My Journey With Crochet - and what the heck is Tunisian?!

I learned how to crochet when I was eight.  My Aunt Patti showed my sister and I how to crochet when my cousin's wife was going to have triplets.  My sister, my aunt, and I each made a crocheted baby blanket with a size Q hook.  At that point I didn't realize that for crochet, size Q is huge!

I sort of tried to re-learn crochet in middle school, this time with a smaller hook - a size J, I think.  I decided that I wanted to make a blanket, but I didn't know a thing about patterns.  I looked through pattern books for blankets to find out how much yarn I would need.  I decided I would make a light and navy blue striped blanket, bed sized.  I don't remember how much yarn I bought; probably 4-6 skeins of each color.  It was whatever the cheap yarn I could find at Walmart was, maybe Red Heart Super Saver, except that it's softer than the standard, so possibly Red Heart with Love.  I don't know.  None of the skeins have the packaging.  Yes.  I still have them.  That particular blanket dream was never realized.  I worked on it for years.  In college, I still had it and I was working on it, and I thought - you know, crochet can't possibly be this annoying or take this long!  I looked up again how to crochet.  Head smack!  I was doing actual crochet, but not single crochet or double crochet or half double crochet -- I was attempting to do the ENTIRE BLANKET in slip stitches.  Slip stitches, when done in that quantity are incredibly painful.  I still want to make that blanket some day with that yarn, but those particular shades of blue together have not piqued my interest for awhile.  In college I started to actually crochet, you know, with real stitches, and I discovered that it was fun and I was sort of good at it.

When I started working at a craft store post college, however, is when the fire was really lit under my feet.  I took on crazy projects - like afghans!  I have actually completed a few of those -- mostly lap-ghans, but I have one that fits beautifully on my twin-sized bed.

About a year or so ago, inspired to seek more interesting crochet stitch patterns, I came across the afghan stitch in a learn to crochet book I have.  The thing that set this stitch apart from any other was that it collected loops from a whole row of stitches on the hook and then you would work them off, one at a time.  It was a lot more like knitting, which I have only recently learned, but was still definitely crochet.  I thought, hey, with such an innovative stitch idea there must be variations!  I began to research the afghan stitch and came across Tunisian Crochet, which is the afghan stitch, plus variations using long hooks that have a stopper at the end (oh, that's what those are for).  I found a set of four tunisian hooks on clearance for around $4.00 at Annie's (anniescatalog.com).  I bought these, excited to experiment, and thus the journey began.  I learned that I love Tunisian crochet!  I love that it's similar to knitting but only requires one stick instead of two, and that it can be so easily mixed with regular crochet!  (Note the it is still done with a hook, yay.)  I find that it works up faster than knitting, though that could be a personal thing, since I am more used to working with a hook than with a pair of needles.  I tend to be an impatient person when it comes to making things -- I want to be delighted by the finished product! -- so the faster something works up, the happier I am.

Take a look!  This is a hat I crocheted for my friend Allison:

You can see in this first picture what a Tunisian Crochet hook looks like...

 and this second one shows a better profile of the slouch hat:

This particular stitch pattern combines double crochet stitches with the tunisian simple stitch to create a lacy pattern.

If you like this hat, you can order your own!  Right now I have one available in denim blue on my Etsy shop, or you can request a custom order.  Shop Now

Jennifer