Can a Diehard Knitter Really Learn Crochet?
Follow along as this diehard knitter attempts crochet
Can a diehard knitter really learn how to crochet?
I wanted to believe I could. After all, crochet was the first needlecraft I had attempted many years ago when I was a young girl. I had started with finger crochet and made long, long chains. Then, acting purely on instinct that may have led to my becoming a knitter many years later, I tried to crochet using a hook and attempted to connect chains to make a blanket. As young children are wont to do, I abandoned crochet for a while in favor of other activities.
As a young adult, I tried again, using pretty much the same technique as I had as a child. While my early crochet attempts, even in all their wonkiness, had delighted me, by adulthood I was no longer pleased with the lopsidedness of my work. I crocheted a full blanket, laughed uproariously at how awful it was, and never tried again.
Several years later, a friend helped me learn to knit… and the rest is history. But since then, I’ve wished I could crochet even half as well as I could knit. Perhaps you, a knitter, feel the same way. Oh, sure, I’ve managed a few crochet techniques here and there. I can crochet a border around a blanket or a scarf. I have never managed to actually crochet a full project.
I even attempted a granny square once, convinced that it couldn’t be that difficult. But I failed so miserably that I literally wound up in tears!
Hope for a Hopeless Crocheter
But one day, I was inspired by an article I found in my favorite knitting e-magazine, Knitty.com. The article referred to “crocheting from a knitter’s perspective,” and it gave me hope. Perhaps this was just what I needed – to be taught with that perspective.
I grabbed a crochet hook (I have several lying around, mostly for picking-up-stitches purposes) and a ball of yarn, and I went through the article step-by-step. Lo and behold — I got it! I was crocheting! I crocheted several rows on a little test swatch before calling it a day.
I waited eagerly for the next issue of Knitty, which promised more lessons in crochet. Ladies and gentlemen (do any gentlemen read Knitting for Charity.org? If so, I would love to hear from you!), that issue of Knitty hit the Internet recently, and I am happy to announce it does indeed have a new lesson in crochet. That lesson teaches how to create a granny square.
I’m going to dive in when I have a chunk of uninterrupted time, because I suspect that I’m going to need it. That tearful last attempt at a granny square is still pretty fresh in my memory! But, fair readers, I am excited to try this. I didn’t think I could do as much crocheting as I did when working from the previous Knitty article. I am willing to take a gamble on this new article!
If you would like to join me in attempting to learn how to crochet, here are the Knitty articles I have read thus far and followed (or am preparing to follow):
How to make a granny square, including a shawl pattern called the “Grantangle”
I hope you’ll join me! Let’s find out together if diehard knitters can indeed learn to crochet!