Long Hook Crochet Techniques: How to Tunisian Crochet in Joined Rounds.

 

If you have been following my series on Long Hook Crochet Techniques you will be beginning to see why I've been feeling so confused! You may also be thinking that you have already read this post. You haven't! This is all about making joined rounds of Tunisian crochet. You will have seen socks being knitted on a number of small knitting needles. This is what we are going to do but with Tunisian crochet. It requires multiple double ended crochet hooks and just one ball of yarn.

 

I am going to assume that you can already work Tunisian Crochet. You begin with a joined ring of chain stitches and pull up a loop in each stitch. To keep things simple, my swatch uses 36 stitches which is easily divisible by 3, so I place 12 stitches on each of my three double ended hooks.

Now turn and start working off the stitches; Yarn over and pull through one stitch on the hook.

Yarn over and pull through 2 stitches on the hook, continue until you have worked all the stitches off the first hook.

Slide the remaining loop on to the next hook and continue working off the stitches.

When you are left with just one stitch on the last hook you are ready to join the round. How you join the round depends on the type of stitch you are using.

Knit stitch join:

Drop the last loop off the hook, insert the hook through the first stitch in the round to make a new knit stitch,

replace the dropped loop on the hook, yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook.

The resulting loop on the hook is the first stitch of the new round.

Alternate Purl stitch join:

The information that I have uses a different purl stitch to the one I am used to. It is a Knit stitch made backwards.

To work this purl stitch: 

Bring the yarn to the front of the work.

Place the hook from back to front, between the vertical loops and under the horizontal chain stitches.

Yarn over from front to back and pull through a loop.

To make the join:

Leave the last loop on the hook, work a purl stitch as above and when you pull the loop through the stitch pull it through the remaining loop on the hook as well.

The resulting loop on the hook is the first stitch of the new round.

 

Standard Purl stitch join:

This is my solution to a standard purl stitch join. 

After the last "pull through 2 loops", hold the yarn to the back of the hook as you turn. (The yarn has come round the back end of the hook to the front.)

Place the hook under the vertical bar from right to left, yarn over the hook from front to back and pull through all the loops on the hook.

The resulting loop on the hook is the first stitch of the new round.

Simple stitch join:

I can find no instructions for this stitch so this is what I came up with. You may come up with a better solution!

Drop the last loop off the hook, insert the hook under the vertical bar from right to left, insert the hook into the horizontal chain stitch,  replace the dropped loop on the hook, yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook.

The resulting loop on the hook is the first stitch of the new round.

 

I hummed and hawed about including this post in our Long Hook series. I have not found this information anywhere else online. I am not particularly enamoured by the technique. Probably in most cases working in a continuous spiral will be less complicated and give a better result. However if you are using a particularly tall stitch you might like to give it a try. Now that you have the information you can make up your own mind!

Fastening off...

Long Hook Crochet Techniques: Tunisian Crochet in the Round - Spiral.

 

Oh dear! This was not the post I had planned for you but I seem to have fallen down a Tunisian crochet rabbit hole. So in an effort to keep things logical this month I am going to show you how to Tunisian crochet in a continuous spiral.

This is a way to Tunisian crochet in the round with a single short hook. It's so marvellously easy! You can work any stitch of your choice, but I am keeping things simple by demonstrating with Tunisian Simple Stitch. The details for how to work this stitch are in last months post.

All you need is a doubled ended crochet hook and two balls of yarn. Of course they can be the same colour, or you can use two different colours as I am doing. I have also painted one end of the hook so that it is obvious which end I am using. The hook is a 15cm long Clover double ended hook.

So let's get started.

We begin by making a length of chain with one chain per stitch required.

To join, place the hook under the back bump of the first chain stitch. Be careful to make sure the chain isn't twisted.

Yarn over the hook and pull through that first chain and the loop on the hook. This is your first stitch.

Pull up a loop in each chain stitch until the hook is comfortably full. Don't try to put too many stitches on the hook.

Now slide the stitches down to the opposite end of the hook and turn the work.

Attach your second ball of yarn to the hook with a slip knot.

Pull the loop through the first stitch on the hook.

Yarn over and pull through two loops on the hook.

Continue working the return pass (repeat the last step) until there are just three stitches left on the hook.

Leaving these three stitches helps to maintain a good working tension throughout.

Slide the work back to the opposite end of the hook, turn and continue to pick up stitches. If, every time you turn the work, you turn alternately clockwise and anti clockwise this will stop the working yarns from getting tangled and you won't need to swap the yarn balls from one side to the other.

Pick up as many stitches as you feel comfortable with, then slide to the opposite end of the hook and turn once more. Work off these stitches until only three remain.

Continue to pick up and work off stitches until you the end of the round.

At this point simply continue to pick up stitches. As I am working Simple Stitch the hook is now placed under the vertical bar, yarn over and pull the loop through the bar.

Continue the process of picking up stitches, turning...

... and working off stitches until the work reaches the length you require.

I have chosen to work a border of Tunisian Knit stitch before I finished. I merely changed the way I picked up the stitches. When you are ready to finish work off all the remaining stitches until you are left with just a single loop on the hook.

Turn the work and change to the first yarn.

Placing the hook under the next bar, yarn over and pull through both loops on hook to create a slip stitch.

Work a slip stitch into each stitch for a neat finish.

Finish the last stitch by making a needle join and work away both yarn ends at the top. As I was making a pouch for my new Double ended Clover hooks, I turned the case inside out and stitched the end closed.

I finished this one with a nice ribbon woven in and out of the last round. The larger pouch has a length of Lucet cord that I made in the same yarn.

The technique allows any width of Tunisian tube to be made whether it is a sweater or a glove. There is more than one double ended crochet technique so if this is not the one you were expecting maybe it will be next months technique!

 

Fastening off...