I have another take on that:

I think crochet ranks low for one simple reason: it's new.  Men and women have been spinning and weaving for many thousands of years. Knitting also has a few thousand years of tradition behind it.  Many old woven and knit pieces can be seen in museums, as illustrations in history books.  Weaving figures in Greek mythology as a metaphor for destiny and the art closest to Athena's heart.  There are medieval paintings showing the Virgin Mary knitting, because at the time those paintings were made, it was impossible to believe that any good mother could NOT knit.  It's hard not to feel that these older crafts are part of history, and to respect them for that.  They are living traditions that predate written history -- "woven into the fabric" of humanity, if you will.

Crochet, on the other hand, didn't exist until less than 200 years ago, except perhaps as "shepherd's knitting" which was a purely local, lower-class pastime in Scotland (AFAIK) and seems to have been a recent invention as well, judging by the lack of archeological evidence showing otherwise.  There is no grand history of crochet.  There aren't any crocheted wall hangings in the great palaces of Europe.  Nobody in the Bible, or any religious literature that I know of, uses a G hook.  I believe this lack of history is the main reason crochet is sometimes seen as the red-headed stepchild of textile crafts.

I would be very, very surprised if Debbie Stoller's link between crochet and prostitution turned out to be true.  Did anybody actually call crocheters hookers before the 1990s?

On a side note, I'm a "crochet guy", and I've heard many a story from older women about men who taught them crochet, or the man who owned the only yarn store in the county, and stuff like that.  Men seem to have always been the minority of yarnies, but we're out there, and probably always have been.

I would go with short rows, too.  If you do it lengthwise you'll be spending forever working into your foundation chain, which is a major annoyance and may put you off crochet forever.

Also, if you want to make it stripey, it will be much easier to do the color changes working widthwise.

I'm pretty sure you've got it right, DithMer. They did it that way so you would get extra-thick soles.  That was what I was getting, too, before I abandoned the pattern.  Like I said, I didn't like the pattern for the soles, so I just made plain rectangles of half-double stitches, using two strands of yarn worked together on a slightly larger hook.

For an adult, you might want the extra cushioning that the original pattern provides.  I didn't think it was that important, especially for a lightweight 5-year-old.

The hat looks awful but i love the AntiCraft philosophy. AC is always good for a few laughs, although I've never seen a crochet project there that I actually wanted to do.  They do make some pretty stuff, but it tends to not be crochet.

She is amazing! I love the clothes and all the tiny details. Clearly a lot of work went into that. Great job!

Beautiful job. It seems like the whole cast of Wallace & Gromit are just made to be amigurumi, especially since Gromit has a serious yarn habit. Someday I hope to crochet my own favorite W&G guest star, Shaun the Sheep.

Very cool! They look so friendly, and I love the dresses and satchels.

Thank you! I wish my hooking skills were good enough to do justice to the stories that my various critters invent for themselves.  Fanny, for example, really ought to have a teeny crocheted biker jacket and a couple of tattoos, but that's still beyond my abilities.

But anyway, I have fun coming up with patterns for them and making them, and my daughter loves them all. I find that kids are great morale-boosters for crafters. They love the fact that you made them something,  and don't care if it's not too fancy.

Awesome! I've never seen the show, but he looks really great.

Introducing Fanny Aubergine, wild eggplant from the wrong side of the tracks.  A bad role model for little sprouts everywhere, she has been seen with Axel Asparagus and other members of the Crisper Gang.