Crochet guide
What is crochet?
Crochet is a way of making fabric by pulling loops of yarn through other loops with a single hook. The word is French for a small hook. You finish each stitch before you start the next, so there is usually just one loop on the hook.
On this page 9 parts
Crochet in one paragraph
Crochet is needlework done with one hook. You catch the yarn with the hook and pull it through a loop to make a new loop. The loops lock into one another. Row by row, or round by round, they build a fabric. People crochet blankets, hats, scarves, dishcloths, sweaters, lace and toys.
What makes it crochet
- One hook. Knitting uses two needles. Crochet uses a single hook.
- One live loop. Each stitch is finished before the next one starts, so most of the time only one loop sits on the hook. In knitting, a whole row of stitches stays open on the needles at once.
- It starts from a chain. Most pieces begin with a slip knot and a chain of loops. The first row is worked into that chain. After that you work back and forth in rows, or around in rounds.
- It is made by hand. Knitting machines exist. For many crochet stitches there is no machine: they are made by hand.
What the word means
Crochet is a French word. It is a small form of the French word for hook, so it means "little hook". English took the word from French in the nineteenth century, as the craft spread across Europe.
The same word is the name of the craft, the fabric and the action: you crochet a scarf, and the scarf is crochet. The verb forms are crochets, crocheted and crocheting.
How to say crochet
Say "kroh-SHAY". The t is silent, as in French.
- In American English the second part is usually stressed: kroh-SHAY.
- In British English the first part is usually stressed: KROH-shay.
What a person who crochets is called
A crocheter. Dictionaries list the word as the noun for a person who crochets.
The main kinds of crochet
| Kind | What it is |
|---|---|
| Tunisian crochet | Worked on a long hook that holds a whole row of loops at once. Each row is a pass forward, picking loops up, and a pass back, working them off. It is also called Afghan crochet. |
| Filet crochet | A mesh of open and filled squares that form a picture or a pattern. It uses two stitches: the chain and the double crochet (UK treble crochet). |
| Tapestry crochet | Color work with two or more yarns in the same row. The yarn that is not in use is usually carried along inside the stitches. |
| Amigurumi | Small stuffed toys, crocheted or knitted in a firm, close fabric. The word and the style come from Japan. |
| Irish crochet | Fine crochet lace that grew up in Ireland in the middle of the nineteenth century. |
A few facts about crochet
- Nobody knows when or where it began. No inventor and no starting place is on record.
- Its paper trail is short. Researchers have not been able to document crochet in Europe before the early 1800s.
- Knitting is older, on the evidence. Knitted pieces survive from many centuries before that.
The history of crochet has what is known and what is only guessed, and can a machine crochet? explains why crochet is still made by hand.
Questions people ask
Is crochet the same as knitting? No. Both make fabric from loops of yarn, but with different tools and different stitches. Crochet vs knitting sets the two side by side.
What do I need to start? A hook, some yarn and a pair of scissors.
Why does the table say UK treble crochet? Patterns from the United States and the United Kingdom use different names for the same stitches. The US and UK crochet terms chart gives both names for each stitch.
Where to go next
- Ready to try it? How to crochet starts with the first loop.
- What you need to start crocheting is a short list: a hook, yarn and scissors.
- History of crochet covers where the craft came from.
- Browse the crochet stitches or the crochet patterns.