I actively knitted from childhood through my late 30s. Then I stopped. For some reason or other, when I place "two sticks" in my hands, the result is not as smooth as I'd like or as it should be.
As with knitting, I have crocheted since childhood, and even after dry spells, have always returned to it. It is my first love out of all the needlecrafts. I was hooked when my DM handed me my first hook, a steel one, and some fine cotton thread.
Knitting and crocheting each produce different effects. If I really want a knitted look, I can get a remarkably close-to-knitting look with a crochet hook, doing the Tunisian or Afghan stitches. In fact, that technique results in a look that almost looks knit on one side, purl on the other side.
It's amazing to me how versatile crochet is. With just one hook, and one loop on the hook, there are several possibilities of where that hook can go next. It can go under the top two threads of the next stitch, or though the front thread, or the back thread. Each choice creates a different effect. It can also go behind and down into the row below, or in front and down into the row below. Again, a different effect. And that is just the beginning of a world of possibilities. That hook can fiddle with the very next stitch, which I just mentioned, or it can skip a few, or it can chain a few stitches before it goes into the next stitch, or further along. The possibilities increase when we consider the yarn wrap around the hook. No wrap and pull through for single crochet; one wrap and pull through all loops for half double; one wrap and... well, you all get the picture. Just one stitch, one hook, and all those possibilities.
Experts often disagree on the origin of crochet. Even Wikipedia explains several possibilities.
Personally, I don't care where it started, I am happy it found me! Sometimes I think about knitting again, but I know how hard it was for me. Crochet and I seem to go together. Yep, I'm hooked, and I'm glad.
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