Crochet vs. Knit, Round 1 (ding!)
Oooh, new mags, and a rant!
I went to my local bookstore today to find that the magazine racks were filled with new magazines. Glorious new magazines. Wonderous new magazines.
And so I had to have them. well, some of them. Some of them have things inside that I would never ever knit or crochet. or both.
But I did find my guilty pleasure: Interweave Crochet, by our friends at Interweave Knits. I nearly fell down in joy the first time I ever saw this published, because I must confess I am a crocheter at heart. I have been knitting for a meer seven months. I have been crocheting for decades (which is pretty good since I'm not yet 30). I have over a dozen afghans under my belt, several sweaters, many hats, scarves, potholders and even a stuffed lamb in my crochet repetory. And so getting a new and potentially beautiful magazine into the hands of crocheters thrilled me. The new issue is... well, it's mediocre in terms of patterns, but it's not bad, but that's not the crux of my rant...
My rant concerns the ravelings on the last page. Usually these are interesting little tidbits, written for crafters, by crafters. But this one pisses me off. And I'll tell you why. It's supposed to be a story extoling the virtues of crocheting freeform art. For it's own sake. But the author, an editor of the magazine, has to use the first several paragraphs telling us how she is a knitter, and crochet is foreign.
Yes, I know. thank you. I practice this weird craft with a hook. The red headed stepchild to knitting.
Bloggers do this too. "I would love to knit this top, but I can't handle the crocheted edging"
what do you do with this hook? What do you do with your left hand?
What I wanted to know is what the hell do you do with these pointy things. Where was my hook? Why can't I go anywhere I want with these things? what do you mean I need 18 billion little double pointed needles in order to make a circle. Why can't I just chain 6, slip stitch them into a look, and SC into that loop X times? Viola! Circle! Want it bigger? Add more rounds! Want it a tube? Add more rounds without increasing stitches. Learning to knit after learning crochet is actually a better way to go around thinsg I found. My knitting friends who are just picking up crochet are agonizing over thier first scarf... for months. I learned knitting seven months ago and I'm on my fifth sweater. And when I can't solve something... well, I crochet it together.
I think that the idea that knit is right and crochet is left (like hands) is all wrong. There shouldn't be anything alien or strange about crochet. It's a yarn art, just like knitting. Yeah, it's different, but there are those of us out here who picked it up first. I'm proud of my l33t crochet skillz. I do not believe that they caused me "agony and frustration" as dear Miss Schroyer writes in her ravelings. At least no more agony and frustration that knitting causes.
A-hem. ok, I'll stop being a ranter now. I am, however going to whip up one of those yummy half knit, half crochet patterns I have and take it along to my next stitch and bitch. Why? because I can.
I went to my local bookstore today to find that the magazine racks were filled with new magazines. Glorious new magazines. Wonderous new magazines.
And so I had to have them. well, some of them. Some of them have things inside that I would never ever knit or crochet. or both.
But I did find my guilty pleasure: Interweave Crochet, by our friends at Interweave Knits. I nearly fell down in joy the first time I ever saw this published, because I must confess I am a crocheter at heart. I have been knitting for a meer seven months. I have been crocheting for decades (which is pretty good since I'm not yet 30). I have over a dozen afghans under my belt, several sweaters, many hats, scarves, potholders and even a stuffed lamb in my crochet repetory. And so getting a new and potentially beautiful magazine into the hands of crocheters thrilled me. The new issue is... well, it's mediocre in terms of patterns, but it's not bad, but that's not the crux of my rant...
My rant concerns the ravelings on the last page. Usually these are interesting little tidbits, written for crafters, by crafters. But this one pisses me off. And I'll tell you why. It's supposed to be a story extoling the virtues of crocheting freeform art. For it's own sake. But the author, an editor of the magazine, has to use the first several paragraphs telling us how she is a knitter, and crochet is foreign.
Yes, I know. thank you. I practice this weird craft with a hook. The red headed stepchild to knitting.
Bloggers do this too. "I would love to knit this top, but I can't handle the crocheted edging"
what do you do with this hook? What do you do with your left hand?
What I wanted to know is what the hell do you do with these pointy things. Where was my hook? Why can't I go anywhere I want with these things? what do you mean I need 18 billion little double pointed needles in order to make a circle. Why can't I just chain 6, slip stitch them into a look, and SC into that loop X times? Viola! Circle! Want it bigger? Add more rounds! Want it a tube? Add more rounds without increasing stitches. Learning to knit after learning crochet is actually a better way to go around thinsg I found. My knitting friends who are just picking up crochet are agonizing over thier first scarf... for months. I learned knitting seven months ago and I'm on my fifth sweater. And when I can't solve something... well, I crochet it together.
I think that the idea that knit is right and crochet is left (like hands) is all wrong. There shouldn't be anything alien or strange about crochet. It's a yarn art, just like knitting. Yeah, it's different, but there are those of us out here who picked it up first. I'm proud of my l33t crochet skillz. I do not believe that they caused me "agony and frustration" as dear Miss Schroyer writes in her ravelings. At least no more agony and frustration that knitting causes.
A-hem. ok, I'll stop being a ranter now. I am, however going to whip up one of those yummy half knit, half crochet patterns I have and take it along to my next stitch and bitch. Why? because I can.
posted by JamieL | 6:51 PM
1 Comments:
I too learned to crochet first, and knit second. I love the flat, stretchy fabric that knitting can make, but there's just something about the freedom of crochet that I just love.
Just thought you should know you're not the only one!
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