Machines have taken over the artisan worlds of sewing, weaving, embroidery, knitting, lace and beadwork. But crochet? Those contrivances that bear the name “crochet” are nothing but industrial toys for making fancy braids and edgings. No machine has ever been built to replace the petites mains of the crochet artisan. This, to me, is the allure of crochet. The motions of the artisan’s hands with the hook and yarn cannot be replicated by a machine. I have looked carefully at those expensive machines. They claim to be “crochet machines.” They do no crochet. They make machine lace, braid and cords using mechanisation similar to those done by overlock sewing machines or sergers. The pieces that they produce employ the universal chain stitch but do not produce or even resemble any of the other crochet stitches. Another machine creates free-standing embroidery that produces motifs and laces that from a distance looks strikingly like crochet. But they are embroidery and not croch