An Intro to Two Totally Different Crafts

While often lumped together, knitting and crocheting are both fiber arts but two entirely different crafts.   Each requires a completely unique set of skills, tools and understanding that is independent of the other.  

Many times, makers will start with and often favor one of the crafts over the other, much like us here at Third Piece.  We started as a ‘knit’wear brand, but have slowly been dipping our design toes into crochet over the years.  

As we get ready to launch a new sustainably crafted line infused with lots of crochet, we wanted to kick things off by breaking down the similarities, differences and uniqueness to these two artful crafts. 

They’re kind of like siblings

While you know they are related, they each have their own personality and style that make them shine. 

Yes, its obvious that both are done using yarn and your hands, but both have the capacity to provide benefits beyond the craft that include creating mindfulness, tapping into your creativity and have the potential to result in beautifully hand-crafted designs that you can wear!

Both rely on repetitive motions that are often guided by patterns that come together to create fabrics that ultimately can become garments, accessories or home furnishings.  

And most importantly, both are two crafts that can be enjoyed by mostly anyone that is looking to learn a new craft, tap into their creativity and do something with your hands. 

One of these things is not like the other

The primary difference between Knitting vs Crochet starts with the tools.  Knitting is dependent upon two pointed needles that can range from straight to circular to double pointed while Crochet on the other hand uses one hook.  

The process and foundational technique for each also varies greatly.  Knitting is the process of creating a pattern of stitches (or knots) that become a series of rows that build on top of each other.  Knitting is created using two foundational stitches - The Knit Stitch & The Purl Stitch with more advanced techniques that allow for further pattern creation and shaping, but it always starts with a series of rows that create a linear fabric. 

Crochet on the other hand is the process of creating a pattern of loops and ‘chains’.  Alternative to knitting, crochet can be manipulated to create a ‘webbed’ like effect with multi directional pattern capabilities that you can build off of in various ways.  Crochet works with one ‘live’ stitch at a time to create a chain of stitches, which can then be expanded using the single crochet & double crochet. 

Common questions that we get asked..

Which is easier?  This is totally contingent upon the maker, but in our experience we find the craft you start with is often the one you feel most comfortable with as your own personal learning patterns have set-in.  

Of the many knitters and crocheters I have worked with over the years about less than half have felt truly comfortable mastering both skills. 

Which is faster?  Crochet tends to lend itself to be faster for most patterns, but its ability to move forwards and backwards lends itself to be quicker and easier to manipulate the fabrics. 

...on the flip side crochet takes up sometimes 3x more yarn than knitting!

How to incorporate into your crafting skillsets

For some of you, this may be nothing new…but if your new to the world of Third Piece or the knitting community we hope this is a starting point about these two crafts to help you gain more confidence exploring something new. 

Looking to learn how to knit or crochet?

Check out our Youtube Channel for our full video tutorial program - How to Knit & an introduction to crochet series - Intro to Crochet.