To crochet is to make fabric — often clothes, blankets, hats, or lace-like pieces — from wool or cotton, using one needle with a hook at the end. That hook is the whole idea: you pull a loop of yarn through another loop. It is different from knitting, which uses two long needles and no hook. People crochet at home, in craft groups, and as a hobby; the things they make can be practical or just pretty. The word is also the name of the craft itself: you can say I like crochet. It came into English from French, where crochet meant a little hook. It is an ordinary craft word, not slang and not very formal. You hear it in yarn shops and in making instructions.