When I was eleven years old, I learned to crochet while I was staying home from school due to a prolonged illness. My aunt taught me the basic stitches, and many years that was all I could do. Later, I learned the granny square but I still didn’t have access to all the knowledge now available as the internet was still very new and Google wasn’t even a thing yet.
Well, fast forward and I became self taught thanks to a beginner book I stumbled across in Michaels, and then I dived into crochet blogs and video tutorials. Which were only a few minutes long at the time, which just shows you how much YouTube and how we consume media has changed.
I could have self taught myself knitting. I even have dived into knitting a couple of times, once with a knitter, once with some video tutorials. But crocheting was easier—I knew how to do it after all, and learning is a process and doesn’t provide the same “fix” as when you can dive into craft and just get stitching.
So, in a nutshell, that’s why I don’t knit. I’ve just never really taken the time.
Do I Want to Learn to Knit?
I wish I had a good answer to the the questions: do I want to learn how to knit? The part of me that likes learning, that is creative and wants to do ALL the yarn things says yes, but—but there’s another part of me. A part of me that’s being practical.
The practical part of me knows that if I’m going to be a designer, I need to focus on crochet. I need to continue spreading my wings and grow in my comfort zone as a designer. I also need to focus on the business side of things: sharing, promoting, etc and that’s time consuming too. And, I’m still learning Tunisian crochet so I’m maxed out when it comes to yarn craft. At the moment anyway.
So, it seems logical to put knitting on the to do list for some day in the (likely far) future.
But, there is another tiny part of me that just doesn’t want to learn. Maybe it’s because people call my crocheting knitting. Or maybe it’s because I know some knitters looked down on crochet a little, were snobby towards the craft. And maybe it’s also because it just looks hard!
Which is super silly! Crochet is hard too, when you first start. Everything is. I know if I spent the time I could learn to knit. But the idea of fiddling around with two needles and having open stitches is just too scary sometimes! It seems awkward and sometimes complicated and I think to myself, that’s not for me. But I honestly don’t know if it isn’t because I’ve never stuck to it long enough.
Yarn Craft Plans
I think I will eventually learn to knit. If I had to plan out my yarn life, this is something like what it would it look like.
- Push into crochet techniques not previously explored (i.e Mosaic, corner to corner)
- Practice and develop Tunisian crochet skills (i.e increase, decrease, colour changing)
- Learn to knit
Now, while those are just three little bullets, there’s a lot of skills to learn in there, and the first two bullets alone would be extremely time consuming. And they are the two I want to really focus on. Which brings me to knit.
Knit it a whole new skill. Tunisian crochet has many similarities to crochet, so learning it thus far hasn’t been challenging. It’s more a matter of practice now. But, knit is entirely different so it will be something I have to tackle after I really feel more confident with Tunisian. I’m also hoping some of those Tunisian skills might cross over into knit. Not entirely sure they will however.
English Vs Continental?
I also think knitting needs a little research. For instance, what do knitters need mean when they say they knit continental or English? I’m not sure! I haven’t looked too closely into it to be honest, but it seems to be a variation in technique. I’m not sure which I have used in the past because it wasn’t something mentioned when I was learning. I guess the knitter just taught me whatever she used, and as for when I was learning via a video tutorial, it wasn’t mentioned as far as I remember. But when I do learn, I’ll definitely talk to some knitters and watch some videos using both methods and try and see which I like.
As you can see, there’s a lot to learn when it comes to yarn craft, and although knitting and crochet aren’t hard to learn, you do need to spend the time to learn, practice and trial and error as you go along. Which I am excitedly looking forward to when it comes to knit! It might be a while before I learn, but learning a whole new craft is always such fun.
As you can see, there’s a lot to learn when it comes to yarn craft, and although knitting and crochet aren’t hard to learn, you do need to spend the time to learn, practice and trial and error as you go along. Which I am excitedly looking forward to when it comes to knit! It might be a while before I learn, but learning a whole new craft is always such fun.
Do you knit? Share your fibre craft skills below.
