Susan Brittain Popular Books

Susan Brittain Biography & Facts

Crochet (English: ; French: [kʁɔʃɛ]) is a process of creating textiles by using a crochet hook to interlock loops of yarn, thread, or strands of other materials. The name is derived from the French term croc, which means 'hook'. Hooks can be made from a variety of materials, such as metal, wood, bamboo, bone or plastic. The key difference between crochet and knitting, beyond the implements used for their production, is that each stitch in crochet is completed before the next one is begun, while knitting keeps many stitches open at a time. Some variant forms of crochet, such as Tunisian crochet and broomstick lace, do keep multiple crochet stitches open at a time. Etymology The word crochet is derived from the French crochet, a diminutive of croche, in turn from the Germanic croc, both meaning "hook". It was used in 17th-century French lace-making, where the term crochetage designated a stitch used to join separate pieces of lace. The word crochet subsequently came to describe both the specific type of textile, and the hooked needle used to produce it.In 1567, the tailor of Mary, Queen of Scots, Jehan de Compiegne, supplied her with silk thread for sewing and crochet, "soye à coudre et crochetz". Origins Knitted textiles survive from as early as the 11th century CE, but the first substantive evidence of crocheted fabric emerges in Europe during the 19th century. Earlier work identified as crochet was commonly made by nålebinding, a different looped yarn technique. The first known published instructions for crochet explicitly using that term to describe the craft in its present sense appeared in the Dutch magazine Penélopé in 1823. This includes a colour plate showing five styles of purse, of which three were intended to be crocheted with silk thread. The first is "simple open crochet" (crochet simple ajour), a mesh of chain-stitch arches. The second (illustrated here) starts in a semi-open form (demi jour), where chain-stitch arches alternate with equally long segments of slip-stitch crochet, and closes with a star made with "double-crochet stitches" (dubbelde hekelsteek: double-crochet in British terminology; single-crochet in US). The third purse is made entirely in double-crochet. The instructions prescribe the use of a tambour needle (as illustrated below) and introduce a number of decorative techniques. The earliest dated reference in English to garments made of cloth produced by looping yarn with a hook—shepherd's knitting—is in The Memoirs of a Highland Lady by Elizabeth Grant (1797–1830). The journal entry, itself, is dated 1812 but was not recorded in its subsequently published form until some time between 1845 and 1867, and the actual date of publication was first in 1898. Nonetheless, the 1833 volume of Penélopé describes and illustrates a shepherd's hook, and recommends its use for crochet with coarser yarn.In 1844, one of the numerous books discussing crochet that began to appear in the 1840s states: Crochet needles, sometimes called Shepherds' hooks, are made of steel, ivory, or box-wood. They have a hook at one end similar in shape to a fish-hook, by which the wool or silk is caught and drawn through the work. These instruments are to be procured of various sizes... Two years later, the same author writes: Crochet, — a species of knitting originally practised by the peasants in Scotland, with a small hooked needle called a shepherd's hook, — has, within the last seven years, aided by taste and fashion, obtained the preference over all other ornamental works of a similar nature. It derives its present name from the French; the instrument with which it is worked being by them, from its crooked shape, termed 'crochet.' This art has attained its highest degree of perfection in England, whence it has been transplanted to France and Germany, and both countries, although unjustifiably, have claimed the invention. An instruction book from 1846 describes Shepherd or single crochet as what in current British usage is either called single crochet or slip-stitch crochet, with U.S. American terminology always using the latter (reserving single crochet for use as noted above). It similarly equates "Double" and "French crochet". Notwithstanding the categorical assertion of a purely British origin, there is solid evidence of a connection between French tambour embroidery and crochet. French tambour embroidery was illustrated in detail in 1763 in Diderot's Encyclopedia. The tip of the needle shown there is indistinguishable from that of a present-day inline crochet hook and the chain stitch separated from a cloth support is a fundamental element of the latter technique. The 1823 Penélopé instructions unequivocally state that the tambour tool was used for crochet and the first of the 1840s instruction books uses the terms tambour and crochet as synonyms. This equivalence is retained in the 4th edition of that work, 1847. The strong taper of the shepherd's hook eases the production of slip-stitch crochet but is less amenable to stitches that require multiple loops on the hook at the same time. Early yarn hooks were also continuously tapered but gradually enough to accommodate multiple loops. The design with a cylindrical shaft that is commonplace today was largely reserved for tambour-style steel needles. Both types gradually merged into the modern form that appeared toward the end of the 19th century, including both tapered and cylindrical segments, and the continuously tapered bone hook remained in industrial production until World War II.The early instruction books make frequent reference to the alternative use of 'ivory, bone, or wooden hooks' and 'steel needles in a handle', as appropriate to the stitch being made. Taken with the synonymous labeling of shepherd's- and single crochet, and the similar equivalence of French- and double crochet, there is a strong suggestion that crochet is rooted both in tambour embroidery and shepherd's knitting, leading to thread and yarn crochet respectively; a distinction that is still made. The locus of the fusion of all these elements—the "invention" noted above—has yet to be determined, as does the origin of shepherd's knitting. Shepherd's hooks are still being made for local slip-stitch crochet traditions. The form in the accompanying photograph is typical for contemporary production. A longer continuously tapering design intermediate between it and the 19th-century tapered hook was also in earlier production, commonly being made from the handles of forks and spoons. Irish crochet In the 19th century, as Ireland was facing the Great Irish Famine (1845–1849), crochet lace work was introduced as a form of famine relief (the production of crocheted lace being an alternative way of making money for impoverished Irish workers). Men, women, children joined a co-operative in order to crochet and produce products to help with famine relief during the Great Irish Famine. Schools to teach crocheting were started. Teachers were trai.... Discover the Susan Brittain popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Susan Brittain books.

Best Seller Susan Brittain Books of 2024

  • The Lost English Girl synopsis, comments

    The Lost English Girl

    Julia Kelly

    Combining “fastpaced historical fiction with a hint of suspense” (Booklist), this epic saga from Julia Kelly explores love, motherhood, and betrayal set against World War II.Liverp...

  • The Feminist Revolution synopsis, comments

    The Feminist Revolution

    Jules Archer & Naomi Wolf

    Today, feminism is as important as ever. Betty Friedan’s musings, “to take the actions needed to bring women into the mainstream of American society, now; full equality for women, ...

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    The English Rebel

    David Horspool

    The English have a rich and glorious history of making trouble for themselves. One hundred and forty years before the French Revolution, the English executed their king and institu...

  • Advent synopsis, comments

    Advent

    James Treadwell

    A drowning, a magician’s curse, and a centuriesold secret. 1537. A man hurries through city streets in a gathering snowstorm, clutching a box in one hand. He is Johann Faust, the g...

  • The Heirloom House synopsis, comments

    The Heirloom House

    Sherry Lefevre

    Inspiration for Every Home Decorator with a Passion for the PastThe Heirloom House is a humorous personal account of two interlocking obsessions: eBay and the quest to create a vac...

  • A Certain Darkness synopsis, comments

    A Certain Darkness

    Anna Lee Huber

    Set in Downton Abbeyera postWorld War I England, this actionpacked series from the USA Today bestselling author of the Lady Darby Mysteries is a treat for fans of Jacqueline Winspe...

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    Scot Under the Covers

    Suzanne Enoch

    The second in the seductive new Scottish historical romance Wild Wicked Highlanders series from New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Enoch!In Scot Under the Covers, a resource...

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    Educating Caroline

    Patricia Cabot

    Lady Caroline Linford is horrified to discover... her fiancé, the Marquis of Winchilsea, in the arms of another woman. Unfortunately, Victorian society considers such masculine pe...

  • The Corgi and the Queen synopsis, comments

    The Corgi and the Queen

    Caroline L. Perry

    Selected as one of VOGUE Magazine’s Best Gifts For Kids! Even a monarch needs a best friend and Queen Elizabeth II found one in a corgi pup she named Susan. From princesshood to q...

  • Anarchy synopsis, comments

    Anarchy

    James Treadwell

    The second novel in an astonishingly imaginative fantasy trilogy that began with the critically acclaimed and “supernaturally entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews) Advent. Look for the th...

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    Downton Shabby

    Hopwood DePree

    HGTV meets Downton Abbey! A readyforTV storywith charm and humor in abundanceabout a Los Angeles producer who moves to England to save his ancestral castle from ruin.“A true d...

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    Scandalous

    Karen Robards

    An unexpected romance emerges between a young woman desperate to keep her family’s wealth and the man trying to gain it in this first in New York Times bestselling author Karen Rob...

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    Children of the Revolution

    Robert Gildea

    Nineteenthcentury France was one of the world's great cultural beacons, renowned for its dazzling literature, philosophy, art, poetry and technology. Yet this was also a tumultuous...

  • Arcadia synopsis, comments

    Arcadia

    James Treadwell

    “Magnificent.” Publishers Weekly (starred review) It’s a year and a half after the events of Anarchya novel hailed as “bewitchingly perplexing and supernaturally entertaining” (Kir...