KCBW2012: Crafting balance

 (3KCBWDAY7)

 Last day already! Before we begin, I would like to say that I really enjoyed this week. A great thanks to Blog Week organiser Eskimimi for putting together such a great event! I hope everyone enjoyed the posts, I certainly enjoyed writing them. Hopefully you'll stick around on the blog, but if not, I hope to see you again next year for Blog Week 2013!

Now, onwards we go, to the final topic.

"Crafting Balance 
Are you a knitter or a crocheter, or are you a bit of both? If you are monogamous in your yarn-based crafting, is it because you do not enjoy the other craft or have you simply never given yourself the push to learn it? Is it because the items that you best enjoy crafting are more suited to the needles or the hook? Do you plan on ever trying to take up and fully learn the other craft? If you are equally comfortable knitting as you are crocheting, how do you balance both crafts? Do you always have projects of each on the go, or do you go through periods of favouring one over the other? How did you come to learn and love your craft(s)?"

I've already touched upon this a little yesterday, haven't I? It's an interesting topic nonetheless. I'm mostly a crocheter. I'm much more confident in my skills as a crocheter and know what to do with that hook and that string in order to produce something pretty or good. I know what stitches should look like, even though I sometimes use unorthodox methods to achieve the same result (I found out recently that I hold my hook differently than many people, for instance. I hold my hook like you would a pen, while I understand that a lot of people hold it like they would a spoon. I've tried holding it that way. I couldn't even pick up a loop!), I've grown so accustomed to the way crochet patterns are built up that I don't even have to think about the abbreviations, and I have even started to work from scratch instead of from a pattern, because I know how to create basic shapes in toys and amigurumi and like the freedom of creating something that's exactly what I want to make.

The only thing I am not that confident in is reading charts. I know what certain stripes and bars mean, but it always takes me a while to understand what exactly I'm supposed to do.

Knitting is still not my forte. As I said yesterday, I may be doing it all wrong to begin with! With crochet, I sat down in front of the computer and taught myself by watching Youtube-videos. I have tried the same with knitting, but so far, I have only been able to produce two knitted items, both essentially a knitted square that I sewed up.

(left: Simple cowl. right: Little green bag)

 Impressive, isn't it? Now, don't get me wrong: I have started so many knitting projects, I've lost count. But I always gave up after a few rows because my hands would hurt, or because it took me 3 hours to knit 5 rows, or because I wanted to actually finish a project and switched back to crochet. I'm very much a process crafter, but at one point, I like having something to show for my effort, you know?

Crochet is, simply put, a quicker craft. I can zoom through a project like lightning, design and create a whole toy in an hour and a half if I have to. But there's limits to crochet that knitting can overcome, so I am not giving up on mastering the two sticks just yet. In fact, I am very much looking forward to putting some effort into really learning how to knit this year, and actually producing something worth wearing or using. I'll keep you guys posted on the progress!