This past Wednesday we went out for dinner to celebrate not only my friend Annalisa’s birthday by also the birthday of one of the guys from our capoeira class. He’s from the same region as me. We don’t talk a lot though since he’s quite younger than me but he’s a great boy. His capoeira nickname is Borboleta (butterfly), so I decided to make him this:
There are lots of butterfly patterns in Ravelry, but I didn’t browse too much because already from the beginning I wanted to make this one from Freshstitches. She has great animal and monster patterns with a funny cartoon vibe.
Nowadays I don’t enjoy crochet so much, although it was the first craft I learned and the first one that saved me from my stress. When I talk to people that knit and crochet what I hear most is that they prefer crochet because it’s easier and because it feels better for their backs and necks. And it’s kind of funny, because it’s just the opposite for me. Knitting feels painless even after several hours, while with crochet I usually get some pain in my right hand. Nothing too bad, but I feel it gets tired quite fast and my neck feels also quite uncomfortable. After some thought I discovered why this discrepancy. It’s true that when I started knitting I mimicked my grandmother’s English style, but switched fast to Continental and never went back. Somehow it feels much more relaxed and I don’t need to bent my body in strange ways. And the people who tells me that knitting kills their backs and necks are throwers (they knit English style). In Spain few people use circular needles, and those long straight ones are specially convenient for throwers since they tend to stick them under their armpits. That’s what I see over here and that’s what I remember my grandmother doing. I re-learned knitting in Brussels, with people from Croatia, Finland and Sweden, and Continental style was just more popular among them. And probably that’s why I picked up that style.
Another thing is that when I knit I barely need to look at my knitting. I do it from time to time, especially if I’m doing lace or cables, but generally I can go blind and watch something in the meantime (I love that); but with crochet I need to look whenever I start a stitch. I don’t need to look during the whole process of making a stitch, but I need to look at where I stick my hook into. Off course I can also watch a TV show like this too, but it’s a less mindless process.
This is just to explain why I barely crochet now. That and also because I mostly enjoy making clothes and I prefer the look of knitted ones.
And by the way, he loved this present, hugged me profusely and said in his most candid tone: “I really know that you love me like you were my mother”. Well, that would explain why I felt we were in different worlds. Different ages, yes, but also different generations?
What an adorable little butterfly! It is so cute and what a wonderful gift. You are so thoughtful of others, I think I agree with him, that you love him like his mother!
Thank you 🙂 But I’m not sure about the motherly feeling. It’s strange how sometimes other people see you in such a different way than the one you have about yourself. It’s like they get stuck with that first (or not) impression of you and you can’t escape from it.
Rather cute butterfly!
I hope you don’t mind, I linked to your blog with your photo in my Fall for Cotton-post. Let me know as soon as possible if you want me to remove your photo. Thanks!
Thanks Rhia! Off course I don’t mind at all. It’s really a pleasure to see my project on your blog 🙂
Great! Thanksi 😀
Crochet hurts my neck, but I think that is because I learned it after knitting, and I hold the hook with a death grip. I taught myself continental too, after about a year knitting and I agree that it feels more natural.
Could he have meant that he associated hand made with maternal love? Maybe it is nothing to do with you age. As least I hope not, as I think we are the same age. 😉
I learned crochet before knitting and I don’t remember that felt like that before, so probably I found knitting so painless that crocheting again is hard in comparison. Does it make sense? 😀
He stated that it’s due to both things: not only the handmade things but also my age and that I’m always going to the physio, which is false, btw, since I haven’t gone in ages and the one doing that is our other friend 😉 A blame for it a short circuit in his brain 😉
Btw, I’m 34, 35 next month.
Phyiso=physical therapy? Well you re way to young to be his mother, short circuit indeed! You ARE younger than me if that helps, but only by a couple of months.
How adorable! You’re really attentive!
I have the same experience with knitting: I also learnt from my grandma, who used to knit English style with those long needles, but when I recently relearnt on my own I thought that was too slow and started to knit Continental. It’s so much faster for me! I still struggle with purling, but I anyway find it hard in English style, so I’ll definitely keep at Continental. Regarding pain, if I keep too long at it, my hands will hurt, either crocheting, which I hardly ever do, or knitting, so I have to take this into account so as not to go over my limit. You’re so lucky that you don’t get pain from knitting! And I’m also jealous that you don’t need to look at your knitting… With stockinette stitch, I normally can get away with not looking, although I make mistakes here and there and then it’s a pain, but if I’m knitting any other stitch, I really don’t feel confident to look away all the time 🙂
I tried several kinds of needles and finally stuck to Knit Pro wooden needles. They are very smooth and nice to the touch. Metallic needles felt too cold and stiff for me and also these ones are interchangeable which is so convenient.
It seems many of us learned English style in our childhood but found Continental later and liked it best. But I confess that when I need to do complete purl rows I do it in English style. It’s also fast and I don’t need to look at my knitting. When alternating knitting and purling I usually do Norwegian purls, since it’s fast and feels less awkward than regular Continental purl but my tension gets loose with those so I always change to 2 sizes smaller instead of 1 when I do ribbing.
With lace or more complicated things off course I need to look at my knitting, but I feel that I need to look for shorter lapses of time than with crochet. It could just be my perception.
Yes, I meant physical therapy. So, we’re more or less the same age 😀