Which do you like better: knitting or crochet?

[peainthepod]

And why?

I started teaching myself to knit about a year ago and lost patience with it quickly because, if I'm honest with myself, I found it a little intimidating. Circular needles and stitch counters and double-pointed needles and ack! Scary.

One day I looked at my old yarn stash and saw this cute hat online that was crocheted and decided to make one for myself. I watched some crochet videos, made an afghan, and fell in love with hooking. ( ) Since then I've gotten fairly competent with a crochet hook, making all sorts of things, and I realized that I could really improve my skills by learning the knitting basics. So I signed up for a class at a local yarn shop and learned to purl, knit, use circular needles, etc.

I've started knitting again and am finding it really fun and terribly challenging, since you have to sort of wrap your head around a different concept of making stitches with needles than with a hook. I still love to crochet and have started combining both, adding crocheted edges to my knit pieces and so on. But I think, if I had to choose one, I'd go back to crochet. There's just something about it that really appeals to me.

Anyway, this thread has pretty much no point at all. I'm just curious what you mamas prefer, and why, and anything else you want to chat about when it comes to making things out of yarn. I'm still something of a novice and find it all very interesting.

[IntuitiveJamie]

I tried to learn knitting once, but it was from an inept teacher. Therefore I really just didn't get it. Two needles, yarn...it was all too much for me.
About a year later I tried hooking and I, like you, have fallen in love. It's taken me a long time to get good at (several years) b/c I was taught by a different inept teacher and basically figured out the rest for myself. I found reading patterns initially like reading another language and I wasn't really paying attn. to what I was doing.

But now I can breeze along quite nicely and really enjoy the craft. I feel like I am being drawn to knitting though. Eventually. There is so much more to offer in knitting and I know that. Everything from more patterns to choose from (limitless is seems) to great needles and fun stitch markers.
I'm still enjoying crochet though, but can sense that I will probably outgrow it. Next time I try knitting though, I'm going to pay and get a really good teacher to hopefully give myself a good start. It will still be up to me in the end, but having to undo what someone taught me wrong initially is really a pain!

[Ellp]

I love to do both but I'm most adept at knitting. I'm ok with crochet and I love the process of doing it but there's something about the look of crocheted stuff that just isn't my thing. It reminds of granny style afgans(sp?).:

Knitted stuff OTOH usually appears (at least to me) to look more formal and technical, and the selection of patterns is almost limitless so I can usually find something I like.

[A Mom's Love]

Crochet! It just feels good to crochet. I like how it works up faster & I guess mainly, I'm good at it & with knitting, I'm like at an entry level when it comes to skill.

[Indigo73]

I am an equal opportunity crafter - crocheting since age 4 and knitting for about 7 years now (wow that long).

I find I like each for different things, although I do lace in both. I do more toys in crochet and more clothing in knit, but that isn't always the case.

[joyfulheart]

I adore knitting. I've been knitting about 9 years now. I love the look of knit items.

I would, however, welcome the opportunity to learn how to crochet. There are a couple of cute hats I've seen crocheted (is that a word?) that I'd like to try. I also think crochet flowers can be cute, too.

[peainthepod]

Thank you for the answers so far! I remember in some "teach yourself to knit!" book I bought early on, there was this rather stern introduction about how knitters and crocheters each have a place in the crafting world and that the book would not be approaching the subject from a place of knitting elitism. That always stuck with me because I just pictured gangs of knitters v. crocheters, needles and hooks threateningly in hand, like the Sharks and the Jets but with yarn.

I really like doing both; in fact, I just splurged on an entire bamboo set in both straight and double-pointed needles, plus one of those modular circular kits. Tonight, I'm going to try and make my first exclusively knit hat. I've never knitted in the round before, so please wish me luck!

joyfulheart, I think crochet might honestly be a lot easier to teach yourself than knitting. The best resource for learning I've found is watching how-to videos over and over again on YouTube. Then just learn the abbreviations and try to do some easy patterns on Ravelry. The best thing about crochet is if you mess up or miss a stitch or miscount or whatever, it's SO EASY to fix. It's an incredibly forgiving craft.

[BeanyMama]

Knitting! I knit for 3 years before learning to crochet, so I feel most comfy and rhythmic with it. Crochet absolutely has it charms, though. It's usually easier and most always quicker!

[goinggreengirl]

Depends on what I'm making. Crochet for hats usually and amigurimi animals and knitting for scarves and flat things. But that's probably because I haven't mastered knitting in the round!

[Thyme Mama]

knitting!

it is more "structured", imho. crocheting is more free-form, and i tend to make up stitches i can't remember

i adore knitting in the round, it is easier than straight needle knitting for me. that said, i have NO CLUE how to do cables yet!

[limette]

I can knit but only basic stuff and it gives me a migraine so I don't usually get very far.  I've tried numerous times to teach myself crochet but I can never quite figure it out.  I really want to make a granny square afghan but it's not going to happen.

[TwinMom]

Definitely crochet!  I know how to knit but it just feels so awkward to me.  I  crochet so much.  Right now I have six projects either on hooks or in my head, it's the best part of my day when I get to sit down with a glass of wine and some yarn.

[IntuitiveJamie]

Originally Posted by TwinMom 

Definitely crochet!  I know how to knit but it just feels so awkward to me.  I  crochet so much.  Right now I have six projects either on hooks or in my head, it's the best part of my day when I get to sit down with a glass of wine and some yarn.

Absolutely!

*I also have about 6 projects on hooks right now. Sometimes that gets a little overwhelming and i have to really focus to get a couple done and feel like I've accomplished something.

[TwinMom]

Jamie, what do you have going on your hooks right now??  I love to see what other hookers are working on.  

I'll post what I've got going on tomorrow but for right now I have to go give some  to my own dh.

[zebra15]

Crochet... cant knit worth a dang.  Maybe one day I will figure it out??

[IntuitiveJamie]

Twinmama-I've got a basketweave blanket going. A shrug. I just finished my first slouchy hat that I love. I've got a a pair socks I'm about to get started. Oh and I need to make these for my Sports loving family:http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/cpatt10.htm for Christmas.

What are you working on?

[sewchris2642]

I learned to crochet first, long before I learned to knit.  Since I've had years more experience with crochet, I find it unnatural to have 2 needles in my hand and the yarn in the "wrong" hand when I knit.  So I don't do it very often which feeds the awkwardness of it.  So it has become a self perpetuating cycle.  But I do know the stitches and how to read the knitting patterns so I can talk about knitting with my dd, Joy, who is a much better knitter than a crocheter.  I mostly work with thread, not yarn, and the patterns I like the best are all in crochet.  So that doesn't help either. 

[Annie Mac]

Knitting, definitely. I find it much easier to obtain the right tension when I have needles as tools vs just my fingers and that one piddly little hook. 

[peainthepod]

I'm so happy to see this thread is still going!

So far I've knitted several simple hats in the round, a simple cabled scarf, and I'm working on this pillow. Cabling is not too hard once you get the hang of it; what really intimidates me now is intarsia and Fair Isle knitting.

I still love crochet but knitting is not nearly as scary or awkward as it once was. I guess that's progress.

[texmati]

I do both. I tought myself to crochet as a kid, and then picked up knitting a few years ago. I remember loving the creativity of crochet as a kid (and all the math involved!), but honestly, I like the mindlessness of knitting now.  I don't want to look at my work, or count my stitches anymore. I just want to sit down without feeling guilty, so I knit, knit, knit, while watching tv.