Are you in love with handmade? Do you love transforming yarn into garments, accessories, home décor and more? With summer just a few weeks away, summer colors, lace designs, and lightweight projects are on focus. Crafters are making summer projects with knitting needles and crochet hooks. Now comes the question: what craft suits the weather- knitting or crocheting? Both yarn crafts are fabulous for expressing your creativity and creating masterpieces with your hands. Which is better among both has been debated over the centuries, and there is no clear winner.
Some makers love to knit, while there are also crochet addicts who love their hooks, and there are also crafters who knit to make garments while crochet to create accessories and home decor, making the best of both worlds. In this blog, let's walk you through knitting, crocheting, and the treasures you can make in the warm weather. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced maker, this guide will help you decide or inspire you to experiment.Before you start, check out our guide on Knitting Or Crocheting? Differences, Similarities And What's Better.
When to Knit or Crochet?
Now, for summer knitting or crocheting, here are a few things that will help you decide.
Summer Tees & Tops
Both knitting and crocheting work for summer tees and tops. Patterns for both crafts are easily found. The yarn plays an important role, so make sure to work with summer-friendly merino wool, cotton, silk, and natural fibers.
You can knit with any circular knitting needles and DPNs in your craft bag. Even if you own a pair of single-pointed needles, you can fashion a top or tee. Make the pattern in segments and later seam together with a trusty finishing needle.
To crochet, you can work with single-ended crochet hooks or even try out interchangeable Tunisian crochet hooks. Crafters generally avoid Tunisian crochet in summer for garments as the crocheted fabric is usually dense.
Socks & Hats
If you plan to make socks in summer, both knitting and crocheting options are available. Sock knitting is usually the better deal. You can knit a pair in lightweight fingering or DK-weight yarn with DPNs. Circular needles also make the project easy with the magic loop technique. Crocheted socks are denser and preferable for the colder months.
For hats, there's more than one way to look at it. You can either work with knitting needles or crochet hooks. The fabric made with any crafting method will have a proper fit and feel. And there are many fun patterns available. Both crafts usually have a similar turnaround time for the time taken to make the project.
Colorwork Patterns
Colors are essential in summer crafting. Knitting and crocheting have incredible methods for working with colors. The simplest option is to work with multiple yarns in different colors. For advanced colorwork methods, you have Fair Isle, Intarsia, Stranded, and Mosaic methods in knitting, and Tapestry, Fair Isle, Stranded, and Mosaic methods in crochet. Both crafts have multiple options.
You can knit with any straight or circular knitting needle, depending on whether you are knitting back and forth or in the round. If you are crocheting, Tunisian crochet has attractive colorwork designs, while you can proceed with any method with a single-ended crochet hook.
Lace Designs
Lace patterns are for every season, but summer features many airy designs. Whether you knit or crochet, lace designs work for both crafts. Basically, you create aesthetic holes in the fabric in a planned manner. There are multiple ways of working the lace designs. A simple way is to work with bigger needle sizes in comparison to yarn weigh which will create an open weave effect that resonates with lace.
In knitting, you work with knit and purl stitches, increases, decreases, and yarn overs. In crochet, you work with basic stitches—chain (CH), single crochet (SC), half double (HDC), double (DC), and treble (TR)—along with standing stitches and other techniques.
Portability
Whether knitting or crocheting, you can make portable projects and crafts on the go. While crocheting works only with one hook- single-ended or Tunisian crochet hooks- there's a need for single-pointed, double-printed, and circular needles in knitting. Both tools are available in sets that can easily carried for your crafting sessions.
For accessories, whether you knit or crochet both have in common- a pair of scissors, finishing needles, a repair hook, stitch markers, and measuring tapes. Both being yarn crafts, other things that are common and should be religiously followed are starting with a guage swatch and blocking the project when finished.
You can now decide on knitting or crocheting for summer projects. Remember, both crafts offer unique advantages that cater to different preferences and styles. Many prefer knitted lace's delicate detailing or crocheted fabric's quick versatility; many might prefer colorwork in knitting or love the feel of colorful granny squares in crochet. So, grab your knitting needles or crochet hooks from the Lantern Moon collection, select your favorite yarn and embark on a joyous summer of crafting. With smooth, ebony wood needles and hooks along with whimsical accessories, enjoy your crafting sessions.