crochet by sight vs touch

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

I can barely talk and crochet at the same time when i'm working with a pattern. The b/f has heard "SHUT UP I'M COUNTING!" several times.

[OzRebel]

My kids are slowly learning that if they talk to me while I'm crocheting and don't get an immediate response to just wait a bit and I'll reply when I get to a stopping point in my counting.

[kannd86]

I have to look at it in order to crochet it. Maybe someday I can do it without looking.

[sunnywolfgar]

I voted both. Depending on pattern, stitch, counting etc... but yes, I can crochet and watch tv do it all the time but my head is also going up-down alot.

I espically love crocheting with music on~~~~

[Ebbtide]

I am a writer and for one of my stories (involving a blind detective) I tried experimenting with NOT seeing while I did things. Crochet was one of the things that I learned how to do without looking. Just by using feel. I've grown to really appreciate that ability because now I can read a book, watch TV, talk to someone or *WHATEVER* while I busily crochet - even the more difficult (for me) - patterns. It's a useful skill and well worth the time it takes to acquire.

[ddkitten]

I'm another - a bit of both. Easy stitches and little counting I can do by touch. Counting I tend to need watch what my hands are doing. I learned many years ago how to listen to TV and have my hands doing something else - which is what I tend to do of an evening these days. If it is a show or movie I want to focus on then I don't do craft while watching.

[Lavelle26]

I do a little bit of both. If I am designing a pattern, then no. Everything must be quiet and I must be devoted. If its a simple pattern that I have done before or is fairly easy, I don't have to look. If its a more complicated pattern that is repeated over and over, then I can start the stitch by looking and then I can finish it by looking up. Of couse, this method slows me down and so I rarely watch tv while crocheting. If I have to, I can do it, but I would rather just crochet.

[oliveoil]

I've tried crocheting by touch, but I always have to look down to see if I missed any stitches, so I tend to spend more time just checking to see if I did miss any stitches!! Buuuut when I knit, I can go by touch!! Go figure!!

[darski]

I've tried crocheting by touch, but I always have to look down to see if I missed any stitches, so I tend to spend more time just checking to see if I did miss any stitches!! Buuuut when I knit, I can go by touch!! Go figure!!

 

I double dog dare you to do that with "Branching Out"?

 

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTbranchingout.html

 

I had to run a lifeline every 5 rows for that one

[ErinLindsey]

When crocheting (or knitting) by touch, it's ok to look down occasionally, just to make sure you havent made a big mistake, or to make sure that you dont need to change colors or something like that.

 

I've read thru a lot of the messages, and people say they cant do it without looking down. It's ok (and recommended) that you look occasionally. So, I'm sure a lot of you can actually crochet without having to stare at the project the entire time you're crocheting.

 

I am trying to see if I can crochet without looking at all, and see if I can figure out mistakes by touch. I have MS, and I've had some visual problems with that (vision problems are mostly cleared up now) so just in case I ever do go totally and permanently blind from that stupid disease, maybe I'll still be able to crochet just as well and as fast as I can now. (that's as long as I dont become paralyzed by it first)

 

I dont think crocheting blind would be as totally satisfying as it is now, since I love colors, but I am branching out into yarns of different textures and yarns.

 

So, if you're crocheting by touch, and you DONT want to look down even to check for mistakes, you have to learn to feel for mistakes in your work. If I'm doing a basic stitch that can be done in your sleep (hdc?) I at least will run my hand across the row and feel for boo-boos in my work.

 

If I'm doing a decorative stitch (something lacy) I'll try to feel and count sometimes to see if I got the stitches right.

 

I've only recently (since the vision problem began) started trying to get better at crocheting by touch. I still actually have to look and make sure I didnt screw anything up. I think I can actually knit better with my eyes closed than I can with my eyes open. I learned to knit just before my vision problem started, and since I needed a challenge, I pretty much just knitted thru most of my problem, and didnt crochet much during that.

[LadyyOftheOak]

For years and years now I've played a *game* of sorts where I close my eyes and see how much I can crochet by feel. Unless it's a very complicated pattern or a doily pattern in thread crochet I can pretty much do that with no problems.

 

Knitting is a bit different, but if it's a straightforward garter or knit stitch or even stockinette I can still do it by feel only pretty much. I knit and crochet both in the dark of the car, movies.. wherever.. and it never fails to impress when I can look up at a Yarn Event at Michaels and hold a conversation while carrying on my stitches lol

[seagull1993]

I'd have to agree with those who say it depends on the type of pattern, yarn, and hook for me, as to whether I can work by sight or touch -- sometimes the yarn is slippery and even tho' the pattern may have easy stitches, I have to watch a little closer to make sure I don't have one slip off the hook -- :-)