Happy New Year!
Well, this isn’t something I saw myself getting into in 2018 – Tunisian crochet! Have you tried it?
After taking a Tunisian crochet class, taught by one of my Knitting For All colleagues back in October, I offered to run a workshop for my Knit Night friends on our yearly retreat, happening this weekend.
Now, although I know how to do regular crochet, I’m in no way an expert. I’m not great with my tension, so I’m never 100% happy with my slightly sloppy-looking attempts. However, Tunisian crochet is a kind of half way house between knitting and crochet. Using a long crochet hook, with a stopper on the end, stitches are picked up along the edge of the work, known as the forward pass. Then the loops are sort of cast back off, known as the return pass, until you are left with one stitch. Unlike in knitting and crochet, you don’t turn the work (which takes a bit of getting used to) so everything happens on the right side. There are lots of different stitches but you can create a really interesting fabric by just using the simple stitch. This makes a great surface to cross-stitch onto, which is what I did with this coaster.
I’m currently Tunisian crocheting myself a cowl, which I’ll share soon, but I’ve also found some good resources along the way:
Michelle Robinson has a fantastic website, blog and a book all about Tunisian Crochet – she’s responsible for those gorgeous little Tunisian crocheted feathers that I keep seeing on Pinterest!
Also there’s a great pattern here for a simple stitch dishcloth, although it’s really too nice for washing dishes and would make a good table mat.
I would also recommend Craftsy’s Tunisan Crochet for Beginners class, which helped me refresh my skills for teaching my workshop this weekend! Hopefully my Knit Night friends will be as enthusiastic as me about Tunisian crochet. Look out for some photos on Instagram stories over the weekend, and let me know if you’d like to know more about my new hobby!
Happy Knitting … and Tunisian Crocheting?!
Maddie x
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