It’s been a little while since we learned Tunisian Crochet so today, I’m going to teach you how to do the Tunisian purl stitch, and show 2 ways to use it. We’re going to make a Tunisian Rib stitch and Tunisian honeycomb stitch from the Tunisian simple stitch and Tunisian purl stitch with only a quick and simple modification. Both of these stitch patterns make lovely dishcloths, and I’ll include free patterns for these below.
First, if you haven’t learned Tunisian crochet, this post will be helpful to learn the simple stitch first, then come back to this one after, because, we won’t be going over how to do that stitch in this post.
What are your favourite things to make with Tunisian crochet? Comment below.
Tunisian Purl Stitch(TPS)
When knitting, purl stitch is when you bring your yarn to the front, and insert your needle to the front of the stitch, and then knit. Tunisian purl stitch is similar in that we’re going to bring our yarn to the front to work the stitch, and then when we insert our hook, we’ll wrap the yarn a little different then in the simple stitch.
So far, all tunisian crochet is going to begin the same way, with the same set-up row as we did for both the simple stitch, and the knit stitch. So, begin by chaining the number of stitches you need for your desired stitch pattern. If you’re making the rib stitch, use an even number of stitches, and if making the honeycomb stitch, any number of stitches will work.
Row 1: Insert your hook into the back loop of the chain, yarn over, and draw up your loop. Continue drawing up loops across the row. Now chain 1, and *yarn over and draw through 2 loops, repeating from the * all the way back.
You should have a row that looks like this one, and one loop over your hook.
To begin row 2: I crocheted the simple stitch into the first stitch, then the purl stitch next. To do the TPS, bring your working yarn to the front, shown as the purple line in this image.
Then insert your hook, under the vertical bar, shown in blue, as we did for the simple stitch.
Bring your working yarn, under the hook, then around behind and catch the hook, as in below.
Draw the loop back through, and keep it on your hook. I like to cinch up my loops a little bit at this point. You will notice in the image at left, the 2 purple lines, showing how the purl stitch looks when complete. To the right, is the vertical bar of the simple stitch, and the horizontal bar of the purl stitch.
Continue working back and forth with the simple stitch and purl stitch across the row, Always finish with a simple stitch through both loops at the end of the row. The return pass is the same as in row 1.
Tunisian Ribbing
At the end of the second row, begin the third row. Follow the same stitches as in row 2, with *Tunisian Simple stitch, then TPS,* Repeat * to * across. Following the same stitches creates the long vertical lines and the flat sections between that make it look like ribbing.
Tunisian Honeycomb
For this pattern, at the end of row 2, you’re going to begin alternating your stitches. So where there is a simple stitch, you’ll crochet a purl stitch, and on a purl stitch, you’ll crochet a simple stitch.
This creates diagonal lines, and makes the fabric look like honeycombs. This is my new favourite! The fabric is so pretty, and makes me so happy.
Finishing Row
To finish off our fabric in Tunisian style, we need to do our finishing row. To complete, you will need to follow your pattern, doing purl stitches when necessary for your pattern. After completing each stitch, chain both loops together, to complete the row. At the end of the row, fasten off and weave in your ends.
2 New Dishcloth Patterns:
Size: 8″ x 8″
Materials: 4.5mm Tunisian Crochet Hook
Yarn: Lion Brand Coboo (3) in Sky Blue & Denim
Instructions:
Row 1: Chain 44. Insert your hook into the back loop of the second chain from your hook, yarn over and draw up a loop. Continue inserting and drawing up loops across the chain row. Return Row: Chain 1, yarn over, and draw through 2 loops. Continue drawing through 2 loops all the way back until you have 1 loop left on your hook.
Row 2: *Tunisian Simple Stitch, Tunisian Purl stitch* Repeat to the last stitch, finish with Tunisian Simple stitch. Return row, as in Row 1.
Ribbing Pattern:
Repeat Row 2 until reaching desired length. Skip to finishing row below.
Honeycomb Pattern:
Row 3: *Tunisian Purl stitch, Tunisian Simple Stitch* Repeat across. Return row, as in Row 1.
Continue by repeating Row 2 & 3 until you reach desired length.
End with Finishing row, fasten off and weave in ends.
Watch the video below to see the stitch and patterns in action!
As always, I’ve uploaded the patterns to our shop as an Ad Free PDF, if you’d rather have a download.
Please let me know below if there’s a Tunisian crochet pattern you’d like us to feature!
Much love,
