I have been wanting to get better at Tunisian crochet for awhile. It wasn’t really something I had a big use for in the past, but I just love the way it looks. I love the vertical lines created and how clean it looks. Yes, its true, I have to love the way it looks to learn how to create it.
So over the past while, I’ve been experimenting with Tunisian crochet, and I must say I enjoy it! First, I made a fun dishcloth and it was awful! The edges were all wonky and I was losing stitches all over the place. I even had to add a single crochet border around it to make it worth using in my own kitchen, haha. I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in their Scrub off Line. The good news is my first attempt showed me a bunch of things not to do, so you don’t have to!
So let’s start with a few tips/recommendations!
- Use a larger tunisian hook, than you would normally for crochet. This helps prevent some of the rolling that happens when your work is too tight.
- Keep an eye on your edges, make sure you crochet into the last stitch and the first one properly, or you’ll be creating wonky edges.
- It’s also recommended, as with all crochet, that you use a yarn that is fairly easy to see all of your stitches. If you can’t see them, you won’t know if your missing one. As you can see in the first image below, the scrubbie section didn’t allow me to see my stitches very well, and I think I lost a few. (Oops!) Overall, I think knitting is the best option for this yarn.
So, what kind of things can you make with Tunisian Crochet?
There are different styles of Tunisian Crochet hooks, depending on the project you’re working on. For example, of you’re going to make a blanket, then using a long Tunisian crochet hook is needed, but working something smaller, like the dishcloth we’re making, then a regular Tunisian hook is suitable.
But, you can make almost anything with Tunisian Crochet, like hats, ear warmers, pillows, scarves, shawls, etc. I’ve pinned a few options for free patterns on my Pinterest Board, including a post about many different Tunisian Crochet stitches, once you get the hang of this basic one!
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Tunisian Simple Stitch
First thing, with Tunisian crochet, each row is both a forward and a reverse pass, and there is no turning of your work. You will always hold your work with the right side facing you and work back and forth.
Now, to get started, we’re going to start by chaining 30 for our dishcloth, but you can chain as many as you like, so if you’d like to make a scarf, chain as many as you require for your desired width. Keep in mind, you need to chain loosely as the extra slack will be used up in the actual stitches.
To start the Tunisian stitch, we’re going to work into the back loop from our chains, which we see as the bar across the back of our chain stitch.
When your hook is through that back loop, yarn over and draw up a loop onto your hook.
Continue drawing up loops onto your Tunisian crochet hook, along the row, until you get to the end of your chains.
To work the reverse pass for every row, begin with a chain stitch at the end.
Now, yarn over and draw through 2 loops, continue this until you have only 1 loop left on your hook.
This is your completed first row. Yes, it should look holey, and like its not finished. It will look better once the second row is added. Take note of the vertical loops. They are important for Row 2 and beyond.
Row 2:
We are going to work into the vertical post, just catching that part of the loop, called Tunisian simple stitch.
Then yarn over and draw up your loop. Continue working through the vertical post drawing up loops until the end of the row.
For our final loop on the row, insert your hook into the small space shown here, as the chain we made at the beginning of the reverse row on row 1. Draw up your loop.
Now, do the same reverse row as Row 1, drawing through 1 loop the first time, then through 2 across the rest of the row until 1 loop remains.
Continue working row 2 until your work is as large as you would like. For a dishcloth, I like to make them about square, or if they end up being too small if square, I will go longer.
When you’re ready, you’ll want to do the finishing row:
We’re going to work into the verticals as we did for each other row, but this time, we’re going to finish our stitch, by slipping our loop through the one on the hook, after the vertical post. Called Tunisian Finishing Stitch (TFS)
I finished my dishcloth with a row of single crochet around the outside to prevent the rolling that was happening.
Tunisian Crochet Pattern
Materials: 1 50g ball of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (or small amount from a large ball) I used Soft Grey
4.5mm Tunisian Crochet hook, & 3.5mm crochet hook (for the border)
Cloth Size: 7 3/4″ x 8 1/4″
Stitches used: TCS, Tunisian Crochet Stitch; TFS, Tunisian finishing stitch; chain; and single crochet(SC)
Set up: chain 30
Row 1: Tunisian simple stitch into the back of each chain, including return row. (See above for instructions)
Row 2: work your row of loops into the vertical bars created in row 1.
Repeat Row 2 for a total of 27 rows.
Finishing row: Insert hook into first stitch, yarn over and draw through both the vertical and the loop on your hook.
At the end of the row, you can bind off, or switch to a regular crochet hook, and single crochet around. For corners, sc, ch, sc; slip stitch to the beginning of the row. Fasten off and weave in ends.
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I’m excited to put together another new tutorial soon showing a Tunisian knit stitch, that looks like knitting, and we’ll turn it into a new headband!
Anyway, for even more, watch the video below. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and tag us in anything you make from our tutorials and patterns on Instagram.
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Much Love,
