I have just rediscovered this crochet technique and am making some very nice warm scarves using the Tunisian simple stitch or the Crochet Afghan stitch.  I had made a baby blanket many moons ago for a friend of mine when we were all in that stage of our lives.  I remember it turning out really, really cute but never found another pattern and the hook just went to the bottom of my crochet bag never to see the light of day until recently.

I read a blog about how to do the Tunisian simple stitch on one of my favorite sites, Miss Abigail’s Hope Chest, and remembered the blanket and thought it might be a good stitch to create some warm scarves to give as Christmas gifts.   The one thing that I really like about the stitch is that it is like a waffle/woven design and you kind of get a double thickness with your finished project.

You just have to learn to hold your hook a little differently.  I did find my original size J hook after much rummaging around.  It is about 10″ long with a built-in stopper at one end and the crochet hook at the other end.  I use an overhand grip with my right hand, hold the work with my left, and when making my stitches I hold the hook sort of loosely so that I can rotate it within the palm of my hand.  It was a little awkward at first but within a couple of rows a rhythm of slightly spinning the hook as you make your stitches came naturally.

The pattern is basically yarning over through vertical stitches, keeping all your stitches on the needle, DO NOT TURN, and then coming back through those stitches by yarning over and going through 2 loops on the needle so at the end of that row you only have one loop on the hook.  Then repeat those two rows again and again.

I want to explore more about this technique and learn different stitches but for now I am really liking how my scarves are turning out crocheting the Tunisian simple stitch.  In my examples, I have used a chunky weight yarn, bulky 5, and I will probably use about 150 yards of yarn to get the length that I want.  I always like to be able to double my scarf to form a loop and pull the other end through.

If you haven’t tried this stitch, give it a whirl and share your projects!!  Love to see what everyone is doing out there in that great big Crochet world  🙂

HAPPY CREATING!!

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