When it comes to forms of crafting with yarn, there are two crafting hobbies that stand out: knitting and crochet. Both crafting hobbies use needles or a hook to manipulate yarn to create fabric but use different techniques and give different results.
The similarities
Both crafting hobbies use yarn to create a piece. There are many types of yarn and all of them can be used to both knit and crochet. It might be worth mentioning that crochet could end up using a bigger amount of yarn than knitting.
Knitting
Knitting is done with two pointed needles and can be done by hand, a machine or a loom. These needles come in various lengths and thickness, could also be connected by a chord or individual two needles.
When you are knitting you have many loops of yarn that are being hold together by a needle. Each loop depends on the stitch below and when you drop a loop by accident, you can mess you the entire structure of your project.
Knitting stitches are created by looping the yarn around the needle and it’s usually done with two main stitches: knit and purl. You transfer a loop from one needle to the other with every knit or purl you make. The combination of these two stitches creates the stretchy fabric that knitting is known for. The simplicity of this technique allows knitting to be done by big industrial machines and mass produce knitted pieces.
You can make any type of project with knitting. When it comes to clothes, knitting is the preferred method because the result is more stretchy and drapes better than a crocheted piece.
Crochet
Crochet is done with a single crochet hook. These crochet hooks come in a lot of sizes. The size of crochet hook you use depends on the thickness of your yarn. Crochet can only be done by hand and cannot be mass produced by machines.
The main stiches of crochet are chain, single crochet, double crochet and half-double crochet. The combination of one or all these stitches create a crochet piece. When you crochet you only have one loop in the hook. That means your project it’s less likely to unravel if you make a mistake.
You can create a lot of type of projects with crochet. The result of a crochet piece is usually more stiff and that makes it perfect for blankets. Crochet tends to be faster than knitting, so it’s ideal for bigger projects.
