Strand Over Fist

I taught myself Tunisian crochet several years ago but there never seemed to be very many patterns available so I’ve only used it a little bit.  Every now and then I come across a cool Tunisian technique or pattern that I just have to try.  First I learned the basics: Tunisian simple stitch (tss), which creates a cool grid-like fabric, and Tunisian knit stitch (tks), which looks like knit on the front.

Then I learned to do short rows to make this thick cotton hot pad (on Ravelry)

and I tried it with the tks too

Recently I joined the Ravelry Tunisian Crochet group and discovered a few techniques I’d never seen before: Tunisian in the round, Tunisian entrelac, Tunisian lace… It’s much more versatile than I originally thought!  Kim Guzman has a great blog entry about Tunisian crochet here.

Tunisian in the round is really cool because it creates a tube with no seams (like knitting in the round). Instead of picking up stitches and then returning to the beginning, you pick up the stitches and “chase” them with a second strand of yarn. This video will illustrate it better than I can describe it:

This video is also great at illustrating the technique and all the possibilities it opens up, however, it’s in Japanese :) I tried it out a little last night with this:

The next thing I’d like to try out is entrelac using this tutorial. Beyond that, I plan to check out Kim Guzman’s new book (with DVD!) on Tunisian lace stitches.