Crocheting without a crochet hook must have been pretty difficult.
- A crochet hook is a tool used in the art and craft of crocheting, and the tool is manipulated with one’s hand to make a series of loops from yarn, thread or other fibres, to create fabric or cord.
- ‘Crochet hooks’ are also known as ‘crochet needles’ and the word ‘crochet’ is a French word that comes from the Old Norse word ‘krókr‘ meaning ‘hook’.
- Crochet hooks are typically long and stick like with a hooked end, and sometimes they have a handle for better comfort and/or grip.
- Crochet hooks come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses, with at least 25 different sizes that are graded using letters or numbers.
- Crochet hooks can be used in knitting to pick up dropped stitches, and for other craft purposes, and they can also be used to maintain hair dreadlocks.
- Crochet hooks can be held like a knife or a pencil, although one technique is not necessarily better than the other, and it comes down to personal preference as to which is used.
- Crochet hooks were most likely invented in the early 1800s, and first made of wire, and possibly originated in Ireland, Europe.
- Some unique versions of crochet hooks include the much longer Tunisian hook, used in Tunisian crochet; and the cro-hook, used for double-sided crochet, that is particularly effective using two different colours of yarn.
- Crochet hooks are typically made of plastic, wood, or aluminium, and originally they were made of steel, bone, ivory, and other materials.
- It is common that only a single crochet hook is used in the practice of crochet, and it can be used in either the left or right hand, depending the user’s dominant hand.
Bibliography:
Crochet Hook, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crochet_hook
Marks R, History of Crochet, 2009, CGOA, http://www.crochet.org/?page=CrochetHistory
