2 FO's - 2 Swatches

And guess what? Neither of the swatches is for the christening gown. I still have six weeks, so what's the rush, right? And besides, I've always worked better to a very-close, breathing-down-my-neck, stay-up-all-night-for-a-week deadline. (Take a deep breath, Rach; it will be OK. Trust me.) Plus, I need a take-along project and there is no.way. I'm taking white silk to tomorrow's dentist appointment.

I've wanted to make myself a sweater for awhile now. While digging through my pattern stash for the CG, I found several possibilities. So, I pulled some yarn out of the stash (see? I'm stash busting!) and swatched for 2 different sweaters. And both swatches are exactly on gauge - which I'm taking as a sign that this was meant to be. These will both be experiments to see what fits and what I like and don't like, so I'm not using the really good yarn. But wouldn't it be great if I end up loving them both?

And the FO's? The first is a KNIT finished object. This is a basic stockinette scarf in bulky alpaca from Blue Sky Alpacas. I blocked it last night, but the edges still roll inward. I'd rather it was flat, but a tube scarf is OK. And it's for ME!

This one's for Dick. I finished it several weeks ago, except for the official weaving in of ends. This is 600 yards (that's six football fields!) of angora wool by Elizabeth Lavold in a basketweave pattern. Very warm, very heavy - and he loves it. Sure hope we get more rain and some cold weather so he can wear it this year.

So, which do I prefer - crochet or knitting? Crochet is (much) faster and more relaxing since I know what I'm doing. And although I've been doing it for years, it can still be a challenge. I like that I can predict how a project will turn out and make changes to patterns on the fly.

But knitting - now that I understand how to do it - is so satisfying. Throwing the yarn over the needle and pulling it into place on the knit stitch gives such as satisfying 'pop'. Purling still isn't as much fun, but after making a 6-foot scarf with knit-a-row, purl-a-row I'm comfortable with both stitches. I've fixed some mistakes, cast on several times and figured out how to bind off all by myself. (With a little help from KnittingHelp.com.)

So I asked an unbiased third party which was better. Oreo votes for crochet.