Crochet in Court

Here at CrochetWithDee it's been discussed that crocheting is not just for grannies.  It's an art form for everyone of all ages, and genders to enjoy!  And apparently it's big business too.

Right now Chanel is in court defending itself against World Tricot.  At stake is over $2.3 million (US) for possible breach of contract.

The evidence?  "The commercial court's presiding judge, Jean-Pierre Lucquin, struggled to compare unusual evidence comprising a sample of white crochet and a crochet Chanel vest." It seems the supplier has accused "the French fashion house of producing a sample of a vest it had proposed last year and had rejected."

You know it's good crochet when two major companies go head-to-head!  You can read the full story here.

One thing I think is interesting to look is in what is being said about the company World Tricot.  In the Washington Times article (click here to read) it states that the company "churns" out "elegant fashions."  In crochet, there is no "churning."  The word churning implies, at least to me, that a machine is doing all the work.  Perhaps with the knitted fashions this is true, but not with crochet.

This is because there are no true crochet machines.  Jean Leinhauser stated in a recent online disussion, "What people sometimes claim is a crochet machine is actually a giant machine that makes trims for draperies.  It is called a crochet machine because it uses many hooks.  The resulting yardage doesn't look much like crochet to me, but that's what the drapery trimming industry calls it."

You can see such "crochet machines" here -- which happen to sell around $10,000 US.  Of course some less expensive serger machines can produce the same results as the so-called "crochet machines," but no machine can produce the actual crochet fabric itself -- the same fabric that our great grandmothers, our grandmothers, mothers, children, and all the men (including Peter you see here to the right, inventor George Washington Carver, President James Buchanan, photographer Marvin Smith, football great Rosie Grier, and my charming Uncle Teddy) all created by hand!

LEGO toys (click for video) (as reported on Amy's blog) might be able to knit, but you won't find anything other than a human crocheting.  So the next time you see someone with a hook in their hand, stop and watch.  They're producing one of the last remaining fabrics that must be made by hand, a single stitch at a time.