Page 334 - J. C. Turner "History and Science of Knots"

Crochet Work-History and Computer Applications 325

levels of production, the quality of the lace necessarily suffered: fewer and sim-
pler motifs were worked in coarser thread, and the motifs were often arranged
haphazardly rather than in an ordered design.
Interestingly, crochet work gained a reputation as a disreputable means
for a woman to earn a living-in sharp contrast to other textile-based cottage
industries such as bobbin lace and pillow lace. These other laces had been
praised because they kept female workers at home, safe from immoral influence
of factory work. Crochet work, however, `quickly earned a bad name-not
merely on account of its artistic deficiencies, but also because of its socially
demoralizing effects. Godly people held the crochet-maker in horror, and
as long as travelling agents bought the work, and enabled the demoralized
crochet women to thrive, there was no doubt or justification for.the outcry
made against the vice, which seemed to be inseparable from this branch of
industry.'[17, p. 97]
Crochet may have been viewed suspiciously because it was a much more
creative, less regimented craft than pillow or bobbin lace. These latter laces
were constructed from ready- printed patterns, and no deviations from the
pattern was permitted in the work. In contrast, Irish Crochet was worked to
no fixed pattern. Instead, the motifs were combined according to the joiner's
talent for producing a pleasing overall effect, and motif workers were also free
to invent new motifs. Not surprising, then, the female Irish crochet work-
ers preferred crochet work to traditional lacemaking, as being more creative
and the designs were more in their own control. As one worker eloquently
explained,

`I likes the crochet best, ma'am, because there's hope in it. I may
get ever so much for what I makes, if I happen to hit on a new
stitch, and all the time I'm at it, I don't know but I may have
a lot of money coming to me, and I'm kepin spirits like, to the
last moment; but that pillow-work, och, 'tis horrid, ma'am! You're
made sinsible from the beginning that you're only to get the trifle
of a price, no more, nor no less, and no thoughts will help you, you
must go on with the thing to your ordthers, which is what I won't
do, until I can't help it, please God. '[12]

Currently, significant sources for commercial crochet work are India, Mex-
ico, China, and the Philippines. In Narsapur, India, the lace-making industry
followed much the same pattern as in Ireland. Crochet was introduced by
Christian missionaries wishing to alleviate the economic distress of their con-
gregations. Narsapur suffered famines in the 1830s, 1870s, and 1890s; during
these times, the crochet work produced by women provided the sole support
for many families. The lacework was sold in Europe to feed the seemingly