Crafts, Crocheting, Knitting etc. - Women's contribution

For the past few years I have been enjoying a lot of crocheting.  Lots of my friends are starting their families, and I love being able to give the new addition a homemade gift.  With each stitch I think of the baby and the family.  It is a great way to feel connected to others.

Crocheting is a very thought provoking hobby.  One day while I was in Zellers buying yarn, I was struck by the number of aisles of yarn there were.  Three aisles with just yarn, craft stuff only had a half of an aisle.  It encouraged me to think about the history of crocheting and how it has grown into a huge industry worth millions of dollars for countries around the world.

Little is known of crochet's early history. It seems likely that the earliest crochet was made using fingers, rather than the hooks used today. There are theories that crochet could have existed as early as 1500 BC, as part of nun's work, which included needlepoint lace and bobbin lace.

Crochet began as a cottage industry in Ireland with a lace called Irish crochet or guipure lace. In the mid 1800's it became a large industry because of the need of the people to supplement their income due to the great potato famine of that time. It has been suggested that four Irish nuns who were trained in a French convent introduced crochet to Ireland. It was a common practice in that time for each person to become skilled in making one thing and one thing only, such as a leaf or a flower. Another person would then crochet the different motifs together using a background stitch. If you have ever tried to crochet an Irish crochet pattern you can understand why it becomes such a difficult and tedious a project. The people who crocheted the Irish laces were truly masters of their craft. They didn't have radio, television, or even access to very many books during this time in history. This contributed to their ability and desire to focus on such an intricate and elaborate art and create such finely detailed work.

The main theory behind the origin of crochet seems to be that it began when it was realized that chains worked in a pattern would hang together without background fabric.

 

At one time crochet was considered for the wealthy only, for lavish decor in the home and dress. The poor folk were expected to stick with knitting basic needs such as socks and clothing and not dally around with experimental crochet. Angry words were published in magazines from the wealthy stating the lower class should stick to making necessities rather than fancy items that was not their place to wear or display. The poor to middle class lashed back as to their rights to use crochet as they pleased.  Much of this idea stemmed from fear the servants would be spending time crocheting when they should be working at the employer’s home. Because crochet samples can not be found among the many needlework methods taught in schools of the past, it is surmised crochet was left out because of the danger of experimentation and foolery.

Crochet began to emerge in Europe in the early nineteenth century, boosted by Mlle Riego de la Branchardiere, well known for her ability to take needle and bobbin lace designs and turn them into crochet patterns that could be duplicated. She published numerous patterns and also claimed to have invented lace-like crochet, today called Irish crochet.

According to the 2004 statistics, apparel articles & accessories knit & crochet was the first of the major Canadian Imports at $3,154,000 from Brunei in Malaysia.  The third major import from Brunei was textile art, needlecraft sets & worn textile articles at $48,000.  That is amazing!  Canada has thousands of trading partners, so to import this much knitted and crocheted textiles from one country, you can only guess how much money is contributed to the economy from tying strings together.

I know for myself, I have spent almost $500 in the past year on yarn and supplies alone.

Crochet and knitting and most crafts are done by women.  Look at scrapbooking, which is a huge industry! Not too many men in those stores. So all crafty women, please give yourself a pat on the back for keeping a huge chunk of the economy going!  For those women who are not crafty, remember to acknowledge the contribution of your crafty friends and family!!

Happy Crafting!

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