I knit. Plain and simple, I am a knitter. I spin too, thus occasionally making my own pretty yarn that I will in theory knit with. But really I’m a one trick pony (unless you count being a fairly good cook, a yogini, and a sometimes decent runner). Crochet is a foreign language to me. I am in awe when I meet a really good crocheter, ’cause to me it’s magic. I am convinced that there is some strange alchemy that occurs when one picks up a crochet hook and some yarn. I picture those who can crochet the same light as the kids who go to Hogwarts. They know where the secret passage is and then they get to have access to all the secrets of the fibre universe that us plain knitting folk aren’t aware of.
I’ve tried to figure it out how to crochet. But the patterns and directions all seem to be written in some odd ancient language that I can never find translations for and I honestly think that I would have better luck learning Aramaic then I did trying to figure out crochet terms. (I mean really, what the hell is a half double crochet? Wouldn’t that just be a crochet?) And I think that’s why I like knitting. It makes sense to me. It’s not magic or strange, it’s straight forward. You move loops from one needle to the other needle, and voilà! You’re knitting!
I do own a few crochet hooks and I was insanely irritated when the Mexican security guard took away my sock yarn sized crochet hook before I was allowed on the plane . (Has there ever been a rash of people killed by crochet hooks? Was there a crochet hook serial killer in Mexico that I don’t know about? I use it to pick up dropped stitches in socks! It was tiny and I’m not sure I could have killed a large spider with it let alone a human being. What was I going to do, poke the person beside me with it? And that would have been my husband, who is used to that sort of behaviour. Anyway, moral of the story, pack your fibre related things in your luggage when returning home from Mexico. They are not fibre friendly. But I digress.) My crochet hooks are for edging and dropped stitches and provisional cast on and nothing more.
Part of me would like to learn. Part of me, the sane rational part that very rarely makes an appearance of any sort when it comes to my knitting life knows that’s a really bad idea. Have you seen my WIPs list (if not, have a look around the blog. I post it on a fairly regular basis….)? The last thing I need is something that causes more WIPs to pile up. Me and my knitting needles cause enough trouble with that to last for many lifetimes.
whendidibecomeaknitter 