Why does the same pattern, same size, same yarn require more yarn to complete in crochet than to knit?

Question

Why does the same pattern, same size, same yarn require more yarn to complete in crochet than to knit?

Answer 1

In knitting you are pulling up a loop in each stitch.  In crochet you are pulling up a loop and then building the stitch upwards from there.  In knitting the stitches are linked together (drop a stitch and it can affect all the other stitches by laddering down) which allows the stitches to be finished only once by binding off.  In crochet the stitches are closed as you make them

Answer 2

The way to look at it is to look at each stitch you do as knots. With knitting you are making one knot each stitch. Crotcheting though you are making 2 with a single crotchet and 3 with a double. Each loop counts as a knot.

Answer 3

Thanks for asking this question. I crochet, but have been wanting to learn to knit. This makes me want to learn to knit even more, because I'm always so frustrated with how much yarn my projects use. The answers you have recieved seem very logical- wish I could offer my own, but thank you, again, for asking!

Answer 4

when knitting, you only use a single loop to get from row to row.

In crocheting, you do a complex series of loops, (more than one) which will take up more yarn.

To see this, knit a row, and crochet a same-sized row, then look at how each stitch is constructed.  You can see the difference.  I have actually had this same question and did the "math" to see what was going on.

Answer 5

Because a crochet stitch typically uses a bit more yarn than a knitting stitch.   Try it sometime with a row of single crochet stitches and a row of knit stitches and measure how much yarn each one has used.