Technicalities - Knit vs Crochet by Julia of Yarnbeast
Friday, March 14th, 2008This is the 1st of our technicalities posts and I’m very excited about them! technicalities will be mostly guests posts from other crafters about their craft. I hope you all enjoy it and learn something new.
By Julia
Yarnbeast.etsy.com
The question I’m most asked at craft fairs is, without a doubt, “Do you knit or crochet?” After I explain that I do both crafts. I enjoy the brief moment when the interested party congratulates me and tells me I’m a Renaissance Woman of all Yarn Domains (no one’s said those exact words to me yet but I figure it’s only a matter of time before that title is bestowed upon me) but I hide an ugly truth: I’m not all that good at crochet.
While I do make the occasional stuffed crochet pumpkin and cupcake, knitting was my first love and always will be. Both crafts are fun and have their technical pros and cons but what interests me are the way the two crafts just give off a different feel. These are my observations of my own abilities with either craft and by no means am I saying crochet can’t be intricate, time-consuming and lovely. Just not in my hook-hesitant hands.
*A knitting project is a long term relationship. A crochet project is a one night stand.
When I learned to crochet after a year of knitting, I could not keep my hands off it. I made doily after doily while my knitting needles sank further into my yarn pile, still clutching the stitches of some long forgotten project. But as the weeks passed, I grew tired of starting a new project every time I went to my yarn stash. The cell phone cozies and flower magnets were fun for a while but I yearned for something long term. I spent the next three months knitting an afghan. I still like to cheat on my knitting with some cotton yarn and a sexy green crochet hook but after two hours or so, I’m ready to go home to my two-needle honey.
*Knitting is scary.
A crochet hook is non-threatening. A long, aluminum knitting needle looks like something Xena the Warrior Princess would pull from her leather skirt-belt and use to stab an inspired-from-Greek-Mythology monster in the eye. A crochet hook just looks like, you know, a hook.
*”Knitter” is easier to say than “Crocheter,”
According to my spell check, “Crocheter” is not a word. I read somewhere there is a proper term for “one who crochets” but, as with all useful information, it has slipped my mind. “Hooker” has become a popular term among crafty people and, while funny to say in front of your friends at the yarn store, still raises eyebrows and prompts a giggly, awkward explanation to the general public.
*Crochet is like the baby sister showing her great aunt Linda her newest dance routine while everyone else takes pictures of her big sister Knit in her prom dress.
People tend to say “cute” when they see crochet and “beautiful” when they see something knit. I think this is a result of it being easy to create round, fun shapes with crochet while knitting lends itself to flat, sometimes elaborate designs.
*Crochet is portable.
The great thing about working on a little crochet project is that it can easily fit into a purse or even a pocket. You can work on a granny square while sitting next to a stranger on a bus. It’s a lot harder to work a sweater on 13” needles in the subway without poking your seat mate in the eye. That danger, and the clanging, show stopping noise of a dropped knitting needle hitting the floor can be more embarrassing than explaining why you just called yourself a hooker.
In the end, it’s great to knit and it’s just as great to crochet. Both crafts can produce lacy, cute, beautiful,, warm, or silly projects and being able to do either will probably impress whoever is eying you from across the crowded coffee shop. Personally, when it’s a rainy Saturday and VH1 is showing a Top Model marathon, I’m more likely to knit than crochet. But in the end, I’m happy to be a knitter who sometimes ignores spell check and declares herself a crocheter as well.
Stumble it!
