How to read my tunisian crochet patterns

Toreador Wrap
Toreador FREE pattern

Hi everyone, I wanted to do a quick post about my tunisian crochet patterns and make sure there is no confusion when following them. Unlike normal crochet, tunisian patterns are not widely available or known, and it can be a bit different to follow.

If you have followed my tutorials or if you are familiar with tunisian crochet you will know by now that there is this thing called the “undefined row”. Whenever you are working tunisian crochet, if you can see X rows in total, you will have X-1 rows defined with a certain stitch pattern and one last row undefined. This makes following tunisian patterns a bit confusing: “If I can see ten rows in my work (nine defined rows and one undefined), do I work the instruction for Row 10 or 11?”

I will clear this regarding my patterns. I did a bit of research and this is the most common way I have found to write tunisian patterns.

First, I will always begin with a foundation row, and then I will continue with “Row 1”. Now, you might say, “Wait… isn’t the foundation row the first row?” Well, technically yes but not yet… and it all comes down to that undefined row. When you finish your foundation row for any pattern you will have a “row” but this won’t be any particular stitch. It is only on the next row that you will define that row, which will be indeed the first row of your pattern, which is why the instruction says “Row 1”.

So… whenever you are following one of my patterns the instruction for, let’s say Row 3, will be the instruction which will define Row 3 of your pattern as a certain stitch, and by the time you are finished with it you will have 4 rows: 3 defined and 1 undefined.

IMG_2548

It sounds more confusing than it is, let’s try one more example. Let’s say you started your pattern yesterday and you are picking it up again today but you are not sure were you left off. You count your rows and realise you have 7 rows in total: six of them look like a specific stitch and the 7th one is still undefined. Where do you pick up the pattern? Row 7 or 8? Well, in this case you will have to continue the pattern with Row 7, since the instruction for Row 7 is the one that will define that row as a specific stitch pattern (even if this means that by doing this you will be adding the undefined 8th row to your pattern).

I know it can take a bit to get used to but I though it would be useful to clear it up. No one really explained it to me when I started working tunisian crochet and it would’ve saved me a lot of time and effort to know if from the start!

As usual if you are struggling just leave me a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can 🙂

Have a great day!

🙂

Sol

 

 

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One thought on “How to read my tunisian crochet patterns

  1. That’s a really nice cowl, I love the red pom poms. I have Tunisian crochet hooks in my craft stash and haven’t been able to find many patterns, they all seem to be in big books. I love how thick the Tunisian crochet comes out.

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