Crochet vs. Knitting

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Luckily, people were able to clean up the trees and debris quickly. If they had not, the roads would not have been safe enough to drive on as quickly as they were.

Yasmin Sustaita, MVC writer and photographer

Many people get crocheting and knitting mixed up. Some of these people also get upset over the fact that something they perform as a hobby is being mistaken for something they believe to be too easy. So, what is the difference between the two?

 

Well, for the most obvious difference, crocheting comes with one hook, while knitting uses two. While both sets of needles can come in different sizes, knitting does not have the curve to hook the yarn onto like a crochet hook does. While knitting can use a majority of items ranging from twine to yarn, crochet mainly focuses on just yarn and thread, whereas thread can’t be used for knitting at all because it is too thin and delicate.

 

Crochet allows people to use patterns that tend to be less revolved around just clothes. For example, with crocheting people can build things ranging from blankets to cup holders to animals. This is unlike knitting, where people can mainly go from just blankets to hats and sweaters and socks, in short, lots of wearable items, most likely because knitted fabric is a lot better for these sorts of items, unlike crochet which can’t be as stretchy or smooth.

 

Although, unlike crocheting, knitting allows the knitter to hold the previous stitches on the needle, which can help protect their stitches from getting messed up in any way. While on the other hand, crochet only allows the previous stitches to just hang down, and possibly get pulled, thus restarting the project. 

 

However, crocheting is often a better option for beginners than knitting, as it is very easy to get started with and significantly cheaper. The starting cost for crocheting is around 20 dollars and the starting cost for knitting is around 10-30 dollars. Additionally, crocheting does not require many supplies for beginner projects, most of the time beginners only need to buy three different hooks for a project. Crocheting is also easier than knitting in the way undoing a previous stitch is acted. In crochet all that is needed to undo a previous stitch is to pull at the string. However, in knitting, undoing a mistake is so complex it can lead to just redoing the entire project. Knitting requires the knitter to work off of several loops on their needles, while crocheting allows crocheters to just work off of one loop until the project is finished.

 

However, despite the differences between crocheting and knitting, both make great hobbies for people who want to fill up some time in their schedules. Both are also great for people who want to endorse an artistic hobby that doesn’t require messy paint or smudged pencils and pens.

A group of different sized crochet hooks
Required starter crochet and knitting materials
Crochet vs knitting materials at Michaels