A Case for Crochet

On May 8th, this little Franklin Habit essay, "Play Nice", in which he implored knitters and crocheters to give each other's crafts a chance, appeared on the Lion Brand site. It was widely shared on Facebook and generally and emphatically agreed with.





I agree with Habit. Although I don't take the schism between the Needles and the Hooks (which I've written about before) very seriously myself. As anyone who follows this blog, and especially this blog's Facebook page will know, I often take swipes at crochet, but I hope everyone realizes my potshots are tongue-in-cheek, a little harmless indulgence in geeky rivalry between camps (see also: Mac vs. PC; Star Wars vs. Star Trek; the Addams Family vs. the Munsters). That is, mostly.





I can crochet quite well, but don't much like to. I remember with gritted teeth the time my sister begged me to crochet her an afghan in a particular pattern she loved. She'd helpfully bought and insisted on loaning the pattern to me, and also supplied me with colour samples of the three colours she wanted me to choose among for the project: dusty rose, sage green, and eggplant purple. I finally gave in and made the afghan for her. Crocheting that damn afghan took me seven of the longest weeks of my life; it went in its own plastic bag and travelled with me everywhere I went. Finally it was done and I gave it to her for Christmas. And then about four months later my sister redecorated her room at my parents' place in reds and browns, which meant that the now discordant dusty rose afghan got put away out of sight for years. I wanted to throttle her.





But although I don't especially care to crochet, although I make fun of the many ugly granny square afghans and bikinis out there, I don't hesitate to pick up a crochet hook if there is a particular crochet pattern or hybrid knitting and crochet pattern I really want to make. And I'm astounded by those who love the one craft and simply won't even attempt the other. In one internet conversation I had on the subject, I was taken aback when one commenter said she'd actually thrown out a pattern she had paid for and very much wanted to make because it called for some crocheted edgings. I mean, what the hell?! It would take just a few minutes to learn to do that edging! Would she have thrown out a pattern because it called for some knitting technique she'd never previously done?





When you're doing creative and/or skilled work, it's never a good idea to arbitrarily decide you don't like or can't learn to do something without having given it a real try. Be bistitchual. Actually, be trystitchual: try anything once, twice if you like it, and after that, hey, who's counting? Knitting and crocheting both have their different limitations, and if you understand how to do both you'll always have one to turn to when the other craft isn't up to the job at hand. Knitting generally drapes better than crochet, which tends to be stiff, but that very stiffness can turn into an asset when you want to stabilize a knitted piece with a firm crocheted picot edging. Crocheting also lends itself to free form or purely decorative pieces such as flowers better than knitting does. Case in point: this post of mine about handmade yarn bouquets, the best examples of which were all crocheted. And as a bonus, if you have crochet hooks in the house they do a killer job of cleaning hair out of drains.





Although there may be a lot of ugly crocheted things out there, there are wonderful crochet designs too. On this blog's Facebook page, I frequently post crocheted items from my newsfeed because although I like to keep my blog focused on knitting most of the time, they are simply too stunning not to share with my readers. Irish crochet especially awes me. I intend to learn it at some point, as I have an idea for a lace-trimmed top I'd like to make.





I know many if not most readers of this blog do know how to both knit and crochet so I'm preaching to the choir, but for those hold outs who need to be convinced, I've said my piece and sprinkled it with some illustrations of just how wonderful crochet can be. I mean, if Gustav Klimt had been a crocheter, he would have crocheted the afghan above. And now let's all join forces and beat up on the scrapbookers, who richly deserve it!

I'm kidding. That is, mostly.

Amanda Seyfried Knits for Ellen

When Amanda Seyfried appears on Ellen, knitting is discussed, and knitted gifts are exchanged.

Mothers and Knitters and Common Threads

When I began casting about for a Mother's Day-themed topic for today, my Google searches returned a lot of links containing suggestions of projects knitters can make for their mothers. And all I could think was, other knitters knit for their mothers? Their mothers like having things knitted for them?

This has not been my experience. My mother knits very well, though since her late thirties she has not been one to knit often as it makes her hands ache to do very much of it. And knitters don't tend to knit for other knitters in general, because knitters can knit anything they like for themselves, and they'd rather. I don't think anyone has knitted anything for me since before I learned to knit myself. Not that I mind — anyone can see it would be coals to Newcastle. But I have knitted a number of items for my mother in the past, and try as I would to please her I almost never could. Something was always wrong with the things I made: she didn't like the fit, or the shape, or she didn't think the colour was quite right for her. One August in the late nineties, she thought I should enter some of my knitted items in the local fall fair knitting show and competition. I said I didn't have anything ready, but she helpfully produced the four or five sweaters I'd previously made for her from her dresser and chest of drawers, and brightly suggested I submit them. After all, they were still in pristine, just-finished condition because she'd never worn any of them.

I'm not the only knitting offspring of a knitting mother in this situation. A former co-worker of mine, Barbara, once told me a tale of the time she'd knitted her mother a sweater and mailed it across the country to her mother's home in B.C. as a surprise gift. A month or so later Barbara received a package in the mail from her mother. It was a sweater, not the sweater she had sent to her mother, but a different one... knitted from the same yarn. Barbara's mother had decided she she didn't like and would never wear the sweater her daughter had made for her, frugally ravelled out and re-knitted it in a different style, and then sent it back to Barbara for her to wear and enjoy. I have to say, of all the "Mother still knows better than her adult children" cross-checks I ever heard of, that has to be the nastiest. And when I told my mother that story, expecting her to feel the same way about Barbara's mother's destruction of her daughter's work as I did, Mum's response was a horrified, "She sent it back?!" My mother would have done exactly the same thing as Barbara's — she just wouldn't have told me about it.

Well, it hasn't been all bad. My mother taught me to knit when I was eight, and though the lesson was something of a battle royale (I desperately wanted to learn to knit, but did NOT like having all my stitches ripped out), next to reading and writing, knitting is probably the skill I've used the most and enjoyed the most in my life. Mum has worn a few of the things I've made her — there was a scarf and hat set that was quite a success. And she does genuinely respect my knitting skills and admire at least some of the items I make. Even though when I show her something I've made, the first thing out of her mouth is guaranteed to be some kind of criticism, she was incensed when my knitted entries didn't win any first place ribbons at the aforementioned fall fair, so much so that though it's now fifteen years later, it's still not a topic that can be safely mentioned to her. We talk about our projects, I loan her my knitting magazines, and we visit the wholesale yarn store in her town together. Our shared love of needlework and making things has been common ground and a bond between us much more often than it's been a cause for contention, and that's nothing to be taken for granted when the life I've led doesn't otherwise resemble hers.

I recommend this lovely Oregon Live article in which Mary Mooney reminisces about the day her mother taught her to knit back in 1981, when Mooney was ten. Mooney's mother died suddenly only two months later, and Mooney muses that because her mother was always making things, knitting has always been synonymous with her mother and with love, that knitting is a way to remember and to feel close to her mother, and also a reason to feel sure that she could connect with her mother if her mother was still alive, regardless of what kind of relationship they would have.

Many knitters got their first lessons in knitting from their mothers or grandmothers, and though each knitter's experience will differ, it's a memory very likely to be positive and to have created a bridge between the two. Here's hoping whatever form your Mother's Day takes, that today you too can enjoy thinking of how your knitting has connected you to whomever taught you, whomever you knit with, and whomever you knit for.

Knit n' Style August 2013: A Review

It's May, which to a purveyor of knitting magazines can only mean one thing: it's time for the August issue of Knit n' Style. Let's have a look at their latest offerings, shall we?





In the Knit Augusta Vest, we have a rather shapeless double-breasted vest knitted in a ribbon yarn in an unpleasant colourway. The four novelty buttons on the front have been added to give it some style, but that's rather too much to ask of any buttons, and particularly of these.





In the Crochet Augusta Vest, we have basically the same vest in the same kind of ribbon yarn, only in a different colour, shorter, and crocheted, with different buttons. I'm still not buying it.





The Newsprint Hat isn't a bad little cap. I like the idea of finishing off a hat knitted in a variegated yarn with a solid band knitted in one of the colours.





It took some serious squinting at the Tikal Tunic before I understand what I was looking at. At first I thought it was a cropped cardigan, but now (aided partly by the name) I realize it's a tunic, or rather what I would consider a dress as it appears to go nearly to this model's knees. I rather like the concept of a two-tone knitted tunic/dress but I don't think it's been carried out to success here. The two colours and the two designs don't really do anything for each other, and consequently the demarcation line between the skirt and the sweater is rather jarring, as though two different garments were randomly slapped together. I would have chosen two yarns that really looked as though they belonged together, and given the two halves some commonalities in design, such as adding a little lace to the skirt.





I disliked the Summer Stripes Pullover when I first saw it, but upon looking at it more closely I think it's not a bad design. The shape is very good; the tightly meshed texture is interesting. I think maybe it's the colour scheme that's bothering me, that makes it look like an item designed to be worn with a polyester pantsuit, possibly while playing shuffleboard. A more sophisticated colourway would upgrade the look of this design.





The Lime Ricky Cardi isn't bad at all — it's well shaped and has some pretty stitchwork. If knitted in a neutral or favourite colour of cotton, it will give the woman who owns it a lot of mileage for years to come.





The Regina is a classic design with a bit of interesting texture. The lines of bobbles really add to it. This is another sweater that can be reliably worn on cooler days and evenings in summer for years until it wears out.





The Laurel Anne design is another I disliked at first glance but which I'm finding to have plenty of merit upon careful study. The bottom-tie style is actually quite an innovative and interesting addition to a buttonless cardigan style: it should keep the front edges from sagging open unattractively. I also like the extended shoulder cap sleeve and the hemline — they should be flattering on many women. However, the sweater won't look good worn untied and this is a sweater that will appear to thicken a woman's midsection.





I'm not sold on the concept of the Air Cardi. The lace is pretty, the soft lilac shade is pretty, but honestly this looks for all the world like an unfinished sweater. If you want to wear a shawl, wear a shawl. If you want to wear a sweater, seam the seams.





The Karina Cardi isn't bad. I don't care for the little fold back collar edges, but I'm pretty sure that's just personal preference. This cardi has good texture and interesting lines.





The English Manor Top is very pretty. If you don't have a waistline you want to emphasize, either avoid this one or decrease the amount of lace patterning at the bottom to just a few inches deep.





The Nature Trail Cabled Pullover is another classic and wearable design.





Beautiful stole.





The asymmetrical hemline and texture of the Traverse Skirt look much less like edgy design elements than as though this skirt matted up and shrank weirdly in the dryer. Pairing it with a baggy t-shirt doesn't help, either. Outfits should not look as though they were chosen from the lost and found bin at the local laundromat.





The Cozy Bias Vest looks like a seventh grade home ec project that went even more awry than is usual. I mean, come on, this thing looks like it's falling apart and is going to be dreadfully unflattering on anyone. This professional model can't even work it.





I keep staring at the laddered strips across the sleeves of the Belisia Tee and wondering if they have ever really worked as a design element. They tend to cheapen every garment they're used in. However, the main problem with this design is that the two colours used for this top really don't belong together, that they should in fact never see each other again and forget they ever met, and I think if a good colour combination was chosen the sleeve ladder strips would look fine.





The Twilight top isn't bad, though this yarn was a bad choice for this project. The ripple pattern is an afghan-like pattern and so shouldn't be paired with an afghan-like yarn. Knit it in any non-afghan like yarn and you won't find yourself mysteriously compelled to go lie on your grandma's couch when you wear it.





The Agave Tank isn't bad. Good shape, interesting details.





Not liking the Tencel Top. It's unflatteringly boxy in shape. You could fix that, but why would you? It has no other distinguishing features.





The Tikal Bag has a good shape and a pretty lace pattern. As with all knitted bags, the important question is whether it will maintain its shape when it has stuff in it, but you can (and probably should) always line it, even if the pattern doesn't call for it to be lined.





The Neon-Striped Pullover is so eighties with its use of neon and an oversized shape. I can't quite figure out what's going on with the sleeves (maybe they're just way too big?), but it's not particularly attractive. You can find a better striped and v-shaped top pattern than this.





On the photo slideshow on the Knit n' Style website, this photo is called the "Arctic Snow Scarf", though as there's no scarf in sight I think it's the "Kingston Hat" named in the list of projects. The hat is knitted in Ty-Dy Cotton, which lets the knitter produce the pretty striped effect effortlessly. Must check out that yarn!





The Flirty Scarf is made with a yarn with fabric ruffles in it, which is an interesting and fairly recent innovation. I'm looking forward to seeing what designers do with it. So far aside from ruffled scarves I've seen it used to knit the skirt on a little's girl's dress.





Can't say I care for the Fur-Trimmed Cowl design. It looks like a Muppet wrapped itself around this woman's neck and refused to let go. NOT MUPPET-IST.





The Sea Waves Scarf isn't terrible, but it does look like a less-than-successful beginner project. I promise you that you can do better aesthetically even if you are a beginning knitter.





I quite like the Mock Cable Duo. They're simple and yet such a finished, polished-looking set. This is another design you'll be able to wear for years to come.





This Sanibel Sunset kid's cardigan and hat are probably supposed to be "fun", but I'm unsure as to whether a child would find it fun or if it's some adult's idea of what kids find fun. These two viewpoints, you understand, can be worlds apart. The deliberately mismatched sides, dropped shoulders and three-quarter sleeves combine to make it look lopsided to me. But hey, don't take my word for it. Ask the person whose opinion really matters: the child it's intended for. I would fix the dropped shoulders, though.

What Kind of Knitwear Does One Wear to a Six-Month Anniversary?

The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done is six months old today. Thanks, everyone, for reading and participating here on the blog and on its Facebook page. I'm thrilled to find that my readers are such thoughtful, intelligent and funny people and I really enjoy your comments, emails, and generally interacting with you all.

When I hit "publish" on my first post last November, I resolved to give the project six months and to assess its viability at that point. Viability has been duly assessed, and I've decided that as much as I like running this blog, it will need a considerably larger readership before it will be really feasible for me to keep putting in the good ten hours a week of work it takes to write and maintain this site.

For the time being, it seems worthwhile to continue. I have decided to put in another six months of work on The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done, and to reassess at the first-year mark. If you like the site, please help me ensure its future by sending the URL to friends who knit and sharing links via Twitter and Facebook and any other social media sites that you use, or on knitting and craft-related sites that you frequent. If you're a Facebook user, please consider "liking" the blog's Facebook page — it's an easy way to keep up this blog, and you'll also get some extras in the form of interesting shares from other knitting-related pages. If you're a Twitter user, my Twitter account is here, and you're welcome to follow me. Another way to follow this blog is by befriending me on Ravelry, where I am OrangeSwan.

Here's looking forward to the next six months!

Lego Knitting Machine

Someone has constructed a knitting machine out of Lego blocks. And to think that the most creative thing I did with my Lego when I was little was to make furniture for my Barbies. But when I knitted Barbie blankets for the my Lego Barbie beds, I at least knitted faster than this machine, if without a classical score.

Coming up: Look for the Knit n' Style Summer 2013 review tomorrow morning!

Runway Knitwear Realness and Other Knitting Fables

Althea never let little matters like incorrect medicine dosages, drunken hairdressers, or not having finished her knitting projects on time stop her from serving up runway knitwear realness.





Cherrill figured she'd put together exactly the right look for her local PETA chapter's deer hunting protest this fall. There was no reason why an activist couldn't look cute and pulled together. Her cousin Jake kept going on about how it might be dangerous to be in the woods in such an outfit when there was hunting going on, but Cherrill ignored him. Jake could hardly expect any respect from her as long as he ate hot dogs, owned a leather jacket and hired an exterminator to murder the cockroaches in his house.





Sometimes Mai's friends wondered if she'd ever really get past not making the volleyball team in high school.





Arden wasn't quite sure how she'd gotten the stitch gauge measurement and the total garment length numbers so wrong, but decided that given that she'd simultaenously tried to cook a turkey at five degrees for 325 hours, she would avoid doing any domestic tasks the next time she was taking a magic mushroom trip.





Lois had heard that pets grow to resemble their owners, but to her disappointment, Mitzi hadn't. Lois, however, was a woman of determination and crochet skills and took the matter into her own hands. Next, she thought, she'd get Mitzi her own string of pearls.





Lilith really enjoyed making special mother and daughter outfits for all occasions. She felt she'd really outdone herself when it came to making dresses for her coven's Beltane celebration, and was miffed that her daughter Jadis was so disaffected and unappreciative of her efforts.





Elspeth was determined that that witch Lilith wasn't going to outshine her at her own Beltane celebration.





Jeannie had been so disappointed about the end of her figure skating days until she found a way to keep living the dream off the ice.





Daria looked for every opportunity to keep her hard-won Girl Scout knot-tying skills sharp.





Cinda had always disliked the way knitters tended to wear handknitted items that, though beautiful in themselves, didn't match, and she was determined that wasn't going to be the case with her. She figured she just needed to make a fair isle hat, gloves, and purse to round out her set and then she'd be good to go.