crochet, craft that developed in the 19th century out of a form of chain-stitch embroidery done with a hook instead of a needle. In crochet work the hook is used, without a foundation material, to make a texture of looped and interlinked chains of thread. In the late 1840s crochet was introduced into Ireland as a famine relief measure. In southern Ireland the industry centred in Cork, in northern Ireland at Clones in County Monaghan. As it became more sophisticated, crochet work approximated lace, antique laces such as gros point de Venise, or Venetian raised lace, being successfully imitated.