Crochet

[5] In 1567, the tailor of Mary, Queen of Scots, Jehan de Compiegne, supplied her with silk thread for sewing and crochet, "soye à coudre et crochetz".

The first known published instructions for crochet explicitly using that term to describe the craft in its present sense appeared in the Dutch magazine Penélopé in 1823.

The earliest dated reference in English to garments made of cloth produced by looping yarn with a hook—shepherd's knitting—is in The Memoirs of a Highland Lady by Elizabeth Grant (1797–1830).

This art has attained its highest degree of perfection in England, whence it has been transplanted to France and Germany, and both countries, although unjustifiably, have claimed the invention.

The patent lists various items, including "thread for embroidery, enhanced and embellished as done with a needle, on thimbles, on the fingers, on a crochet, and on a bobbin."

Similarly, chain stitch appears in Queen Elizabeth I's wardrobe accounts, starting in 1558, with further references to garments bordered with 'cheyne lace' in other inventories.

While the exact design of the 1653 crochet is unclear, a 1723 French dictionary by Jacques Savary des Brûlons describes a crochet as a small iron instrument, three or four inches long, with a pointed, curved end and a wooden handle, used by passementiers for tasks like creating hat seams and attaching flowers to mesh.

The tip of the needle shown there is indistinguishable from that of a present-day inline crochet hook and the chain stitch separated from a cloth support is a fundamental element of the latter technique.

[citation needed] The early instruction books make frequent reference to the alternative use of 'ivory, bone, or wooden hooks' and 'steel needles in a handle', as appropriate to the stitch being made.

[21] Mademoiselle Riego de la Branchardiere is generally credited with the invention of Irish Crochet, publishing the first book of patterns in 1846.

The craft remained primarily a homemaker's art until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the new generation picked up on crochet and popularized granny squares, a motif worked in the round and incorporating bright colors.

Although crochet underwent a subsequent decline in popularity, the early 21st century has seen a revival of interest in handcrafts and DIY, as well as improvement of the quality and varieties of yarn.

As well as books and classes, there are YouTube tutorials and TikTok videos to help people who may need a clearer explanation to learn how to crochet.

Christopher Kane's Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear collection[24] makes intensive use of the granny square, one of the most basic of crochet motifs.

In recent years, yarn selections have moved beyond synthetic and plant and animal-based fibers to include bamboo, qiviut, hemp, and banana stalks, to name a few.

Many advanced crocheters have also incorporated recycled materials into their work in an effort to "go green" and experiment with new textures by using items such as plastic bags, old t-shirts or sheets, VCR or Cassette tape, and ribbon.

[29] A yarn's usefulness is judged by several factors, such as its loft (its ability to trap air), its resilience (elasticity under tension), its washability and colorfastness, its hand (its feel, particularly softness vs. scratchiness), its durability against abrasion, its resistance to pilling, its hairiness (fuzziness), its tendency to twist or untwist, its overall weight and drape, its blocking and felting qualities, its comfort (breathability, moisture absorption, wicking properties) and its appearance, which includes its color, sheen, smoothness and ornamental features.

Other factors include allergenicity, speed of drying, resistance to chemicals, moths, and mildew, melting point and flammability, retention of static electricity, and the propensity to accept dyes.

If the fibers are first aligned by combing them and the spinner uses a worsted type drafting method such as the short forward draw, the yarn is smoother and called a worsted; by contrast, if the fibers are carded but not combed and the spinner uses a woolen drafting method such as the long backward draw, the yarn is fuzzier and called woolen-spun.

Plants used for fibers include cotton, flax (for linen), bamboo, ramie, hemp, jute, nettle, raffia, yucca, coconut husk, banana trees, soy and corn.

Common synthetic fibers include acrylics,[30] polyesters such as dacron and ingeo, nylon and other polyamides, and olefins such as polypropylene.

[citation needed] There are six main types of basic stitches (the following description uses international crochet terminology with US variants noted in backets).

Individual crocheters work yarn with a loose or a tight hold and, if unmeasured, these differences can lead to significant size changes in finished garments that have the same number of stitches.

An individual crocheter begins work by producing a test swatch and compensating for any discrepancy by changing to a smaller or larger hook.

It is becoming increasingly popular to crochet hats (commonly referred to as "chemo caps") and donate them to cancer treatment centers, for those undergoing chemotherapy and therefore losing hair.

[46] Feminist scholar-activists have argued for crochet as an embodied method of inquiry aimed at uncovering entangled, relational, and situated ways being and knowing inclusive of the more-than-human co-creation of worlds.

"[27] In recent years, a practice called yarn bombing, or the use of knitted or crocheted cloth to modify and beautify one's (usually outdoor) surroundings, emerged in the US and spread worldwide.

[51]Examples in nature of organisms that show hyperbolic structures include lettuces, sea slugs, flatworms and coral.

Two shows were Sant Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and Sticks, Hooks, and the Mobius: Knit and Crochet Go Cerebral at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

[clarification needed] In Section 53, he writes of the "loop stitch, or Noeud Coulant: a knot that, if untied, causes the whole system to unravel."