Crochet was my gateway into crafting with yarn. I will always have a crochet project or two (or nine) queued up, but lately I've been delving into the world of knitting more and more. Recently I finished my first major knit project, so this post is going to explore my thoughts on the two mediums and my very first knit garment.

Crochet vs. Knit

I'll be honest, knitting can frustrate me so much. I have ended up unravelling a large percentage of my work to correct a mistake several times - my craft time is limited and highly anticipated, so it's always really frustrating to come away from a night of knitting even further behind in my project from where I started. However, despite the frustrations (outlined below), I really like challenge that comes with knitting, and I don't feel that I've been challenged by crochet in quite a while.

Learning the stitches, building the muscle memory, and learning how to fix mistakes WITHOUT unravelling everything - these are the challenges that make knitting fun for me (usually).

My knitting journey so far

I picked up the materials to learn to knit in March 2024, solely because I'd like to make my own socks one day. There are crochet sock patterns out there, but the widespread consenesus is that socks are an item not meant for crochet. Though it's been a while since I obtained the yarn and needles for my first pair of socks, I haven't yet cast them on. I wanted to build my skills with some simpler projects first, namely some Double Thick Potholders. These are simple potholders knit in the round with 100% cotton and then seamed on both ends, and they're the best potholders I've ever used.

After knitting a few of those, I wanted to step my game up a bit.

The Musselburgh hat

Ysolda's musselburgh hat is a widely popular knit hat that is constructed by knitting a long, tapered tube. Once completed, one end of the tube is folded into the other, forming a double-thick hat which can be worn slouchy or with a brim folded up.

Most of the hat is stockinette in the round, so the same stich over and over again - a perfect mindless knitting project to take on the go. I completed much of the hat while sitting at my local yarn shop, Oak City Fibers. Lastly, this hat requires no gauge swatch - the hat itself is the gauge swatch! You can use any yarn with any needle and the pattern will accommodate.

I hadn't really planned to knit a musselburgh, but I came across Ysolda's youtube channel where she talks about this hat, and I was so amazed by the versatility and customizability of the pattern that I knew I had to knit one. So, I took a look at my small but mighty yarn stash.

The yarn

County Lines That Welcome You Home by Rising Tide Fiber Co. is an enchanting mix of verdant hues with pops of orange. Though I typically buy yarn with a project for it in mind, this skein was an exception - I found it by rummaging through Rising Tide's sale bin at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival when on a weekend trip. It was the first skein of yarn I bought that day! The yarn is even more special because after leaving the festival, Josh and I took a drive on Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The late September weather presented us with vistas that mirrored the skein of yarn - varied greens with pops of yellow and orange of leaves just starting to shift hues.

Thus the name: Shenandoah Musselburg.

The firsts

1. First time knitting a garment

2. First time knitting with fingering weight yarn

3. First time with the magic loop technique (for knitting small circumferences in the yarn)

4. First time knitting the following stitches: make one left/right increases, slip slip knit decrease, knit two together decrease

Process photos

I'm really proud of what I've accomplished and I can't wait to knit another musselburgh!

Thanks for reading!