CROCHET TUTORIAL

Master
Tunisian The cable on a tunisian

crochet
In the first of our three-part series, Joanne
crochet hook helps
you to avoid turning

Scrace shares the basics of Tunisian crochet

he history of this technique is a little HOW TO WORK THE FOUNDATION ROW FORWARD

T obscure and despite the name, there’s

no definite connection to the country!
It has also been known as afghan
crochet, shepherds work, railroad knitting and
royal princess work (because Queen Victoria was
fond of it apparently). Instructions for Tunisian
crochet began appearing in magazines around
1800 and while it waned in popularity during the
20th century it’s currently seeing a resurgence. 1 2
Tunisian crochet is worked with a long hook
with a stopper – you can choose to use either a STEP 1 STEP 2
straight hook or one with a long cable attached. Make a chain as usual. Chain length should be Insert your hook into the chain as in crochet.
The work is never turned in Tunisian crochet. the number of stitches you would like in the This can be through the front of the chain, or
Instead, the stitches are built up worked from piece, so for 15 stitches, chain 15. the back bumps for a neater starting edge.
right to left across the piece in what is known as
the forward pass and then a return pass is worked
from left to right. Working in the round can be
achieved with a hook on each end of a cable.
The fabric created is not like either knitting or
crochet, although at first glance the Tunisian knit
and Tunisian purl stitches look very like knitting.
The fabric is very thick, dense and squishy and not
very elastic. Tunisian crochet uses more yarn than
crochet or knitting, because the fabric created is 3 4
thicker (so a fair comparison can’t really be made.)
In this issue we’ll look at how to create the STEP 3 STEP 4
foundation row and work the Tunisian simple Yarn over and draw up a loop through the Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each chain. You will
stitch. Look out for more Tunisian stitches and chain. now have as many loops on the hook as you
projects in the next two issues of the magazine. had chains. Each loop on the hook is a stitch.

2 8 LO V E C R O C H E T
 CROCHET TUTORIAL

HOW TO WORK THE RETURN PASS RP

1 2 3

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Yarn over and pull through the first loop on the Yarn over and draw through two loops on the Repeat step two until only one loop remains
hook. This is making a chain 1. hook. on the hook. This return pass is the same no
matter which stitch you have worked.

HOW TO WORK TUNISIAN SIMPLE STITCH TSS

Begin by holding the yarn at the back of the work. Ignoring the first stitch of the row, your
loop on the hook acts as the first stitch of the row.

1 2 3

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3

Insert your hook from right to left, under the Yarn over and draw up a loop. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each stitch to the last
vertical bar of the stitch of the row below. stitch.

4 5
STEP 4 STEP 5
Insert hook into the chain 1 you made at the Work a return pass.
start of the return pass, and draw up a loop.

LO V E C R O C H E T 29