The Happy Hookers tried something new for March 2024... twice! We tried a new technique called Tunisian Crochet, and seeing we all felt a bit daunted to start with, Gill set us up with the Bella Crochet YouTube video on her big telly so we could all watch and crochet along! It was a genius idea and we all managed to make a decent fist of our first attempt. Here we all are giving the telly our undivided attention.
We all thought the result was a cross between knitting and crochet and it felt quite strange having all the stitches picked up on one row, followed by the more standard looking one stitch on the hook crochet style row for the next. These were alternated to give the resultant swatch you can see, Tunisian Simple Stitch* in this case. There are a whole new set of stitches to explore if anyone wants to take it further.
Other observations:
The hook used is quite different, either a more knitting style in looks with a stopper on the end, or a crochet hook with a stoppered cable on the end. We felt smaller makes could be achieved with the usual hooks as long as these aren't ergonomic in style and some form of stoppering is used on the end
A slightly larger hook is usually advised compared to standard crochet e.g. 5mm instead of 4mm for double knit yarn
The resultant fabric is denser so slightly more yarn is needed for this craft
The fabric curls more with quite a few of the different stitches, so blocking is advised
We loved the woven look obtained with our trial pieces
*= though we did have some interesting variations at first - soon ironed out thank goodness!
Here's the link to the Bella Coco video we watched to get started. After our initial misgivings we found this much easier technique than anticipated and would give it a go again. We liked the look of several of the patterns Michelle brought to the meeting and everyone admired Jennie's set of smart hooks she'd been given as a present.
