How to Crochet: Tunisian Stitch

Hi this is Phanessa and in this video we are learning all about Tunisian crochet.

Tunisian crochet is also known as Afghan crochet. So Tunisian is almost like a cross between crochet and knitting so it's long and it looks like a knitting needle, but it has a hook on the end and a stopper on the other end so that your stitches don't slide off because you do accumulate loops on your hook when working the Tunisian stitches and you never turn your work you just work back and forth. So this is just one hook, this is one that is interchangeable so if you want it to make a longer project say a blanket or something you can have a longer cable I just have a short one on this one for now. So you can also use a regular crochet hook as long as the shaft portion is the same size. There's a little dent in this one for your thumb however it's not going to affect the size of the loops. The only issue or problem you may run into is there's no stopper so if you're working a lot of stitches it may fall off.

So Tunisian crochet stitches can get really dense and tight. I prefer to use larger hook sizes for the recommended size that the yarn label or whatever is recommended with fiber you're using. So this is worsted weight yarn but I'm using an 8 millimeter crochet Tunisian crochet hook.

That way the stitches are a little bit looser and it's not as dense and it sort of helps with the curling. This is Darn Good Yarn’s banana fiber yarn. So this is in the color mulberry swirl so let's get started on learning the basic Tunisian stitch which is a simple stitch.

So we will start by learning how to cast on. So you want to start with the Slipknot, hold your tail end, wrap your yarn around over and back up. Okay so you have your Slipknot. So you want to start by chaining your stitches. For this tutorial I'm going to chain ten, and to work a chain stitch you simply just yarn over and pull through the loop on your hook. That's one, yarn over pull through, that's two, yarn over pull through that's three. So I'm going to work ten chain stitches. Okay so now you want to crochet along your chain stitches so into the second chain from your hook, right there that's the first, that's a second. So into the second chain yarn over pull up a loop now you're just going to leave the loops on your hook. So this one actually counts as your first loop, that's your second, now into the next stitch pull up another loop and leave it on your hook. Into the next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop and then you just repeat this all the way to the end.

Okay that's my last stitch. Alright so if you're new, you'd want to count your number of stitches one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, so you should have the same number of loops on your hook as you did when you chained your stitches. Okay so now we are going to, we're not going to turn our work as I mentioned earlier. We're going to work back this direction so we're going to work what is called a return pass. Now the return pass is pretty much the same with all of these or most of the Tunisian stitches so the very first stitch you'll want to chain one. So the edge stitch you want to chain one so you start your return pass with a chain one yarn over and pull through just one loop okay. Now for the rest of these you're going to yarn over and pull through two loops. Again yarn over, pull through two loops, yarn over, pull through two, yarn over pull through two, and you repeat this all the way back to the other side. Okay when you have two loops left you're just going to yarn over and pull through the two. So that is your return pass. Now that's how you cast on and this is how you start with almost all of your stitches all of the Tunisian stitches

Now you want to start working into the bars, these vertical bars, that go up and down. That's where you'll work your stitches and you never work into the very first one because this counts as a stitch and that pretty much belongs to that stitch. So you'll always start on the second bar. You're going to insert through the front vertical bar because there is one in the back. Insert from right to left and then yarn over, pull up a loop. Again we're just leaving stitches on the hook into the next vertical bar, yarn over pull up a loop, into the next one. Yarn over and pull up a loop. Next stitch yarn over and pull up a loop. So you will repeat this all the way until the last stitch, your edge stitch.

Okay so now we're at the edge stitch and when you're working the edge stitch on your forward pass you want to insert through the two loops at the end. Okay and then yarning over and pulling up a loop. Again you may want to check your stitches one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. So I have a right number of stitches now we just repeat the return pass which always starts with a chain one, yarn over pull through one loop. Now you can repeat the yarn over pull through two loops, yarn over and pull through two loops. Okay just like you did the last time you worked a return pass yarning over and pulling through two loops until you get to the other side.

Alright so in order to complete one row you need to work the two steps back and forth to complete one row. So working our forward pass again into the second vertical bar, yarn over, pull up a loop leaving your loops on your hook, into the next vertical bar, yarn over, pull up the loop into the next bar, yarn over and pull up a loop. So you repeat this all the way across.

Okay I'm at the end again and you want to make sure that you're going into two loops again the very edge stitch yarning over and pulling up a loop. Okay now you want to work your return pass starting with a chain one and then yarn over, pulling through two loops, yarn over pull through two, yarn over pull through two, yarn over, pull through two. I'm at the last one here yarn over and pull through two so when you work the return pass you have all these gaps and spaces so in order to close that you work your forward pass and it's just the same thing we did previously, starting at the second vertical loop. Yarn over and pull up a loop yarn over and pull up a loop okay. Inserting your hook, yarn over pull up a loop. So the last stitch again going through two loops, yarn over, and pull up a loop. Working the return pass with a chain one and then yarn over, pull through two, yarn over pull through two.

Alright so let me work a few more rows and I will show you what it looks like.

Alright so I've worked several rows of the Tunisian simple stitch and it looks really gorgeous with this yarn. So I just completed a return pass, now we're getting ready to cast off.

So to cast off you want to start on the right side of the work so you're getting ready to work a forward pass and you're going to start the same way by inserting your hook into the second vertical loop yarning over and pulling up a loop but to cast off you want to pull through the loop that's on your hook. So insert your hook into the next vertical bar, yarn over pull up a loop and through the loop that's on your hook. Yarn over through and through. Okay so now we're casting off the stitches from this side so that's three stitches we just cast off, into the next vertical loop, yarn over, pull up a loop and through the loop on your hook. To the next one, yarn over pull up a loop and through the loop on your hook. Okay so it's like working a slip stitch on your last row. Now we're on the edge stitch again the last stitch, again you want to work through two loops okay, yarn over pull through and through the loop on your hook. Okay so that is the Tunisian simple stitch! Thank you so much for watching I hope you've enjoyed this video!