The art of crocheting arose at least five hundred years ago, but has not lost its popularity to this day. With the help of a crochet hook, skilled craftswomen quickly and relatively easily create beautiful lace collars and cuffs, shawls, napkins, tablecloths, toys, and sometimes original items of clothing - vests, jackets, dresses and summer coats.
How the art of crochet came about
The famous traveler and knitter Annie Potter claims that the art of crocheting began in the 16th century. The Danish Lisa Polyuden put forward three theories of the appearance of this art at once. According to the first of them, crochet originated in Arabia, then spread east to Tibet and west to Spain, and from there to other European countries. According to the second version, for the first time representatives of the primitive tribes of South America took the hook in their hands, making jewelry with it. The third version says that crocheting was invented by the creators of many types of arts and crafts, the Chinese. They first had crocheted volumetric dolls.
The first mentions of the art of crocheting in Western Europe
The first written mention of crocheting, called "shepherd's knitting", is found in the "Memoirs of a Scottish Lady Elizabeth Grant", written in the 19th century. Crochet patterns were first published in 1824 in the Dutch magazine Penelope.
There is a version that crochet appeared in the nineteenth century as one of the varieties of tambour embroidery. The first crochet hooks could be both primitive bent needles with cork handles and expensive items made of silver, steel or ivory. Of course, rich ladies' precious crochet hooks were not created so much for work as to draw attention to their lovely white pens.
During the famine of 1845-1849 in Ireland, one of the forms of aid to the hungry was providing them with orders for crocheted lace. Tradition attributes the invention of the art of crocheting Irish lace to Mademoiselle Riego de la Blanchardier, who in 1846 published the first book devoted to making products in this technique.
Crochet in Russia
In Russia, the art of crocheting appeared at the end of the 19th century. The needlewomen specialized mainly in making lace, the patterns for which they borrowed from weaving and cross stitching.
Nowadays, the skill of crocheting, honed for centuries, has not lost its relevance. Despite the belief that machine knitting will gradually replace manual knitting, handicrafts are gaining more and more popularity. At the same time, crocheting seems more interesting and attractive than knitting. Easier to learn, it allows you to create truly unique products of the finest workmanship.
