Tunisian Crochet

I have had a crochet hook in my collection for more than 20 years, it was my Grandmothers.  It is longer than all the others and has a bobble on the end.  I have never known what it was for.  I remember when she was teaching me chain stitch as a child asking about it and her telling me 'That is for something called Tunisian crochet.  You won't need that yet.'  I think I must have been a terrible child to teach anything because I have a very short concentration span and as far as 'projects' go I am like a butterfly, flitting from one to the other.  I go off at a tangent very easily.  It was only last year I discovered Tunisian Crochet.  I wanted to put the lonely old hook to use.  It looks a bit like these:

I got on Youtube and searched for 'Tunisian Crochet' Tutorials and sat for a while practicing only one type of stitch, 'Tunisian Simple Stitch'.  Sounds like my kind of stitch! 

I was amazed by the result, a nice compact and neat stich that is fast and simple.  It looks woven to me.  I also think it makes a very dense functional fabric.  I got busy making Hot Water Bottle covers.  I tried one horizontally and one vertically.

I found these quite quick to make and not particularly challenging.  These were in self patterning yarn and then I tried another to practice colour changing the rows:

Yep, there were a few recipients this Christmas of Tunisian Hot Water bottle covers!  (Wether they wanted them or not!)

You can buy Tunisian Crochet hooks with flexi cord attached to enable you to work bigger pieces.

As I found the Hot water bottle covers so easy and therapeutic to make I chose to work on a scarf, on my flexi hook, with Recycled Sari Silk Waste.

I love this yarn however I am labouring over each row, it is not fast work due the the inconsistancies in the yarn and the lack of elasticity.  It also seem to be consuming loads of yarn, my scarf is realistically going to be a 'short scarf'.  I am delighted with the resulting fabric though I think it looks fantastic and I would like a jacket and trouser suit made from it!  I think it would also make beautiful cushion covers or Upolstrey covering (nothing too big and adventurous).

It is possible to work any cross stitch chart with Tunisian simple stitch, this really intrigues me although I havn't tried it...yet!  Check this out for FANTASTIC!

All made in Tunisian Simple Stitch.  Awesome, I will put that in my project queue!
Use the link to browse other fantastic picture Afghans.  You will be impressed!

  http://peskypixie.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

I have looked at other Tunisian stitches, there are many effects you can get from different stitches, however I get a bit confused so for now I am sticking to simple stitch.  There is enough there to keep me busy for another decade or two...