Following the Pattern: Social Media and the Digital Age of Crochet
Social Media and Generation Z
Many forms of crochet lapsed in popularity during a lot of the 20th century, but in the last few years it has seen a major boom, especially with the current young adults of Generation Z and the social media app TikTok. A resurgence in appreciation for handmade clothes and exasperation with fast fashion trends has pushed a lot of young crafters and fashionistas alike to crochet, one of the only fibrecrafts that cannot be replicated by machine.
Some of the popularity may be credited to the 'quarantine' days of 2020, as time stuck indoors drove many to take up new crafts, but despite a love of sourdough baking and other odd 'pandemic' trends it stuck and has continued to boom.
Learn more about the social media crochet trends here, and here.
Patterns and Trends
Modern patterns and trends both mirror and vary from historical methods and types of crochet. Some of the most common patterns include the use of granny squares, square pieces of crochet using clusters of stitches to make the iconic "puffy" look one thinks of when considering modern crochet. Granny squares were first written about by a crochet hobbyist in 1895 who wanted to emulate the look of "crazy quilts" in crochet form, but the form we see them in today was popularized in the 1960s and 1970s.
Another trending use of crochet is to make items known as "amigurumi" which is a Japanese term for small knitted or crochet stuffed toys, typically of cute animals or foods. The origin of this craft is as murky as many other forms of fibrecraft are, but as it is now, it appears to have originated around the 1970s and became popular in the United States as part of the "kawaii" craze around anything Japanese along with anime and manga.