Menokreatikkul; Saturday Stitches

Something a little different today... You'll be seeing a post from a museum that Mac1 and I visited, but that's a little way off as yet. However, I did feel that the exhibit of two crochet shawls deserved to be shared as a separate item - and fitted perfectly into the stitches meme.

These date back to the late 19th century. Crochet, as we know it, really only became a craft in the early 19th C, the very first official crochet pattern, termed as such, was printed in the Netherlands in 1823. Prior to that, there are various variations on hook and loop crafting under various names. The word crochet is considered to have been derived from the French 'crochetage', which referred to the joining technique for pieces of lace and which used a very fine hooked tool. There is a strong reference in the 18th century of Scottish farmers ' knitting, which used a rather chunky hooked tool. There are hook and loop traditions in the Orient and the Americas, too. Crochet as a craft, however, appears to have been formalised in northern Europe.

Anyway, take a look at these two shawls.

They had clearly been much used and washed, and this made determining the stitches used rather challenging. The wool fibres had become rather meshed, even coming close to felt. I am still trying to puzzle out the central panel of each of the blocks in the red and white. 

...You just know I am tempted to have a go at recreating these, donchya?!! If that notion goes anywhere, you'll be the first to know. I might even make another visit there and request permission to take them off their hooks and study them properly... watch this space...