Yarn Usage I: Crochet vs Knit

There is a rivalry between those who knit and those who crochet.  It seems those who only crochet resent the fact so much is written, posted, and available about knitting with so little for a crocheter.  Should you search for classes you'll almost universally find the lion's share of the classes offered are for knitters.  If one wants to start a yarn fight, initiate a conversation in your LYS about how superior knitting is to crocheting.  The yarn will fly.

Top all this off by throwing out the old adage that crocheting a project will take at least one-third or I've seen up to three times more yarn than knitting a similar item, and it is easy to see why those who crochet feel a bit like yarn victims.  I am primarily a knitter but do crochet simple things.  My skills in crocheting are rudimentary at best, I can do the stitches because I love to make amigurumi stuffed toys, but I am no expert crocheter but rather a get-it-done kind.   Therefore my opinion about crocheting vs knitting is lop-sighted.   Having said all this from my POV crocheting allows for easier shape making.  For example, one can add turns and twists to an item with a lot less concentration when crocheting.  I am very happy to have this skill in my yarn toolbox.

My Crochet Mobieus scarf/shawl at its start

As you know I'm in a crochet mode lately because of the Churchmouse Crochet Mobieus.   I thought I'd investigate the question of whether a finished project crocheted versus the same finished project knitted took that one-third or more yarn to complete.   Some field work has to be done in order to test this hypothesis:  Does a knitted 6.25 inch or 15.875 cm square take less yarn to create than the same sized square crocheted?

The same sized yarn will be used for all projects, a worsted weight acrylic.  (A simple swatch is being made so there was no need to use expensive wool.)  According to my needle guide, a pair of 8 or 5 mm knitting needles are exactly the same size as an H or 5 mm crochet hook.  I think four swatches need to be prepared.  For the knit swatches one will be done in the garter stitch and the other in a stockinette stitch.  Again the rule of thumb is that the garter stitch should take more yarn to knit than the stockinette stitches (so hey while I'm doing this I might as well test another theory as well).  A single crochet will be used to create the crocheted swatch and another swatch done in double crochet.  Thus the size of the swatch, the weight of the yarn, the size of the needle or hook and the stitch styles are controlled and all done by one crafter, me.

Kim Werker, writing for Knitting Daily had this to say about the differences I'm testing.  ". . . the crochet swatch will be thicker than the knit swatch. That's because a crochet stitch is essentially a tube, while stockinette stitch can lay pretty much flat."  However, the double crochet swatch should be less thick I think, we'll see.

Both crocheting and knitting involve manipulating loops of yarn. With knitting, the loops build on each other in a way that requires multiple active loops held on the needles.  In crocheting there is only one active loop held on the hook.  Let me try to show you how the two processes work with diagrams.  First the knit stitch:

Knitting a stitch 

As you can see above, a single strand of yarn is looped around the needle between the two parts of the active stitch.  Then that active stitch is dropped thus linking the two loops together.  If a stitch is dropped off the needle and not recovered there is a possibility an entire vertical column could unravel.

Now take a look at how a single crochet stitch is made:

The making of a single crochet stitch

There is only one active stitch.  You can see it on the far right of the hook in the diagram above.  It is the yarn over from making the previous stitch.  The hook is inserted into the next stitch below to make another  loop.  Then the yarn is captured by the end of the hook (called a yarn over in crochet) and pulled through the two loops on the hook, creating a new single loop on the hook.  Should a stitch be dropped only one stitch will be lost, unlike knitting.  By closely examining the two diagrams one can tell that the crochet stitch is more dense or thicker than the knitted work.  That denseness will more than likely use more yarn, but hold on I'm getting ahead of myself.  

Now let me show you the swathes I prepared so far:

The bottom swatch is the knit garter and on top the single crochet swatch

Stay tuned.  The other two swatches need to be completed and measurements need to be made.  Research takes some time and effort.