Sunday, April 29, 2012

3KCBWDAY7 - To Knit or To Crochet?

I'd say that about 95% (if not more) of my planned projects are knit rather than crochet. Actually, my queue on Ravelry tells me that I have 356 knit projects saved and only 8 crochet projects planned.

I started this whole fiber insanity with crochet. I'd been taught how to do some very simple crochet when I was 7 or so. I somehow talked Lynn into buying me a visual guide to crochet and as a reward, the first project I finished was a scarf for him. That poor sad scarf, it's uneven and grows or shrinks in width depending on which end you start with. He loves it. 

In my poking round online I found lots and lots of knit things as well. I loved the look of them so much that I had to teach myself how to create them. Thus began round two of this fiber love, particularly when I found knit socks. Wait, you mean I can pick the colors 'and' the pattern 'and' make them fit my feet exactly? Sold!

I've always loved color. I have a form of a degree (I'm not sure how well it holds up when nobody will accept it) in an Associates in Interior Decorating. I love socks and the different patterns and designs on them. My sock fascination only got worse when I realized I could dye my own yarn ... wait ... I can spin it too? Hello Rabbit Hole, Goodbye World.

I looked at crochet socks but they just didn't seem to be what I was looking for. Commercial socks seemed to always be too thin but I didn't think the best combat to that was to create such a bulky fabric, particularly when I have a lot of foot pain to begin with. Knitting seemed to fit perfectly into that niche. And call me a snob I prefer the look of knitting for 'most' things. In my world (it's a world of one but I still have problems getting a unanimous vote at times, go figure) crochet is typically left to little stuffed animals or small things like borders. Perhaps it's from seeing way too many badly done afghans in clashy 60's and 70's colors. Or maybe it's caused by nightmares of those various toilet paper, teapot, and tissue box cozies chasing me down. Who knows. 

For the most part I plan to make things for me to wear. And I'm a big girl, on the plus side, I don't need a bulky fabric adding to my size. I work out to reduce that size. I want drape and smooth that whispers over my curves. But that's just my $0.02. 

Besides, you ever try to poke somebody with a crochet hook? It's not nearly as satisfying as using a knitting needle. *wink*

2 comments:

  1. My last crochet projec: 2 fancy doilies. Then I asked myself how many doilies did I really need? That was 10 years ago. Now I've got an F hook in hand and am trying to crochet what should be a simple hat for my granddaughter. But I'd rather be knitting it! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes things are better in one craft than another. :) Sometimes I think about doing the really complicated doilies just to see if I can. But I always remind myself that I'm really a geek girl, not a doily kind of girl.

    ReplyDelete