Elina in the wonderland of knit and crochet.

I've been thinking about knitting and crocheting a lot lately. It's more fascinating the more you learn about it! For instance, all these terms in English - single, double, bobble crochet, garter, stockinette and rib stitch - sound so cool and complicated. I still mix them up, I keep forgetting which is which, but I like them all. Why do some people not like purling? Unless your knitting style is very tight and the yarn is very fuzzy or just a biatch, I don't see how it's any less fun than knitting.

I've been pondering which I like more, knitting or crocheting. Knitting is definitely harder: I always drop stitches and don't know how to pick them up right, I increase stiches or decrease them unintentionally, or something else always happens. If all goes well, though, it's worth all the fiddling.

With crocheting it's hard to drop stitches, but it may be fiddly if you tend to crochet too tight. Especially with bulky yarn it truly demands attention to the work. If the yarn and the hook are just right, however, it's such a pleasure to crochet away while watching tv or even reading.

There are so many methods, too, to both knitting and crocheting. Different ways of casting on your loops, making a slip knot, crocheting from under different loops of a stitch...! I still don't know which side of a crochet work is supposed to be the right side and which the "purl" side. It makes me wonder who had so much time in their hands that they invented all that.

I also realized recently why there are so many different sizes of needles and hooks. Before I knew anything about knitting or crocheting, I was completely confused with all that variety. But now my collection of hooks and needles is starting to look moderately impressive! Thick needles and hooks have their appeal because I've grown fond of bulky yarn. Circular needles are one thing I haven't tried yet, in fact I'm not sure which kind of project would require them.

I remember back when Amoena got interested in crocheting and later knitting, I couldn't really understand the whole world of the craft. I could understand that she liked the colours of the yarns and making something by hand, but I had no idea how rewarding it would be to make something with your own hands. It's so cool to start thinking of a project, then finding a good pattern and realizing it. There's something very creative about it, because once you understand why things are done a certain way, you can deviate from the patterns according to your own taste and your needle/hook and yarn stash.

Once I noticed that I can really knit and crochet, at least decently, I've been flooded with ideas about what I want to do. I wonder if I'll ever run out of ideas for projects. At times I get an overload of crocheting/knitting, so I take a break, but I always go back to it after a couple of days at most. Even when I have to frog a project, I'm not discouraged to go on. I just unravel my work as necessary and get right back to it. I'm resilient like that with many other things as well because I don't like admitting defeat. I'm completely hooked to my new hobby!