Ever since returning from Stitches East 2010 in Hartford, Ct. I've been totally intrigued with the art of Tunisian Crochet. The Bagsmith provided great demos at the show for both knitting and working Tunisian stitches on gigantic long crochet hooks and needles, using several combinations of yarns at once. Think "Stash Buster"! If you visit the site I linked you'll see a great video on getting started crocheting Tunisian style. Although I'm eager to dig into my Stash and get busy working with the collection of interesting novelty yarns I've amassed over the years, I've played around mostly with the dishcloth cotton stash and Tunisian crochet. I enjoy the process and the outcome!Very easy and quick, IMHO. The cotton becomes more like a thickened woven mat with a stiffer body. I'm seeing the potential for a bath mat or baskets.
I probably could have just left the potholder as a single layer but wanted to have two different front and back designs. The checkerboard design was worked in panels, with the second and third panels connected to the previous panel as each end of row stitch was worked. I really didn't have a pattern for this initially, just made it work for me as I went along. But, you can order this book for some guidance and patterns, which I eventually did!
And here is the back. Just some Sugar and Cream cotton Ombre and some bits of hot green to finish around the edges and connect the two cloths at the same time. I think I used a G or J hook, but you get some great looks and draping by going up in hook sizes. I like to use a K double hook for dishcloths for just that reason and to change colors, but, really, you could get by with just a crochet hook that's a bit on the longer side to accommodate your # of stitches.I'll be doing a lot more of this, I think!
Until next week-happy Tunisian!
2 comments:
Super duper potholder! I have always known the other name for Tunisian crochet- afghan stitch. It certain make a nice tight, thick fabric for a potholder :)
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