Here’s a statement for you to ponder: “The world needs more crochet sweaters!”

I recently bought some very pretty handdyed yarn from Wol met Verve. Normally I would knit something with handdyed yarn, because you get more out of your metrage and as a result you get more ‘fabric’ for your money. This time, however, I thought to myself, why not crochet something to show off this awesome yarn?

Well, now I remember another reason I always knit my sweaters and cardigans. When you go to Ravelry (one of the largest – if not the largest- pattern site out there) and do a search for sweaters in both the crochet and knitting category, THIS is what you get:

There are 90.965* sweater patterns on ravelry and only 6.600 of those are crocheted! And the pool gets even smaller, because I am not a baby or a small child, leaving me with 3.359 crochet sweaters to choose from against 50.487 knitted ones. Now let’s say I want to crochet a pullover (opposed to a cardigan); that leaves me with 1.631 pullover crochet patterns, against 30,363 knitting patterns. I think I’ve made my point.

This leaves a question: “why?”

Firstly, when we take a step back, there are more knitting patterns than crochet ones in general; 218.668 crochet patterns vs. 416.546 knitting patterns. Can we conclude that knitting patterns are more popular then? Let’s break the two crafts down to list their properties.

* When you are equally skilled in the craft

Which craft you choose depends on a lot of things. For me, it’s more of a mood thing, since I can do both. They both have their pros and cons. For sweaters I think drape is very important. And that’s the biggest reason, in my opinion, where crochet sweaters can fall short. Another thing is the look of crochet sweaters. There is just nothing like the look of simple stockinette in a knitted sweater. Crochet just can’t really replicate the look and drape of stockinette. But can’t we at least try?

That’s where my brain started to work overtime. I feel very blessed to have the ability to crochet almost anything I can imagine. I think and feel that knitted sweaters do not have to be superior to crochet ones! So I will take on the challenge to design a crochet sweater that has all the properties it should have and looks equally stunning as a knitted sweater! Do not get me wrong. There are a lot of crochet pullovers and cardigans that I absolutely love! I just feel that crocheters should have more options when it comes to sweaters.

I do not have the illusion that I can singlehandedly remove the gap of thousands of patterns, but I can at least try and inspire others to do the same! If you follow me on Instagram, you can already see some work in progress.

Now, what do you think about more crochet sweaters; yay or nay?

* checked on 23/10/16