Berlin's Whimsy: A Knitter's observations on Crochet.

My last week has been full of crocheting. I finally mastered that little dish sponge pattern and I even made some modifications that just might produce the ultimate in scrubbie dish sponges (I will post the tutorial later on)... Because developing the ultimate dish sponge is truly the answer to all the world's problems, right?! (I write with a smurk & a wink)...

So, based on my very limited exposure to crochet, and with a fairly extensive background in knitting, I have a few observations (my own opinions)....

Crochet is so much more forgiving to those who make mistakes. (ME). In crochet, if you make a mistake, just rip it all out in wild abandon! There are not all those little loops to replace on the needle. You rip back to where you're happy and find that ONE loop and move on---no cursing, no headaches, just rip and go. I LOVE THAT. In fact, that reason alone might make me a crochet convert.
Sculpture in stitches. Yes, there is knitted scrumbling, but I find that crochet lends itself to free-form sculpture and creation more easily than knitting. Choose a spot and start stitching----that's all there is to it.
Flowers. Yes, you can knit flowers but I love crocheted flowers and they seem to be easier to create----more intuitive, I guess.
Old-fashioned. I'm right smack in the middle of an old-fashioned phase right now-----loving all that is vintage, charming, and cozy. I want to someday recreate the little vintage goodies of my childhood: lace-edged linen napkins & hemstitched pillowcases, doilies, all that good stuff... In addition, crochet just has that old-fashioned look that I love.
And here are a few other reasons to love crochet: Bella Dia's Cloche and some of these bags, and this hat, too--oh, and TOTORO!

But don't get me wrong, I'm not throwing out my knitting needles anytime soon but I hope to use both knitting and crochet together for future projects. In fact, I love the way they play upon each other----- a knitted piece with a lacey crocheted border is just about perfect in my book...

Also, I found a crochet book that is filled with projects that really appeal to me: Uncommon Crochet. Most of the projects utilize basic materials such as kitchen cotton, jute, and leather cording to create market bags, baskets, and little containers with felted flower tops (I've included a few photos here).

The author utilizes crochet's open stitchwork to allow fun fabric linings to peek out in between the utilitarian look of jute. Not only are the projects wonderful in their combinations of basic materials & fun accessories but there is so much potential for other projects using plastic bag yarn and other repurposed materials.