A Crocheter's Rant

[cabanird]

i was doing some shopping to day and i stoped into the bookstore... and of course there's TONS of books for knitting and all these cool projects, etc... even little kits you can buy,books on zen and knitting, mindful knitting, etc....

i even found a cool 'page a day' calendar with a new pattern/project to knit for every day of the year....

i went into this other store that has knitting needles and crochet hooks and they definitely had a better selection of needles than hooks.

why is knitting so popular? why is crocheting not as popular?
why are there more products geared towards knitting and not crocheting?

i'm just grumpy... feeling like the 'unfavored' child or something... 'why does knitting get all this stuff and i dont?'....

sorry for my rant...

if i was more talented, and had more resources, i'd start a crochet revolution... or, does anyone else want to do this?

blah, comments are welcomed.

[Parilla]

Offhand...I'd say its because knitted stuff is more wearable.

Crochet has a lot going for it.  It's quick, it's easy, and you can make elaborate things that just aren't possible with a knitting needle, like those snowflakes that everyone has on their christmas tree.  So far as I know, there's no such thing as a knitted doily, thought i could be wrong about that.  You can do some amazing 3-d stuff with crochet with relative ease.

Crochet's one drawback is how thick it is.  All that looping and twisting produces a very heavy fabric.  That's great if you're making a scarf, but no one wants to wear a sweater that makes them look ten pounds heavier. It's great for baby clothes and blankets, and crochet is much sturdier than knitting will ever be, but that whole 'makes me look fat' thing is sort of insurmountable.

[GloryB]

Don't worry, the tide will turn, and crochet will become more popular again.  But neither one ever really goes out of style.  There are knitted doilies, but crocheted one are prettier.  I like both.

[Lothruin]

Knitting isn't exactly more wearable than crochet.  It's more versatile than crochet.  Crochet was meant primarily as a lace-making technique, and as such is mostly useful in areas and ways in which lace is useful.  As embelishments, etc, or openwork pieces, whether they be meant to adorn a table or the body.  Of course we all know that some very sturdy and warm items can be made with crochet, but the point is, crochet is VERY good at certain things.  The fact that crochet uses more yarn than knitting probably doesn't help, and add to it that the recorded history of crochet is extremely short (early 1800's) compared to that of knitting (the 14th century) and you wind up with one hobby somewhat less in the spotlight than another.

Having myself first learned to crochet when I was young and only just taken up knitting, I personally find that knitting is more comfortable to wear in most circumstances, and I prefer using crochet to embelish my knitting rather than making the body of pieces from crochet.  Knitting has more stretch and the finished fabric, though elasitc, is still very warm.  Crochet, on the other hand, can be extremely beautiful and complex-looking on a very basic level, while the most basic of knitting stitches, while lovely when done properly, are really quite vanilla on their own.

In the end, though, I'm guessing that, as I mentioned above, the largest contributing factor in the relative popularities today is the historic factor.  Knitting has been around for 3 times as long as crochet from a recorded historic view, and we all know that crafts like this are usually around much longer than their recorded history.  A good guess could be made that either of these crafts were around for hundreds of years before anyone thought it necessary to write them down.  It's hard to say.

[mikan]

i read three times as many people crochet as knit... i think it just hasn't taken off in the clothing department so the average person looking around doesn't see as much of it. 
i have a few favorite crochet stitches which i like that look alot like knitting and also emulate the thinness of knitting, one is just sc1, ch1, and alternate the next row.  often knitters think it is knitting because it also creates a little V.
you can definitely knit doilies although i think it is pretty easy for knitters and crocheters to tell the difference between the two.
crocheting is alot faster for me although i'm a pretty fast knitter, so i often decide which to do on that basis.  if i want to make something from tiny, delicate yarn, i'll chose crochet just so i know i can finish it!
anyway, write your favorite yarn and pattern companies and tell them you want crochet patterns!  also take a peek at all the crochet magazines already out there, i often find something i like even if most of the magazine is too mundane to actually buy.  or get one of the big books of crochet stitches and just go at it yourself!  my library has back issues of a few magazines and my mother's stash from the 70's have proved helpful too.  often just a change of color makes something you wouldn't have even considered into something you love so check out what is out there and what you can do to change it.

[amie]

Great topic.  I've thought a great deal about this myself.

This past June, when school ended and all the little "kiddies" went home, and I had the summer off, I thought to myself, "What am I going to DO with all this time off?"  I had a desire to make a summer poncho, since they were very popular, as well as the time.  Yet, I had never made one before, despite all the crochet experience I have.  I searched, and searched, and searched for a pattern that was updated-something I would actually wear.  I only came across 1 pattern, either in books, message boards, Ebay, etc.. that I liked and was willing to put the time into.

And for that reason alone, I decided to start making and selling my own patterns.  I was so annoyed with the fact that knitting gets so much attention, and crochet not so much.  Don't get me wrong, there are a few good designers and books out there, but they are LIMITED in comparison.

So I say, if you can't find what you want, create it yourself.  Don't wait for others to do it.

[iloveyou330]

don't hate me please.. i've decided to start knitting because i'm only 13 and i'm not going to be making doiles or using that itty bitty string.  even on the Craftster boards, i see a lot of things i like under the knitting board such as hats and gloves. i'd love to make patterns, but i'm a beginner and have trouble following them!

[amie]

I can appreciate that.  A friend of mine is learning to knit from her mother-in-law right now.  I couldn't be any more jealous!

[gretelgrrl]

I, too, get frustrated.  Just seems like there are so many more patterns out there to knit rather than crochet.

But, for now, I really want to stick with Crochet.  It has been strongly present in my Irish family history and also...  the projects work up so fast!
I started a month ago and was able to make an afgan in a weekend, a bedspread in a week (big enough to top a full size bed), 2 hats, a yoga mat bag, several scarves...
and I still have a ton of projects that I want to do!
Most of my friends that knit take 3x's as long as I do to finish a project... and most of them have been knitting for years.

I wish that the Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation book had more crochet in it.
And some of those "hip" crochet patterns are really not hip at all.

Ah, well.
I'm destined to be a different kid.

[Tappanga]

Okay I just stole this link off another post. Yes it's all scarves and hats and hackey sacks, but they're cool as hell. Especially the checkered scarf. So enjoy.

http://barney.gonzaga.edu/~aburton/crochet_.html#thirtytwo