Do you also knit?

[rascalsmom]

I have never learned to knit. My grandmother taught me the basic crochet chain, but never took me to the next level. Not much you can do with a chain! But, I learned to crochet from my college roommate, she taught me the basics and I took it from there. I have made lots of different stuff: a sweater for a little girl, filet crochet things, crocheted snowflakes, hats, scarfs, an afghan, bookmarks. You get the idea. I really enjoy it, although it does bother my tendinitis these days.

 

My mom had a stroke nearly two years ago, and recently, in an effort to get her to do something other than sit and watch tv, I suggested that she dig out her knitting needles. She never knew how to make anything other than slippers, but I figure what the heck. I also told her I wanted her to teach ME to knit; figuring it might be motivation, giving her a purpose.

 

Today I went to her house, and she does not have a clue about the knitting anymore. Just can't remember how to do it. Of course I take this as something of a challenge, and I bring home a pair of knitting needles, go online and find a couple of tutorials...I am bound and determined to learn this! But it's HARD! It is so different than crocheting, at least to me! I think this is something that I ought to be able to figure out, for heaven's sake!

 

So if you crochet AND knit, please share your experiences. Which did you learn first? Just how hard IS it to learn to knit? I am beginning to understand it a little, I think, but darn, it would be nice to have a real person show me how....

[MSL]

What a wonderful thing you are trying to do for your mother! I learned to knit first and then crochet. I am glad I learned knitting first bc it is so much harder than crochet! I never would have stuck with it if I had already known how to crochet. Ever since I learned crochet I hardly ever use my knitting skills! Maybe you could teach her to crochet instead. It might be exciting for her after all she has been thru to learn something new. It might be more mentally frustrating for you and for her to try something that she feels she should already know. After having a stroke there are so many basic things that need to be RE-LEARNED, it might be more fun for her to try something new, and besides, we all know CROCHET IS BETTER!!! LOL

 

Mary <><

[amdm]

I knit and crochet and love both, and appreciate their different qualities, and use the technique most suited to whatever project I have in mind. However, your purpose is a specific one - therapy for a patient, rather than learning a new craft. So for you it would probably be easier to go with the craft you know. As for knitting, when you are trying to teach yourself, don't keep thinking of it relation to crochet. Treat it as something new, and remember, one great thing about knitting is that it does not affect the hands and wrists the way crochet does.

[kittin1982]

i decided last september....i wanted to leasrn to knit....bought some needles....and went online....now i can do both crochet and knit...and i have started to combine the both....i like doing both, but i always go back to crochet....somply because i like it more...and it goes WAY faster than knitting....but knitting is good for some things....

[Ginger]

I've been crocheting for years, and have been learning to knit in the past few months. I'd tried to learn knitting a few times over the years, but could never get the hang of it. This last time, someone suggested I try Continental knitting, and it's finally working for me.

 

I expect to start enjoying knitting any day now.

[faedragon]

I was taught to knit when I was in 6th grade. I taught myself to crochet after I was out of high school. I love to chrochet, loved almost since the moment I figured out how to make the yarn and the hook work together. I loath knitting, so much so that a very beautiful sweater, that I bought 22 balls of yarn @ $8 a ball a the LYS sits in my project page all done EXCEPT for the waistband on the front: cuffs and waistbands are knitted, I have done both cuffs and the bck waistband. I only have about an inch of the front waistband to finish, but just can't bring myself to pick up those needles again. It's been almost finished for about 18 months. I am seriously thinking about taking out the back waistband, joining the sides together and crocheting a waistband...it may be the only way I ever get this finished. I will never, ever ,ever, do anytthing like that again.

[MindyJedi]

I learned to crochet when I was very young. Too young to remember the lessons, actually. I broke my leg, on a trampoline, five years ago. The doctor said to stay off my feet; I took this time to teach myself to knit. My grandmother taught the basics and I went from there with books, etc. It did feel awkward at first, using both hands to control needles; but now it comes smoothly but not too quickly yet. Keep up with it, all things take time to master.

[Riohnna]

I only know crochet. I wanna learn to knit, just because. No certain reason, but I am waiting on knitting needles from Pa. I am almost worried of learning, I keep hearing it is hard, and the only way I will get to learn is teaching myself with online tutorials.

[goofy]

I tought myself to crochet several years ago after trying to knit and failing. I have tried several times to learn to knit and couldn't but last summer I bought knitting for dummies and something just clicked. (that and some determination). Now I would say I am a beginer knitter but definatly prefer crochet...I agree it just goes faster and is more relaxing to me. Good luck in you effort to help your mom.

[rina]

I started to crochet in earnest a year ago, and now I'm learning how to knit. With crochet, it's easy to run through several projects in a month. I make lots of mistakes but also learn a lot in the process. I think it's taking me longer to build up my proficiency in knitting because doing just one minor project takes a long time by comparison. But I do like the look and feel of knitted garments. My dream is to complete a sweater one of these days....

[angieInCA]

I've been a little knitting obsesive lately. Knitting Help.com is a great site.

 

http://www.knittinghelp.com/

[redbird51]

technically speaking, i can knit. can i make anything other than a scarf? no. i'm slow and it makes my hands hurt. i love crochet and feel much more confident with it. i am no where near as good as some of the folks on this board. there is some beautiful stuff being made out there.

[JaneMarcy]

I learned to knit as a child, and when I was a young mother (a bazillion years ago ) I knitted sweaters. I taught myself to crochet later in life, and I've been crocheting ever since. Personally, I don't think knitting is harder than crochet. It's just a totally different craft.

 

It seems to me that even it you're a proficient knitter, it's still slower than crochet. I get bored easily with a project if I don't see results quickly. That's just me. The bottom line is that I much, much, much prefer crochet. I haven't knitted in years, and don't miss it at all.

[ErinLindsey]

I tried many times to learn to knit..probably for as long as I've been crocheting. (learned to crochet when I was 6, I'm almost 38 now)

 

I was never able to learn to knit, until last August. I finally figured out how to do the knit stitch. Then, a week after I figured out how to knit, I temporarily lost my vision in my left eye. (Optic Neuritis) and pretty much after that I tried to do more with knitting since I figured I needed a challenge to keep from going nuts worrying about the vision in my left eye.

 

Took me 6 months, but I finally finished knitting a scarf. So far that's the only knitting project I've finished other than an ugly bag that I did to challenge myself into learning how to use double pointed needles.

 

Knitting is interesting, and challenging enough to keep my mind busy last fall, but I'll never love it like I do crochet. That knitted scarf took me 6 months to knit. I can crochet a scarf in two hours! I love the (nearly) instant gratification that crochet gives me.

[disneypal]

Yes, I do both. I've only been knitting about a year though. I like both and I think it is harder to knit after you are use to crocheting - only because knitting requires 2 needles and crochet only 1. But really knitting is not that hard, it just takes practice getting use to the feel of it.

 

I have a Coats & Clark CD that is really good, called Knitting Made Easy - it has videos that show step by step how to knit, purl, increase, decrease, etc. It really helped me. You might consider taking a class at your local craft or yarn store. Sometimes it helps to have a real live person showing you the steps and helping you with areas you have problems with.

 

Good luck !

[bjc1050]

I knit, too, but hadn't knitted for a long time until a little over a year ago. It wasn't hard to relearn with the help of the Leisure Arts I Can't Believe I'm Knitting booklet and the Knitting Help website. I had a stroke over 2 years ago, also - which affected my right side (I'm right-handed). Actually, the hands get more exercise with crochet than with knitting because the fingers are used more than when knitting. Good Luck.

 

Beverly

[shortylam]

I do both, too! I started off at 7th grade or something with my mom's old crochet magazine in the 70s. At that time somebody in France gave my family (in Vietnam) some beautiful yarn and I wanted to play with them. The magazine had some beautiful patterns and I remembered wanting to make a skirt from that mag. At the back of the magazine was a tutorial of how to crochet and mom and my aunt (mom's older sister) helped me with the basics: chaining, sc, dc. Then I just played and played but didn't get any further than playing. And I stopped. Until almost 2 years ago when I went to grad school that I finally started and got serious with crochet.

 

Then I got frustrated of not being able to make "the perfect sweater". Regardless of how nice they look in the pattern, they never look the same when I made them, either too stiff or too holey. Eventually during the winter break (a bit after Christmas), I bought my first pair of knitting needles and learned how to knit from an instructional book downloaded from LB website. I got through the knit stitch by myself but got some help from my roommate for the purl stitch.

 

To me, knitting has 2 styles: Continental and English. I am a Continental knitter since the movement is very similar to crochet and I get to hold the yarn with my left hand. You should give Continental style a try. I am knitting but very slowly. The fact that I know how to crochet makes my learning how to knit a bit faster. If I could give you one advice, I would say "Don't give up!" because it will eventually come to you.

 

Good luck with learning a new craft and have fun!

[nucki]

Well... technically... yes.

 

But like redbird, I can only make something if it's a square or a rectangle. That comes in handy when it's something like a scarf or a pillow (of which I've done both in the last couple of months).

 

I actually learned to knit when I was about 9 or 10, but in 20 years I've never gotten any better than I was when I first learned. My stitches might be a little more even, but I still can't graduate from a square or a rectangle.

 

I like to pick up the needles every now and then, just for something different, but I learned to crochet first (when I was 7), I'm better at it, it's quicker, and to be frank, I just like it better.

[Island Girl]

I taught myself crochet since I was 10. There was even a time I had no crochet hook so I took a stick and made a notch in it just to crochet. It worked. Then when my 2 older boys were babies I wanted to learn to knit. So I got a book and taight myself the knit and purl stitch. But I didn't have the patience for it. I didn't know it at the time but there was two ways to knit. The American way and the German/Continental way. The American way you "throw" the yarn. The Continental way you use the right needle to do all the work and is Much faster. I love that way alot better. BUT, crochet is still my first love. :yes :hook

Pat A.

[purplepeaches]

before i could hook, I tried and hated it, but after I tryed again and did it with ease, its easier continential after hooking but the book s that I use dto try with all showed American and thats hard!

[Lady_of_Roses]

I can do basic knitting too. I learned English style. I've been trying to convert to continental because I know it's faster, but I'm not having much luck. I guess I've just been doing the tougher way for too long!

[Ladycrochat]

I can also do both, but I prefer crocheting......I also want to buy the knifty knitters and learn how to use them.......

[sandhyasudhir]

Hi,It is so good of you to re teach your mother to knit.It would be just the medecine for her.I do both but love to crochet.Knitting is slower to grow and also diffcult if you make a mistake.Try just the garter stitch first.Maybe a small scarf in garter stitch it is the easiest project.I did my first knitting project a scarf.Just about 5 inches wide and as long as you want it. Use thick yarn and fat needles.

[lacy lucy]

Yessir I do ! But I prefer crochet by a mile.

 

What I find annoying abt knitting is that when I make mistakes I find it heart stoppingly dangerous to unravel the work and attempt to correct it. I have to be on my toes ALL the time when I'm on my knitting . I need to keep a post it on the pattern sheet and keep writing down which row I'm working on. I cant stop in the middle of a pattern and have to wait until the end of a row before I can set down the needles - which becomes difficult at times. And then the stitches sometimes slip off the needles - gosh I could go on and on. But , I guess a real expert wouldnt have such problems. i'm just an also-ran knitter .

 

When it comes to finish, I guess knitting scores over crochet . Crochet stitches are generally coarser, but we certainly do have delicate looking stitches in our kitty.

 

I wish your mother the best with her efforts at mastering knitting.

[Ladykats]

I learned to knit when I was around 25. My MIL knitted, and she taught me. We made a bed set together. She knitted the blanket, and in that time I managed to knit a 12" square that I sewed a back on to and use it as a throw pillow. *** that was almost 25 years ago. Anyway, I haven't picked up needles since MIL past away in 2002. She would always ask me to crochet something for her to take back to Greece for her daughter and grandbabies there. I crochet so many outfits and afghans that went to Greece they could open a store. It just goes faster and in my mind it is easier.