Crochet guide
Can a machine crochet?
No. No machine in use makes crochet the way it is made by hand, one stitch at a time with a hook. The machines called crochet machines are a kind of warp knitting machine. They make lace and open-work fabric that can look like crochet, by a different method.
The short answer
Crochet is made by hand. Knitting can be done by hand or by machine, and knitted fabric is made by machine on a large scale. For crochet there is no such machine in use: none forms crochet stitches the way a person with a hook does.
There are machines called crochet machines. They are built for the textile industry, not for use at home, and what they make is not crochet as a crocheter means the word.
What a crochet machine really is
A machine sold under that name is a warp knitting machine. It does not have one hook and one yarn. It has a bar holding many needles side by side, and each needle has a thread of its own.
The threads run the length of the fabric, and every needle forms its loop at the same moment. So each row across the fabric is made all at once, by many threads, where a crocheter forms one stitch at a time with one yarn.
Machines of this kind make lace and other open-work fabric.
Why a crochet stitch is hard to mechanize
Three things about hand crochet stand in the way.
- One live loop. A crocheter usually has one loop on the hook and works one stitch at a time. Knitting holds a whole row of loops at once, and a knitting machine has a row of needles to match.
- The hook goes back into the fabric. For every new stitch the hook is put into the piece already made, and the yarn is pulled through there.
- The place is chosen each time. That place may be under both loops of a stitch, under the front loop or the back loop alone, or round the post. A stitch can be skipped, or several stitches can go into one. New stitches can be made almost anywhere on the piece.
Crochet and its look-alikes
Some things that look like crochet at first glance are machine-made. A knitting machine can produce a fabric whose pattern resembles crochet, and machine lace can pass for crochet at a distance.
The difference is in how the fabric is built.
| Hand crochet | Fabric from a crochet machine | |
|---|---|---|
| Made with | One hook and one yarn at a time | Many needles, each with its own thread |
| Built from | Stitches, each worked into a chosen place in the row or round before | Many threads running the length of the fabric, each looped by its own needle |
| Grows | One stitch at a time, in rows or in rounds | The whole width at once, along its length |
A piece that really is crochet was made by a person, one stitch at a time.
Where to go next
- For how crochet differs from knitting, see knitting vs crochet.
- For how it differs from macrame, tatting and loom knitting, see crochet compared with other crafts.
- To make it yourself, start with how to crochet.