Crochet, a Skill Revisited

Crochet is an old handcraft handed on to me by my mother when I was about ten years old. I always liked the finished product. In those days, the crochet was done with fine silk threads around the edges of doilies. Doilies you say? That is a term rarely used these days as the item itself is rarely used. 

Doilies were small, hand embroidered clothes that were used to put on tables, cupboards or pianos on which vases or ornaments were placed. They had spoke stitches worked into the edges. Crochet with fine silken threads was worked into the spoke stitches. 

Fine silk crochet edge of doily

Crochet was a popular way of making baby clothes like jackets, cardigans, dresses, bonnets, booties and baby blankets. 

Lacy crochet baby jacket

Crochet enabled the final item to be much fancier than many knitting patterns. 

Crochet was popular in the 60s, 70s and 80s then it fell out of favour for a while. Now crochet is in demand. Skills of this new generation has increased with the ability to share patterns and designs around the world. Where once different ways of knitting and crochet would be frowned upon and thought of as foreign, today they are embraced and shared readily. 

Boys and girls alike can wear crochet. The boys just usually have a plainer design that the girls. 

Cardigan with vintage buttons

 Today, a lot of crochet is done in wool. It makes lovely, cosy clothing like pullovers, hats and jackets and is seen as a popular handcraft. 

Lacy jumper in purple wool

Lots of crocheted items can be seen on my Instagram and Twitter accounts @tossyv 

Follow me on instagram for more crochet photos @tossyv