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Tunisian crochet. When I saw this fantastic fabric for the first time
I was, well I guess I’d say I was hooked. There is something about the
uniqueness of the fabric that fascinates me.
That first garment was the Bam Boo Cardigan from Fall 2007. When I first
saw the finished garment I thought it was a knit garment with a
crocheted edging. I picked the sweater up, and I felt the weight, the
solidness of the fabric. It was thicker than any fabric I had seen. The
stitch was the Tunisian knit stitch. The thickness of the fabric works
great for cold weather. I tried to take a picture to show the thickness,
but it's really something that's easier felt than seen.
Yet as seen in the Bam Boo Cardigan, it can be elegantly shaped without
looking bulky. But beware, this stitch can use an incredible amount of
yarn. When inserting the hook in the next stitch, you push the hook from
the front of the fabric to the back between the vertical bars of the
stitch in the previous row instead of from right to left behind the
vertical bar of the previous row. Like all Tunisian stitches you leave
the loop on the hook. This fabric also has a lot of stretch.
The Spice Market Tunic from Fall 2009 uses both the Tunisian simple
stitch and the Tunisian purl stitch. I took a close-up picture of the
Spice Market Tunic front to better show the difference between the
stitches.
The lower left stitch is Tunisian simple stitch. To work the Tunisian
Purl stitch you hold the yarn in front of the work when pulling up
loops, as you would if purling in knitting, and work as for the Tunisian
simple stitch. I think the Spice Market Tunic may have to move up the
queue to the next garment on my projects to make list. The fabric has
fabulous stretch and is solid without being dense.
The La Mer scarf is an inspiring example of lacework in Tunisian
crochet. This was actually my first project in Tunisian. The scarf is
now hidden somewhere in my new, unorganized craft room (more on that in a
future blog). This lacy design is accomplished with decreases and
increases that alternate rows. The inherent drape of Tunisian crochet
continues to draw me even as I continue to explore crochet and find new
stitches.
What new stitches would you like to explore further?
Best wishes,
Toni
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