Photo Friday Plus

With the beginning of Fall, my 3rd grade lovely had an assignment to make a scarecrow. She worked very hard, and decided that this crow would be a rabbit instead. Everyone knows that all scare-rabbits need a carrot!

I had hoped that the Lovely would crochet this carrot. She tried, and tried. She is a lefty. I've tried to teach her to crochet left-handed, abandoned that and tried to teach her to do it right-handed. It's just not her "thing". I settled for teaching her pattern-reading. I found a pattern on Ravelry by Nicki Engle. The Lovely was in charge of gathering all the materials that we would need. Next, we read the Pattern Notes, and then moved onto the instructions. She would read the instructions to me and I would crochet, that way she was learning the "language" of pattern-reading.

I've been asked often whether it is easier to knit or to crochet. I usually shrug my shoulders and say it's all a matter of personal preference. Crochet would seem to be simpler because there is one less "thing" to keep up with--1 hook, the yarn and the work, while knitting requires 2 needles, the yarn and the work. And knitting has many live stitches while crochet usually has only 1 loop in play at a time.

But logic isn't always the best means to judge. The Lovely above can knit. She struggled less with the learning to knit than with the crochet. I taught her to knit right-handed and to "throw" so the left-handedness doesn't seem to be a factor.

I worked with a client to teach her to knit about a year ago. Every week, we spent most of our time taking out her work and re-doing. While I was ripping back one day, I showed her how to crochet and asked her to practice while I ripped and she "got" it. She decided to crochet the blanket rather than to knit it.

I love both arts. I love the process of both, the movements of the hands, and both create beautiful fabrics. One is my favorite . . . and so is the other.