Crochet

Crochet (English pronunciation: /kroʊˈʃeɪ/;French: [kʁɔʃɛ]) is a process of creating fabric by interlocking loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials using a crochet hook. The name is derived from the French term "crochet", meaning small hook. These are made of materials such as metal, wood, or plastic and are manufactured commercially and produced in artisan workshops. The salient difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before proceeding with the next one, while knitting keeps a large number of stitches open at a time. (Variant forms such as Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace keep multiple crochet stitches open at a time.)

The word crochet is derived from the Old French crochet, a diminutive of croche, in turn from the Germanic croc, both meaning "hook". It was used in 17th-century French lace making, crochetage designating a stitch used to join separate pieces of lace, and crochet subsequently designating both a specific type of fabric and the hooked needle used to produce it. Although that fabric is not known to be crochet in the present sense, a genealogical relationship between the techniques sharing that name appears likely.

Knitted textiles survive from early periods but the first substantive evidence of crocheted fabric relates to its appearance in Europe during the 19th century. Earlier work identified as crochet was commonly made by nålebinding, a separate looped yarn technique.

The first known published instructions for crochet explicitly using that term to designate the craft in its present sense, appeared in the Dutch magazine Penélopé in 1823. This includes a color plate showing five different style purses of which three were intended to be crocheted with silk thread. The first is "simple open crochet" (crochet simple ajour); a mesh of chain-stitch arches. The second (illustrated here) starts in a semi-open form (demi jour), where chain-stitch arches alternate with equally long segments of slip-stitch crochet, and closes with a star made with "double-crochet stitches" (dubbelde hekelsteek— double-crochet in British terminology; single-crochet in US). The third purse is made entirely in double-crochet. The instructions prescribe the use of a tambour needle (as illustrated below) and introduce a number of decorative techniques.

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