Tunisian Crochet
I have crocheted since I was a small girl, however I learned how to
do Tunisian Crochet in January 2011 while my aunt and cousins were
visiting from Indiana. Once I learned the "foundation row" and the
"simple stitch" I was "hooked" and began learning more stitches and
techniques.
What is Tunisian Crochet?
Tunisian
Crochet borrows stitches from both crocheting and knitting. Instead of
using a regular crochet hook, this technique requires a longer crochet
hook because the loops are worked on and off the crochet hook.
Using
the standard Tunisian crochet hook is great for smaller projects,
however when crocheting a larger piece like an Afghan, it would be
necessary to make panels and then piece them together. Since I am one
who dislikes piecing items together I had to come up with another
solution. I searched the craft stores and then went online to find hooks
long enough to crochet a large afghan. I discovered a
gold mine
when I finally found "Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hooks." This
solved my problem and have now crocheted a total of eight afghans with
the longer hooks and I haven't had to worry about piecing the afghans
together.
Last summer I decided to try my hand at using this technique to crochet a sweater for my granddaughter. I bought a book on my iPad Kindle app and crocheted "The Big Sister Sweater." It is a raglan pull on sweater using the
Tunisian Gobelin Stitch. I
enjoyed making the sweater, however I have to admit that I wasn't pleased with how I pieced it together. My granddaughter liked it and I guess that is all that matters.
Later I used the same kind of pattern idea and designed my own sweater using the simple stitch. My granddaughter doesn't like long sleeves and wanted me to make a sweater with a capped sleeve. I made the sweater a little longer because she wanted to wear it with her leggins. For this sweater I used Caron Simply Soft yarn and found that it may have been a little heavy for this kind of a sweater. My precious granddaughter is modeling the sweater on the right.
I am in the process of finishing another sweater that I designed myself using a sport weight yarn
using and the
Honey Comb stitch. I like the weight of this yarn much better for her sweaters.