There is little known about the history of crochet , some say that crocheing was used BC but there is no facts or findings about this crafting , the earliest findings comes from 17-18th century and it was higly popular in the Victorian/ Edwardian Era.
Crochet began as a cottage industry in Ireland with a lace called Irish crochet or guipure lace. In the mid 1800's it became a large industry because of the need of the people to supplement their income due to the great potato famine of that time. It has been suggested that four Irish nuns who were trained in a French convent introduced crochet to Ireland. It was a common practice in that time for each person to become skilled in making one thing and one thing only, such as a leaf or a flower. Another person would then crochet the different motifs together using a background stitch. If you have ever tried to crochet an Irish crochet pattern you can understand why it becomes such a difficult and tedious a project. The people who crocheted the Irish laces were truly masters of their craft. They didn't have radio, television, or even access to very many books during this time in history. This contributed to their ability and desire to focus on such an intricate and elaborate art and create such finely detailed work.
My interest in crafting began early , mind you I have ADHD and it was not until I got my medication as an adult that I could finally sit down and actually concentrate and produce fabricat made of yarn .
My mother as well as her mother and grandmother all made amazing crocheting doilys and clothes , lace, afhgans etc and I was very interested and now I want to learn this scill too.
Its a magical, lovely art scill .