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Tunisian Crochet: The Ultimate BiCrafty Technique

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Have you noticed that we’re starting to incorporate more Tunisian crochet into the Marly Bird world? As you know, we celebrate BiCrafty-ness here. In other words, we recognize crochet and knitting equally. In fact, we love bringing crocheters and knitters together in our make-alongs, classes, and community experiences. The Tunisian technique itself is practically the ultimate BiCrafty technique because it incorporates knitting concepts into crochet concepts in unique ways. So, let’s start celebrating this craft here too!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I receive a percentage of sales from those links. However, your price doesn’t increase. Thank you for your support.

Tunisian crochet

What Is Tunisian Crochet?

Also called Afghan crochet, it is typically considered a niche of crochet. In other words, you use some of the same foundations of crochet to work the craft. People generally (although certainly not always) learn “regular” crochet first. Then they take an interest in this technique and expand their skills by learning it.

This technique is also, in many ways, a blend of knitting and crochet. How so? It’s because in Tunisian crochet, you’ll “cast on” an entire row of stitches. In other words, your crochet hook holds multiple loops just like a knitting needle does.

This makes it a niche of crochet that’s different from regular crochet. However, it’s different from knitting as well, because you “cast off” every other row rather than at the end of the project.

So, in crochet, you build one loop on the other. In knitting, you cast on at the beginning and cast off at the end. In Tunisian crochet, you basically build one row on top of another, casting off at the end of rows.

Tunisian Crochet Hooks

There are certain Tunisian projects and techniques that you can do using your regular crochet hooks. You do not use knitting needles in Tunisian crochet. However, if you want to really work in this craft, then you’re going to need to purchase some Tunisian crochet hooks.

These hooks are similar to regular crochet hooks. However, they’re longer. That’s because you need to hold loops on your hook as you work. So, their bodies look more like straight knitting needles because of their length. However, they still have crochet hook heads on top.

Like knitting needles, the non-hook end might have a stopper (to prevent your loops from falling off the hook) or a cable (to hold the loops.) And yes, you can get interchangeable Tunisian hooks. Alternatively, you can get double-ended hooks. As their name suggests, these have a crochet hook on either end.

what is Tunisian crochet

Tunisian Crochet Stitches

What you already know about knitting and crochet will make it easier for you to learn Tunisian stitches. But yes, the niche technique does have its own stitches. Some of the most common stitches are:

  • Tunisian Simple Stitch
  • Tunisian Reverse Stitch
  • Knit and Purl Stitches in Tunisian

As you learn the craft, you’ll obviously also learn new stitches.

Join Our Make-Alongs!

For years now, the Marly Bird make-alongs have included both crochet and knitting patterns. Now that I’m partnering with Robyn Chachula, we’ve started offering Tunisian crochet options as well. For example, you might have noticed that Game Day 2022 had crochet, knitting, and Tunisian patterns. Likewise, Tournament of Stitches 2022, happening right now, also offers all three crafts. We have lots of different make-alongs throughout the year, so keep joining us for those!

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Reminder: Machines Can’t Crochet

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Did you know that there are machines to replicate knitting and weaving, however machines can’t crochet? It’s due to the unique nature of the way that you build one loop upon the other in crochet. As a result, if you see real crochet in the store, then it’s been crafted by hand. That fact has come to the attention of the online crafting world recently, starting with the TikTok Trend questioning the low price of a Target crochet sweater.

machines can't crochet

The Crochet You See In The Store

If you shop in a store like Target (or anywhere else that the clothing items sold are produced in bulk), then the crochet you see is one of two things:

It’s Not Real Crochet

Sometimes you see items advertised as crochet. However, when you look closer, you realize it’s not true crochet. It’s crochet-like lace that’s been created by a machine. As a crafter, this may or may not bother you. It’s a personal feeling – some people like that there’s affordable crochet-like fabric out there and others hate that it’s not true crochet.

Or It’s Made By Hand

Since machines can’t crochet (learn more about this here), the other option is that the item was made by hand. Someone, somewhere, put in the hours to crochet that item with hook and yarn.

The Target Crochet Sweater Controversy

TikTok went wild last month pointing out how a Target crochet sweater at a low price point likely means that someone isn’t getting fair pay for their work. This made the news and other social media headlines and has sparked an important conversations about labor practices in the fast fashion industry.

This is something we’ve discussed here on the Marly Bird blog before. In fact, we talk about it annually when Dressember comes around, offering a way for craftivism to raise awareness about human trafficking in the fast fashion industry.

This post isn’t about beating up on Target. It’s about the following important issues:

  • Remembering that machines can’t crochet so someone’s hard work went into that sweater. Knowing that and caring about who did that work.
  • Raising awareness about how women in general working in the fashion labor industry often don’t get paid a fair wage.
  • Understanding that this also relates to how knitters and crocheters do (or don’t) get fairly compensated for their work. When you see a crocheted sweater at a craft fair for $150, realize that even this probably means a lot of low pay hours went into creating that item. It’s a better rate for the crafter than the $30 fast fashion alternative, but it’s still unfair.
  • Promoting the work of crafters, especially women and people of color. The more we promote and support the value of handcrafting, the more likely society is to shift towards appreciation of these arts.
  • Learning how to crochet yourself that sweater might be a better use of your time and money than simply purchasing it at the store.

What Is Fair Trade Crochet?

There are Fair Trade companies that work with crafters in other countries to produce handmade clothing, accessories, home decor, etc. Each of these companies commits to providing a fair living wage to their employees. Often, they share the name of the person who handcrafted your item along with a little bit about their story. They may provide education, small business growth opportunities, a commitment to environmentally-friendly practices and other things as well.

If you want to ethically source crochet clothing, then your best bet is to buy it directly from someone you know how makes it by hand (since machines can’t crochet!) The next best bet is to work with a Fair Trade Crochet business. Remember, however, that any company can set up a website. Therefore, it’s best to do a deep dive into the company’s background. Try to ascertain if they really practice what they say they practice.

What are your thoughts on the Target crochet sweater controversy?

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The Target crochet sweater was a granny square cardigan. Love granny squares? Here are some of our favorite related roundups:

Wonderfluff Yarn

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It’s always fun to try a new yarn. However, sometimes people are a little worried about doing that, too. After all, you invest good money in your yarn. Even affordable yarn still costs cash. Moreover, you invest your time in using it. So, if you’ve never tried a certain yarn before, you might put off trying it because you don’t want to take the risk. Well, the Marly Bird team has been trying out Wonderfluff Yarn recently, and we have to share that we really like it. Get it here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Your price isn’t affected but I receive commission from sales off of those links. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT.

wonderfluff yarn

What Is Wonderfluff Yarn?

Wonderfluff is a bulky yet lightweight yarn. It’s super soft, made from natural animal fibers. However, it also has nylon for stretch and durability. It comes in nearly two dozen beautiful colors. You get 142 yards per 50g at a cost of $8.99 currently on the WeCrochet site. Therefore, although it’s not the cheapest yarn on the market, it’s an affordable yarn that gives you good bang for your buck.

If you look at the description on WeCrochet, you’ll see that it begins, “Softer than a kitten, fluffier than a cloud.” That might sound like an exaggeration but the point comes across – this feel like a luxury yarn. It’s a delight in the hands as you knit or crochet.

Great Stitch Definition for a Fluffy Yarn

As team member Cryssi mentioned recently in one of our BiCrafty Bootcamp Live Videos, this yarn has a lot of halo. Halo is basically the amount of fluff that you see when you look at the yarn. Sometimes people don’t want to work with yarn like this. After all, it can be an indication of potential pilling. It’s also usually not great for stitch definition. However, as Cryssi also pointed out, Wonderfluff Yarn has surprisingly great stitch definition for a fluffy yarn.

This is due to the blend of fibers. This yarn is 70% baby alpaca and 7% soft merino wool. That’s where all that kitten softness comes in. However, it’s got nylon for the rest of it. More than that, WeCrochet explains that the animal “fibers are blown into and caught in a lightweight tube of nylon mesh.” As a result, you get great stitch definition. It’s easy to work with. And yet it’s soft. It’s uniquely well-made yarn.

Alpaca Yarn That’s Not Itchy

Marly never really knows if she’s going to enjoy working with alpaca yarn or not. More often that not, she’s allergic to it. However, she’s had no problems at all working with this yarn. She’s also been able to comfortably wear what she’s crafted with it. So, if you tend to have problems with the itchiness of animal fibers, it might still be worth giving this yarn a try.

Crochet Hat with Wonderfluff Yarn

We used Wonderfluff Yarn to make a crochet top down hat with the BiCrafty Bootcampers. You’ll use 1-2 balls of the yarn depending on your hat size. It uses simple stitches and easy construction so that you can work it up quickly. For the hat, we recommend a size K crochet hook. That said, Wonderfluff is unique as a bulky yarn that’s still really light, so you can actually use a range of different hook sizes when working with it for other projects. Have fun playing with it!

Get The Yarn

Get Wonderfluff Yarn over at WeCrochet.

Wonderfluff Ombre

This wonderful yarn also comes in an ombre version! This is a 100 gram cake and there are ten different ombre colorways. Check it out. In fact, it’s one of the yarn suggestions we gave for the knitting option of Turkey Trot 2021.

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Crochet Waistcoat Stitch

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(BiCrafty Bootcamp: Beginner Crochet Lessons for Knitters: Lesson 12)

Welcome back to BiCrafty Bootcamp: Beginner Crochet Lessons for Knitters. Last week, you had the excellent opportunity to work on a quick crochet hat project. This week, we’re embarking on a slightly larger project. We’re going to make a crochet bag using beautiful colorwork. Before we actually get into the pattern (next week), we need to learn the basics of the crochet stitch techniques that we use in the design. So, this week, in particular, you’re going to learn the crochet waistcoat stitch. You might also see this called the Split Single Crochet Stitch (splsc).

BiCrafty-Bootcamp-Crochet-landing-copy - crochet waistcoat stitch

Learning New Crochet Colorwork Techniques This Week

Just to clarify, this week we’ll learn new techniques. Then, next week, you’ll get the actual crochet pattern. I created a crochet pattern recently for Yarnspirations that uses the techniques we’re working with for the bag. Therefore, in this week’s video lesson, I’ll show you how to work these techniques using that pattern.

And, of course, this means that you can crochet that pattern for fun if you like. Note, however, that we aren’t working on these crochet patterns in this week’s lesson. Instead, we’re using the colorful crochet charts in these patterns to learn the techniques we need to work on our crochet bag. So, you’ll see the pattern, but we’ll scroll down to the colorwork chart to use that instead of the written instructions. This week’s written instructions are below!

The Crochet Pattern In This Week’s Lesson

Therefore, in the video, you’ll see me working on a crochet hat and mittens pattern set called the Shannon Crochet Set. The hat and mittens are each made to fit an average adult. Both the hat and the mittens use the crochet waistcoat stitch. As you can see from just looking at that crochet pattern set, this allows you to do fantastic colorwork. It’s almost like Fair Isle knitting, but you use your crochet skills instead.

Used In This Week’s Lesson: Crochet Waistcoat Stitch

Split single crochet (which we abbreviate splsc) is the main stitch you’ll learn in this pattern. You’ll also learn how to decrease in this stitch. As you might have guessed, now you’re learning increases and decreases. The abbreviation for this is Spltsc2tog. In other words, you decrease by stitching two of the split single crochet stitches together. So, that’s how you decrease crochet waistcoat stitch.

Also, in this lesson, we’ll work with back loop and back post crochet stitches. As you know from our lesson on crochet stitch anatomy, you can work basic crochet stitches into different parts of the stitch from the row below. We’ve done this previously using double crochet stitches. However, you can also work them with single crochet stitches. So, you’ll work single crochet through the back loop only (scbl) and single crochet around the back post (scbp.)

What’s great about this part of crochet is that you can easily make a wide range of different textures and fabrics while working with the same basic crochet stitches. You already know how to make a single crochet stitch. Therefore, you can do all of these stitches. It’s all about where you insert the crochet hook to make the stitch.

Split Single Crochet or Crochet Waistcoat Stitch

Although it’s a beautiful crochet stitch pattern, you might not often see split single crochet stitches referenced. However, as you’ll see in today’s instructional video, it’s a simple technique. To complete it, you insert your crochet hook between the two strands of the vertical V in the middle of the single crochet.

To reiterate, you’ll work in the V of the body, not the V at the top that you usually work into. Then, you complete the stitch as usual. You’ll likely find it makes a whole lot more sense when you see it in the video.

Another tip: you already learned how to work stacked double crochet stitches, right? You’re inserting the hook into the same spot to make a split single crochet or crochet waistcoat stitch.

Split Single Crochet Video Tutorial

Here’s this week’s complete BiCrafty Bootcamp video lesson for you:

Materials for This Week’s Lesson

If you think that you might eventually want to make the Crochet Shannon Hat and Mitts set instead, then here are those materials:

Yarn

You’ll use just one donut for this project! Yes, for the whole set. So, order one Caron® Big Donut O’Go yarn in your preferred colorway. (Or, get a few, since you could definitely gift this hat and mitt set to many different people in your life this year.)

Crochet Hooks

For this project, you’ll use two crochet hooks: Sizes U.S. G/6 (4 mm) and U.S. H/8 (5 mm) crochet hooks or sizes needed to obtain gauge. (Recommended: WeCrochet Hook or ergonomic TooShay Crochet Hook)

Optional

Notions: Locking stitch markers from WeCrochet, Chenille, and tapestry needles for weaving in ends

Notes

As you crochet the starting chain for this project, make sure that you create a loose chain. Additionally, crochet loosely as you work your single crochets. You’ll be working into the post, and that’s a lot easier with a loose stitch.

To change color, work to last 2 loops on hook and draw new color through last 2 loops, then proceed in new color.

Written Instructions for Crochet Waistcoat Stitch

We’ll follow the colorwork chart in the Crochet Shannon Hat and Mitts pattern. However, we’re going to use different written instructions. Here they are:

Ch 28. (Note that at first, in the video, I said chain 30. However, chain 28 is correct.) Join with a sl st to work in the round.

Round 1: Ch 1. Sc in each st around. Join with sl st.

Round 2: Ch 1. Splsc in next stitch and each stitch around. DO NOT JOIN WITH SL ST. You’ll just begin working the next round in a spiral. This is optional, and you may see splsc worked in the round with or without the join.

Round 3: *Splsc, scbl. Repeat from * around.

Rounds 4-6: Repeat round 3.

Round 7: *Splsc with color A in next 3 st, Splsc with color B in next st. Repeat from * around. Note that you’re carrying the unused color, working over it as you go.

Round 8: *Splsc with color B in next st, Splsc with color A in next 3 st. Repeat from * around. End with an extra Splsc in color B for final stitch.

This creates the pattern. However, you could add some additional rounds to the pattern. Then, you could repeat the first rounds for ribbing at the top. This would create a cup cozy. This isn’t necessary, but it could be a fun project for you to practice. It’ll get you ready for this week’s crochet bag project.

Week 12 (cont’d) Colorful Crochet Market Bag

We started Week 12, working on learning the stitches and how to do color work. Now, we’ll work on our Colorful Crochet Market bag!

Yarn

WeCrochet CotLin (70% Tanguis Cotton, 30% Linen, 123 yds / 50 g, CYCA #3 DK) 

This bag is a colorful project! Here’s what you’ll need for the whole project. Color A (main color): 6; Color B: 1 ball; Color C: 1 ball; Color D: 1 ball; Color E: 1 ball; Color F: 1 ball ; Color G: 1 ball

Crochet Hooks

Size G/6 (4.0 mm) or H/8 (5.0 mm)

Optional

Notions: Locking stitch markers from WeCrochet, Chenille, and tapestry needles for weaving in ends

Purse handles: We will be making a bag this week, so you can also purchase purse handles for this! Check out this awesome small business. I love to get those! 

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Here are some other designs that use the crochet waistcoat stitch or split single crochet:

Shoutout to Briana K Designs. She’s worked extensively with the split single crochet stitch and has taught me many of the tips I use.

13 Free Chicks and Ducks Crochet and Knit Patterns

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Chicks are a common sign of spring! Whether you’re raising them yourself or just watching them cross the road, chicks, ducklings, an their mamas are common sights in springtime.

With 13 FREE crochet and knit patterns from Yarnspirations, including toys, hats, slippers, and home decorations, you’ll find a chick or duck pattern that’s perfect for your use!

13 Free Chicks and Ducks Crochet and Knit Patterns
13 Free Chick and Duck Crochet and Knit Patterns

Other Animals to Make

13 Free Sheep Patterns | Crochet and Knit

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Lambs give us sheep and sheep give us wool to crochet and knit with! Make your own sheep and lamb-themed projects with these free projects from Yarnspirations.

13 Free Sheep Patterns | Crochet and Knit
Sweet Lamb Crochet Hat Free Crochet Pattern

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