THE MAKING OF A LOVELY CARDIGAN IN TUNISIAN CROCHET In the last little while, as you may have noticed, I have been working on an ambitious project: the creation of a Tunisian crochet garment, using a leaf motif (or "spades", as I preferred to call it) already seen in some wonderful knitting projects. First, I thought about replicating the spade pattern in Tunisian crochet, which was not difficult, as I have created similar patterns before - you can find them, for example, in these projects of mine: Leaf it On Shawl , Leaf it On Scarf , Leaf it On Cowl . Leaf it On Scarf Next, I thought it best to make a garment that had a simple workmanship, i.e. worked flat, and not in the round, to avoid, at least initially, over-complicating the design. A cardigan, therefore, was the best choice. Next, I chose a yarn that I liked and opted for a fine multicoloured yarn. This was the result: "QUEEN OF SPADES" - THE CAL! I liked the finished garment very much, and so did you, whic
LEARN HOW TO INCREASE AND DECREASE IN TUNISIAN CROCHET
We have come a long way since we started our journey in Tunisian
crochet, have we not? You are probably already joyfully “Tunisian-ing” away,
creating many beautiful projects and looking up all the beautiful Tunisian
stitches online and on books – don’t worry: I’ll give you plenty to practice
with myself here J -, thinking you have
got the grip on Tunisian crochet by now – and you do! But there are still a few
things you need to learn to be able to master the technique completely and one
of these is by all means learning how to INCREASE and DECREASE in Tunisian
crochet.
There are several useful ways to increase and decrease in Tunisian
Crochet. They all happen in the Forward Pass, while the Reverse Pass is always
performed as usual. Here are the most common techniques (shown on a Tunisian
Simple Stitch basis):
HOW TO INCREASE IN TUNISIAN CROCHET
#1. YARN OVER Method: to increase, yarn over, then proceed working the pattern
as usual, inserting the hook under the next Vertical Bar and pulling up a loop.
The yarn over will appear on the hook as a new loop/stitch.
#2. FULL STITCH Method: to increase, insert the hook in the space
between Vertical Bars, as in Tunisian Full Stitch, yarn over and pull up a
loop. Then proceed working the pattern as usual.
#3. HORIZONTAL BAR Method: to increase, insert the hook under a Vertical
Bar AND through the 1st of two Horizontal Bars adjacent to it. Yarn
over and pull up a loop. Then proceed working under the very same Vertical Bar
only again, pulling up a loop.
#4. BACK “BUMP” Method: to increase, insert the hook under the Back “Bump”
(right behind the Vertical Bar you are supposed to be working in), yarn over
and pull up a loop. Proceed working under the same Vertical Bar (you have just
worked in its Back “Bump”) as usual.
#5. BACK AND FRONT BAR Method: to increase, insert the hook (from front
to back) under the Back Bar of a stitch, bringing it to the front, yarn over
and pull up a loop. Then proceed working in the same stitch as usual, inserting
the hook under its Vertical Bar and pulling up a loop.
You will find all of the above Increase
Methods explained in my YouTube video HERE.
You can also make “special” increases at both sides of your work, thus
drastically changing the form of it.
RIGHT EDGE INCREASE: right before a FP, make a chain in the number of
stitches you need to add to your pattern, then proceed pulling up loops from
the chain (starting from the 2nd chain from the hook), as for a
Foundation Row, until you reach the main piece. Then proceed pulling up loops
from the Vertical Bars of the main piece, including the edge bar.
LEFT EDGE INCREASE: at the end of the FP, at the left edge, proceed
adding loops as shown in the first photo below (just like a “thumb-cast-on” in
knitting), tightening the loops as you add them. Then perform a standard RP and
proceed working the pattern as usual.
Find the video tutorial for right and left
side increase HERE.
HOW TO DECREASE IN TUNISIAN CROCHET
SKIPPING A STITCH Method: to decrease, skip the Vertical Bar you are
supposed to be working in and proceed working directly under the next, pulling
up a loop.
2 TOGETHER Method: to decrease, insert the hook under 2 Vertical Bars
together (the one you are supposed to be working in and the one right after
it), yarn over and pull up a loop. Then proceed working the rest of the
stitches as usual.
See both
Decrease methods in my video tutorial HERE.
This might have seemed
like a dense lesson today: so many things to learn! But don’t worry: with the
help of my video tutorials it will all look so much easier (yes, sometimes
words make it all look more complicated than it actually is!) Once you’ve
mastered the Increase and Decrease methods listed here, your knowledge on
Tunisian crochet is almost complete. And there’s a prize for you on the way for
your hard efforts. And it’s FREE. Make sure you don’t miss the next blog post
to collect it!
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