So, this is it - the final topic for our Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2012.
I have enjoyed reading other bloggers' thoughts and look at their photographs and I do hope that there were a few who also enjoyed reading my posts as much as I enjoyed writing them.
While I am thankful that I can take a blogging breather again (usually I only blog about two or three times each week), I am already looking forward to next years.
Thank you very much to Eskimimimakes for coming up with this great idea!
But here is one last topic for all us all to enjoy:
Crafting Balance
3KCBWDAY7
Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?
I totally swing both ways :)
Both crafts have their pro's and con's which incidentally pretty much go hand in hand. Things I dislike about one craft are a positive about the other, for example:
Casting on
Knitting: I find it easier to stop and recount as you have all the loops on your needle.
Crocheting: Depending on the yarn it can be extremely difficult to recount your loops if you lost count along the way. I tend to place stitch markers at 50 loop intervals.
Drop a stitch
Knitting: That can become a real bitch, especially when you only notice it ten rows after....you have to either knit backwards or if you have an easy pattern without a myriad of YON/YRN just frog away until you can pick all your stitches up again (we could be talking 100+, depending on what you are working on).
Crocheting: You only ever have one stitch on your hook, so who cares if you dropped it, just carry on as normal. Even if for whatever reason you need to frog a few rows back, you only have to pick up one stitch. Yeah, baby, yeah!
The creative process
Knitting: I get bored easy when a pattern is plain. Knitting seems kind of endless, you don't have the gratification of a completed project at your fingertips. Your very seldom get your needles out when you fancy a "quickie" project.
Crocheting: Many of my favourite crochet projects consist of smaller sections being brought together. For example blankets made from granny squares. One square can be finished within 30 - 60 minutes, so you have almost instant gratifying of having completed something.
The look of the finished projects
Knitting: There is no doubt in my mind that clothing is much nicer when it is knitted, as it feels softer and appears to be more comfortable to wear
Crocheting: Blankets, pillow cases, scarves and wraps are gorgeous when crocheted, but jumpers and cardigans just feel heavy and bulky as crocheting will be much more sturdy.
Truly, I love doing both and generally have one of each on the go at the same time - I am so glad that I rediscovered both knitting and crocheting in 2011.
I started knitting when I was in school, so around 40 years ago (yikes!!!!) and we were also shown how to crochet loop chains - but knitting was more the way to go in those days.
In the 80's and early 90's I used to knit a lot and almost all my jumpers were handmade. I only wish I would have kept them as most of those patterns have now come back into fashion!!! At some stage I was so good at knitting that I created my own patterns. But then from one day to the next I fell out of love with this craft.
Crocheting only came into my life in earnest at the beginning of 2011 because I saw THIS post by Michelle Clement that got me interested in crocheting and I started to look around the www. for more inspiration. After a few month of checking out what people created with a hook and some yarn I started to teach myself in January 2011 and I haven't looked back since.
Other craft's fell by the wayside - such as my scrapbooking and cardmaking, but I am cool with that. Right know knitting and crocheting is what makes me happy, and that is really all that matters
Both crafts have their pro's and con's which incidentally pretty much go hand in hand. Things I dislike about one craft are a positive about the other, for example:
Casting on
Knitting: I find it easier to stop and recount as you have all the loops on your needle.
Crocheting: Depending on the yarn it can be extremely difficult to recount your loops if you lost count along the way. I tend to place stitch markers at 50 loop intervals.
Drop a stitch
Knitting: That can become a real bitch, especially when you only notice it ten rows after....you have to either knit backwards or if you have an easy pattern without a myriad of YON/YRN just frog away until you can pick all your stitches up again (we could be talking 100+, depending on what you are working on).
Crocheting: You only ever have one stitch on your hook, so who cares if you dropped it, just carry on as normal. Even if for whatever reason you need to frog a few rows back, you only have to pick up one stitch. Yeah, baby, yeah!
The creative process
Knitting: I get bored easy when a pattern is plain. Knitting seems kind of endless, you don't have the gratification of a completed project at your fingertips. Your very seldom get your needles out when you fancy a "quickie" project.
Crocheting: Many of my favourite crochet projects consist of smaller sections being brought together. For example blankets made from granny squares. One square can be finished within 30 - 60 minutes, so you have almost instant gratifying of having completed something.
The look of the finished projects
Knitting: There is no doubt in my mind that clothing is much nicer when it is knitted, as it feels softer and appears to be more comfortable to wear
Crocheting: Blankets, pillow cases, scarves and wraps are gorgeous when crocheted, but jumpers and cardigans just feel heavy and bulky as crocheting will be much more sturdy.
Truly, I love doing both and generally have one of each on the go at the same time - I am so glad that I rediscovered both knitting and crocheting in 2011.
I started knitting when I was in school, so around 40 years ago (yikes!!!!) and we were also shown how to crochet loop chains - but knitting was more the way to go in those days.
In the 80's and early 90's I used to knit a lot and almost all my jumpers were handmade. I only wish I would have kept them as most of those patterns have now come back into fashion!!! At some stage I was so good at knitting that I created my own patterns. But then from one day to the next I fell out of love with this craft.
Crocheting only came into my life in earnest at the beginning of 2011 because I saw THIS post by Michelle Clement that got me interested in crocheting and I started to look around the www. for more inspiration. After a few month of checking out what people created with a hook and some yarn I started to teach myself in January 2011 and I haven't looked back since.
Other craft's fell by the wayside - such as my scrapbooking and cardmaking, but I am cool with that. Right know knitting and crocheting is what makes me happy, and that is really all that matters
Excellent list, I like seeing the pros and the cons listed side-by-side. I think that it is awesome that you are able to use both methods.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my blog. I'm catching up on yours, you have some great stuff here! love your pineapple shawl, among other things :-)
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your perspective on both the crafts.I agree with what you said.
ReplyDelete