile scarves for the gran’boys currently.
Then I moved on to afghan stitches around 5th or 6th grade. I think it was Barbara Walker who called afghan crotchet the “bad marriage between knitting and crotchet”–I couldn’t DISAGREE more!
Mom never learned to knit–used an afghan hook and 1 knitting needle. Someone saw my sister ‘afgh-knitting’ and showed her the proper way and of course she taught me (I was 18 or so, with a good-sized stash to my name already, and several crotcheted blankets and afghans and sweaters in my hope chest).
Like others have said, each has its own appeal and is well suited to different applications. Crotchet is faster, knitting drapes better and has an elegant look due to that, and afghan stitches–tho’ slowest–are very sturdy and durable and dense.
BTW, I have a book called Victorian Crotchet (no longer in print but try to look it up on Amazon or get it through an interlibrary loan) that has some awesome crotchet and afghan stitches! The textures are incredible!
My grandmother said I had the patience of Methuselah as she watched me tear out my knitting at least two dozen times before I finally figured out how to do each of the different stitches that were included in the pattern… bobbles & cables. :roflhard: I finished that afghan on Christmas Eve 1984 and it still looks pretty good considering how felted it has become. Just this past winter, I sat down for one evening and taught myself to do continental-styled knitting. It took less than a week for it to be just as comfortable as the English method and MUCH faster. Now, because I can hold my yarn in the same hand, I can literally switch from using knitting needles to a crohook to a crochet hook in one project and be comfortable with any of the methods involved.
