The long cylindrical hook normally associated with Tunisian crochet doesn’t differ physically from a hooked knitting needle. The past few posts here have considered evidence of that tool having been co-opted for some form of crochet before the first descriptions of Tunisian stitches were published. In contrast, the double-ended hook appears to have been taken into the… Continue reading The double-end tricot hook
Some software displays the first image in a WordPress blog as a banner. I’m therefore prefacing this post with a suitable early–20th-century tutorial photo of slip stitches made with what is labeled an ordinary crochet hook, advertised as available in lengths of “5, 8, 10, 12 and 14 inches” (and in a customary range of gauges).… Continue reading A Scottish knitter
It’s been a while since the last post and I’m uncertain about where best to resume the discussion. My initial intention had been to focus next on early descriptions of flat hooks used for shepherd’s knitting (now also referred to as basic slip-stitch crochet). Material and written evidence of this begins to appear in the… Continue reading The long hook in 1800
A previous post considered documents from 1858 that describe a long crochet hook and the craft for which it was used. The authors, together with others writing about the same craft during the following years, differed in opinion about whether it was a form of crochet or constituted a craft of its own. The first of… Continue reading The long hook in 1787
The instructions for the three crocheted purses in the 1823 volume of Penélopé provide the first known written description of crochet in its modern form. The 1833 volume of the same periodical includes a section headed “Something more about crochet” with no comparable document having appeared in the interim (again, that has yet come to light).… Continue reading Flat-hook crochet in 1833
Several of the instructions discussed in earlier posts explicitly state that round purse molds were made of boxwood. This was widely preferred by the European woodturners of the day and therefore an obvious choice. The 1823 instructions for the Louisiana purse provide detailed dimensions for a cup mold. They specify that this “turned boxwood mold … should be 7 centimeters in diameter… Continue reading The size and significance of purse molds
It may take a while for me to figure out how to get the blog logo to display where and how I want. Since this post explains its substantive relevance, for safety’s sake, here’s what we’re talking about: It’s an illustration of two “purse moulds” taken from Frances Lambert’s, The Hand-Book of Needlework, published in… Continue reading Loopy Logo
