Question for anyone who knits AND crochets

[butterflie]

I have tried knitting and just can't get the hang of holding 2 needles and not the yarn. It feels wrong and I couldn't figure out how to get the stitches going at ALL. I want to try again someday though.

[lizdini]

I learned to crochet first. That was a journey of trail and error and giving up all the time. So was trying to knit. I finally figured out knitting a year or so ago. I think it helped that I took up loom knitting first. I hardly ever knit, it seems like too much effort for me. Although I did knit a pair of socks that came out pretty well. I learned to knit right-handed in the hope that I would be better able to read patterns. I crochet left-handed, and sometimes patterns just don't make any sense.

[Flia]

I learned knitting as an adult, and had a really hard time before I got a hang of the basics.

It seems some people do both, and some are better at one of them.

[faedragon]

I learned to knit first. I have always found knitting to be slow and awkward. I taught myself to crochet from a Coats and Clarke pamphlet about a zillion years ago. I love to crochet. I can stilll knit, have even taught a few people the basics of knitting, but I do not like it, I do not enjoy it and I will not make any crocheted project that includes knitting work. If i wanted to knit, I'd be doing a knitting project.

[LizGrayson]

I think it would just depend on what you started with. I certainly find knitting harder because of the knit/purl mirror image thing. One hook instead of two needles is about all my brain can take. But I'm sure if I took knitting lessons I'd evenutally get it figured out (I think;).

[yarnjeannie]

I learned to crochet first, then took a class to learn to knit. I guess the teacher was pretty good, since I didn't have too much trouble picking it up. I think I had a little more trouble with yarn handling than with the needles when learning to knit. But I will always prefer crochet to knitting, just because it tends to go faster.

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

Knitting was easier for me to learn.

[alwayscrafting]

I taught myself to crochet first, years before I taught myself to knit.

Crocheting is easier...but for a knitter I can understand her difficulty.

[ErinLindsey]

I learned to knit when I was in grade school but never really did much with it. I taught myself to crochet when I was in my 20's and made a giant granny square for my full size bed then sort of stopped. It wasn't until a few years ago (working at a LYS) that I got interested in either again. I found that I liked crocheting better since it was faster and easier to set down and pick back up later. Also I was told that I knit wrong. Well, I was taught to throw (wrap) my yarn different than what is now the 'correct' way. It still comes out looking the same. So then I decided to learn the 'continental' method of knitting (you hold the yarn in your left hand and pick it up instead of throwing it with your right hand). I found that to be a faster way of knitting but in the end, I still prefer to crochet.

 

There is no "wrong" way to knit or crochet. If what you get is recognizable as knitting or crochet, then you're doing it right. What's wrong is people who insist you're doing it wrong, when you're still getting a knit or crochet fabric out of what you're doing.

[ErinLindsey]

I learned how to crochet first. My parents used to get me balloons when we went to a local restaurant when I was little. My dad would make a slip knot and put it around my wrist.

 

I was more interested in how the slip knot worked than playing with the balloons. I taught myself how to make slip knots and finger crocheted everything I could find when I learned you could make a bunch of slip knots in a row.

 

My sister took knitting classes from a neighbor, and I remember going with her once. Thought it was neat, but the lady teaching my sister said I was too little. My dad knitted, and he casted on some yarn onto two knitting needles and tried to show me. I was probably too little because all I did was make a big knot on the knitting needles.

 

So, I did finger crochet with yarn from my dad's stash for a few years. Made headbands out of chains. I was 6 when my sister was in Girl Scouts and she learned to crochet. She knew I was making chains with my fingers, and decided to teach me how to crochet. So she bought me a hook and a skein of pink Red Heart and showed me how to slip stitch, which I think is the only crochet stitch she learned from the Girl Scouts.

 

I slip stitched little bags, bracelets, headbands, whatever for years. One day my grandma saw that I slip stitched a bag that I kept change in. Asked if I wanted to learn more, and she taught me several more stitches. I must have been around 10yrs old, or in my early teens by then.

 

I think I made my first afghan when I was about 17 or 18. I think I've made several hundred by now. (dont have many to show for it either, was giving most of them away until recently)

 

I'm cough39yrscough old now.

 

I didnt learn to knit till about 2yrs ago. I was watching an episode of Knit One, Purl Two. The host of the show was teaching Marina Sirtis how to purl a stitch. It was the camera angle or something, because all of a sudden my brain went "I can do that!" and I picked up some knitting needles that my aunt had given me because she didnt want them any more (size 14 needles!)

 

I casted on some scrap yarn (I'd been needle tatting and the cast on for that is similar) and tried to do the knit stitch. (I knew she was teaching Marina how to purl, but decided to try the knit stitch first) A few minutes later I had a couple of rows of knitting. Went upstairs to show my dad, since he knits, and asked if I was doing it right. He said I was.

 

I didnt really care much for it, so I didnt knit any more for a couple of days.

 

Then I woke up on morning after a Migraine From Heck. I had a huge blind spot in my left eye, obscured 2/3rds of my vision in that eye. I found out later that it was called Optic Neuritis and was one of my first symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. During the next few weeks when I was getting tested, I was more than a little freaked out by the whole thing. So, to keep my mind off my problems I went and bought some smaller knitting needles. (circulars) and basically kept myself sane by teaching myself to knit.

 

Knitting saved my sanity for the next 7 or 8 months. I got diagnosed just after christmas that year. (the optic neuritis started in late August of 2006, I got diagnosed with MS in January of 2007)

 

I didnt learn how to purl until probably about February or March of 2007. (had a problem with full body numbness and that drove me nuts, so I kept working on the knitting)

 

I will always love to crochet and prefer that, but knitting now has a special place for when I'm stressed out. I've knitted a lot of scarves in the last couple of years.

[Reneva]

I've been wanting to learn how to knit, but have not been successful yet. It seems so awkward and backwards. Lately though, I'm considering trying again and am thinking of using two of my long double-ended crochet hooks!! For some reason things make more sense when there are hooks involved in the process! Call me crazy (and I'll just laugh softly to myself).

[Sandy Jo]

I learned crochet first, and then just the very basics of knitting, potholders

but always wanted a fisherman cabled afghan so out came the needles! I still knit slow

but do like the drape of it for some articles and someday I will make that afghan!

[Miss Crochet]

I learned to knit first, the standard Irish/British/American way, which is also called 'throwing': you 'throw' the yarn over the needle with your right hand. Very awkward and slow for me. Then I moved to Germany and discovered that the Continental style of knitting is SO MUCH COOLER! It's very like crochet, in terms of how you hold the needles and maneouvre the yarn (I don't have a link but just enter the term Continental Knitting on youtube and you'll find a few tutorials.) Fantastic, you might say. Well, in my case, not really: although I can't knit well and don't knit often at all (I might attempt a scarf once every two years), I'm finding it incredibly difficult to un-learn the mechanical process of knitting that I learned as a 6-year-old. It's really hard to retrain myself 28 years later (old dog, new tricks, etc). Nonetheless, I think this is the way to go for me because (I hate to admit it) I'd LOVE to be able to knit the Aran pullovers (you know, those Irish cabled sweaters) or Fairisle/Scandinavian sweaters. I just love the patterns and the colours... Now I have to find time between crochet projects to sit down and learn...

[stitchgirl]

I have found through years of teaching that it is far easier to teach crochet to someone who is not already a knitter. I think it's a mind set mostly -- a knitter who is confident of his/her ability suddenly feels all thumbs and clumsy and doesn't like the feeling. They feel lost without that second implement.

 

That said, I think it is really easier to teach knitting, as there are only two stitches and not so many places to stick the needles as here are to stick the hook.

 

And a lot depends on the teacher maybe even more so than on the student.

 

Jean Leinhauser

 

I agree with this. I learned knitting when I was about 10 and I didn't think it was hard to learn. But then when I wanted to learn crochet, believe it or not, it was baffling to me. I could do it as long as someone (my aunt) was right there, but as soon as I was on my own I got it all messed up. I finally did learn how to crochet and actually like it much better than knitting, but if you want to do both, I think it's probably better to learn crochet first.

[hmltwin]

I learned to crochet years ago from my mother, but I taught myself to knit at the start of this year. Knitting is easier in that there are really only two stiches to learn - its what you do with them that makes the pattern. Crocheting though, for me at least, seems to go much faster. It took me about three weeks to knit my first doll scarf. I crocheted one the same size in about a day and a half (~2 hours each day, since I worked on them during my ride to and from work and while waiting for car pool).

[Hookmaster]

My sister taught me to knit when I was about 12, it was not easy and still isn't my friend taught me to crochet at age 30 something and it was easy for me but at that age I was more focused. I love crochet and do knitting once in awhile, most of my knitting is now done on a knitting machine. Now that is easy....

[stronak]

It seems whatever you learned first seems the easiest. My mom has always crocheted, so I decided to try it. Then I wanted to try knitting as well. I learned both from the internet at the same time. I watched videos with my yarn and hook/needles on my computer desk. I definitely think the knitting stitches are harder to learn and prefer crochet. It seems faster to me.

[melmac51]

I learned how to knit first, but didn't learn how to bind off until about 15 years later. So, I just knitted a strip, then ripped it out, then knitted it again. Loved it! About 2 years after learning to knit, I learned to crochet. It was harder to learn, but I find it easier and less stressful to do now. I crochet way, way more than I knit. And, I hold the yarn completely different when I knit than when I crochet. Go figure.

[auntieshe]

My Grandmother tried to teach me how to knit when I about 5. She would consistantly have to cut the yarn off the needle because my stitches would get so tight you couldn't even push them off to unravel the yarn. After that she sat me down and put a crochet hook in my hand. To say I took to crochet like a duck to water would be an understatement.

 

When I was around 12 I used allowance money I had saved to buy a set of needles and a Learn to Knit, Crochet, Tat book (that I still have) and re-taught myself the basics. Knitting is still not that easy for me, but I perfer to use it with some of the specialty yarns that are out now, like the fun fur, and homespun.

[Susanne]

In Austria we learn crocheting and knitting in school. Crochet comes first, at the age of 7 or 8. One year later it is knitting time.

 

I found knitting more difficult at the start, because there are more stitches to watch for. Now crocheting is for me a bit more difficult at a advanced level, because for me knitting comes down to 2 stitches, purl and knit with occasional yarn overs. Crocheting has so much possibilities that I find patterns harder to memorize.

 

One thing that is very easy in crochet compared to knitting are shapings - amigurumi for example. I am happy I learned both, so I can pick my technique for each project.

[Nila]

I'm not so good with specific whens... But I know that a friend taught me and my sister to chain first. Then later on I taught myself to knit out of a booklet. And then even later on I learned to crochet by watching videos and with some coaching by my sister who had already figured most of it out.

 

To me, knitting was easier to learn. All the stitches are right there on the needle (provided you didn't lose one ) and are very easy to find. The hardest part about me learning to crochet was finding the right spot to put the next stitch, especially in the chain. Plus, when I'd learned to chain before, the whole point was to pull each chain tight so it could be used as a bracelet or chained again for something else. So I also had a hard time breaking that habit and getting the chains loose enough to get a stitch into.

 

Now both are just as easy, though I tend to crochet more because you can see the finished shape before you finish off easier, especially with things that are going to be sewn into another shape. (needles like to get in the way) Plus crochet feels faster, so I pick it when I want a project to go quickly.

[AutumnWindsong]

When I was 9, I had a friend who was the same age and crocheted. I watched her, and went home from school to beg for yarn and a hook. I taught myself by what I remembered her doing, and made a crocheted whiskey bottle for my alcoholic step dad. LOL. From there, I learned to crochet all kinds of things. I never could get knitting, until I was 26 and had a really good friend who was 77 and left handed teach me the continental method. Once Helen did that, I picked it up right away and LOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEE it. I will have to post a pic of the shawl I am knitting once I get it finished. It's GORGEOUS.

 

Oh, and I knit and crochet about equally fast...because I knit continental...and crochet right handed.

 

Blessed Be.

[vintagecraftygirl]

I find crocheting to be much easier in terms of handling one hook versus two needles. It's much easier to decrease using a hook than trying to use 4 double point needles!! I learned to crochet first and found it was easier and less frustrating than knitting. I remember bending needles because I held them so tightly!

[MGM]

I learned crochet when I was about 8 years old and did that exclusively until I was about 30 when my mother-in-law taught me to knit. It was awkward at first because of the two-needles-and-no-hook thing, but once I got the hang of it, I really loved it. Now I have certain things that I will only knit, such as sweaters, mittens, most clothing items. And there are certain things that I will only crochet like blankets, afghans, baby blankets, big afghans...you get the idea! Actually I do have some scarves I have recently crocheted which you can see on my website under the crochet link on the sidebar. And I do have a baby hat that I crochet, and I have knitted baby blankets. I would have to say I love both knitting and crocheting, and it usually depends on the mood I'm in which I will start working on.

 

MGM

[gumby28]

I think crocheting is much easier. I only knit I don't know how to pearl. The log needles seem to get in the way.