But before we jump into that exciting topic, let me first say a huge thank you for your amazing Advent activity suggestions on yesterday’s post!! I haven’t had a chance yet to respond to comments, but they were really wonderful. If you are looking for some ideas to do with your own kids, you really should check out the comments from that post. Thank you so much for everyone who took the time to offer ideas!
There is also this great comment on Facebook from a friend of mine:
One of the things I do every year is discover at least one new Christmas cd (either newly released or just new-to-me). A couple years ago it was Cee Lo Green’s “Magic Moment”; this year it’s been Diana Krall’s “Christmas Songs” and a French album of recognizable songs (Marie-Eve Janvier and Francois Breau). Justin Bieber’s Xmas album is pretty fun (hate to admit it). Other ideas: read one Xmas story per day (Norman Rockwell’s anthology is classic, but I also highly recommend Tolkien’s Letters from Santa Clause); wear an ugly Xmas sweater; search YouTube for old Xmas tv specials (He-Man and She-Ra totally have Xmas episodes); go ice skating; put $5 inside a Xmas card and leave it inside a book in a bookstore (this happened to me – I found a card with $5 and a holiday message for the lucky discoverer inside Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in the Ann Arbor Borders, one year).
Those are some great ideas, and I especially LOVE the idea of putting money inside a Christmas card and leaving it inside a book in a bookstore and that is DEFINITELY going into the Advent calendar. I hope at the end of the season to give a recap of what I ended up doing. We’ll see if I can keep up with documenting it for myself.
Okay, onto the provocative topic of Knit vs. Crochet! My friend and colleague, Amy, posted on Facebook yesterday saying she couldn’t decide if she wanted to learn to knit or crochet, and wanted people’s thoughts. She got lots of good comments, and of course my answer was: learn both! But it got me curious to know what my blog readers would recommend. Which do you prefer, and why? Have you tried both and found one to be easier or more interesting? If you do both, what kinds of things do you like to make by knitting and what kinds with crochet? And if you were advising someone about what they should learn, what would your advice be? (There was a time when I saw and heard a lot of snobbery in the online knitting community towards crochet – is that still the case? I hope not.)
As for me, I’m improving my crochet skills these days, thanks to the broken hand (which prevents me from being able to knit but apparently is not too impaired to crochet). I have to admit that it’s pretty amazing to watch how fast crochet grows. I’ve now gotten to the fun part of my Sunday Shawl:
earthchicknits 
I do both, but seem to enjoy crochet more. Knitting frustrates me too much sometimes, to truly enjoy the craft. Your project is looking so lovely 🙂
I do both also. For me crochet is faster but I think I enjoy knitting more. I like certain things knitted and certain things crocheted:) I love your hair:)
I have tried both. Knitting took me a couple of tries to get going, but going I did get. Crochet? Every dang time I want to do some I have to relearn it, it just is less intuitive for me. I suspect it might be my freakish left-handed, but sometimes ambidextrous leanings. Knitting uses both hands, I can rely on each of them to do their part. Crochet, I can’t find a hand the hook feels ‘right’ in. I may be a freak of nature, so possibly not a good source for your research.
That’s interesting because I’m also left-handed with minimal ambidextrous leanings (except what lefties have to endure anyway!) and I also find knitting easier and have to relearn crochet each time. I don’t have trouble maneuvering two needles, but I’ve heard others that think using one (hook) is easier…
That IS interesting. I’ve always wanted to crochet but haven’t yet managed to really take to it and I’m a leftie, too. I know we can always figure out how to do things and do the reverse of “normal” if necessary but it does sometimes feel so much less intuitive that way.
For what it’s worth, here in Germany, when a friend wanted to go and learn knitting the place she went to told her that to learn knitting it was absolutely necessary to learn crochet first. She only wanted a refresher but that wasn’t going to work since she learned the English method as a kid in Ireland but of course, what they could teach was the continental method. Funnily enough, based on a one-hour workshop I did a few years ago I’d say continental knitting is easier for lefties in one way (purl, I think, can’t remember now) and the English way for the other way. But an hour wasn’t enough to let it stick so now I just plod along with what I learned as a kid.
I would say she should think about what she wants to make and decide from there. If handmade socks are very appealing to her, go with knitting. If she wants to make a throw or dishcloths, crochet might be the better choice.
I hear crochet is easier to learn if it’s the first fiber craft you’ve tried. I think I learned it first as a kid, but I’m definitely a knitter now and have forgotten most everything I knew about crochet. I want to re-learn, though, for fun.
I think it depends on what your friend wants to do – it seems like they lend themselves to different things. I have knit for years but my crochet is very limited. I would love to learn to crochet the beautiful blankets I see (but that’s about all I want to crochet).
I crochet and love it, I learned only 2 years ago. I like the way you only have to use one hand to work. I find knitting too busy for me, I can’t manage both hands going!