crochetguideBefore the 19th century
Hooked tools and chain stitches are much older, in French tambour embroidery and in 17th-century passementerie, but before the 1800s collectors rarely told crochet apart from knitting or nålebinding. The word comes from the French crochet, a small hook.
The first patterns, 1823 to the 1840s
The first known published instructions using the word crochet for the craft appeared in the Dutch magazine Penélopé in 1823: patterns for purses worked in silk thread. In Scotland, garments of “shepherd’s knitting”, looped with a hook, are mentioned in a memoir entry dated 1812. Through the 1840s, books of crochet patterns multiplied and the craft became fashionable across Europe.
Irish crochet lace
Irish crochet lace imitated expensive Venetian needle lace with separately crocheted motifs joined by a mesh. By 1845 it was taught at the Ursuline Convent in Blackrock, County Cork, and it spread through convents and famine relief schemes; by 1851 around 16,000 women were working in crochet. Clones lace is a style that is still made and taught today.
The 20th century and now
After the Victorian era, patterns favoured white and pale threads, and fewer were published after the First World War. Home crafts revived in the United States from the late 1940s, with patterns for doilies, potholders and household items in thicker yarn. In the late 1960s and 1970s a new generation made granny squares in bright colors.
Interest fell again and then returned in the 21st century, helped by better yarn, online tutorials and short videos. Crochet is still made by hand: many of its stitches cannot be made by machine.