Fun with TC Stitches

I have been enjoying a new adventure; I am trying out some of the stitches and stitch patterns in Anna Nikipirowicz’s Tunisian Crochet Stitch Dictionary (read on my tablet). This is proving quite a fun experience.

I already knew that I tend to crochet differently from many TCers. I like to use tighter and tidier stitches, smaller hooks, and yarns that cannot be blocked. I also have very little experience with lacy stitches in TC because I usually knit that kind of thing. So the Stitch Dictionary has been expanding my horizons some.

This has been working well, but I’m finding that I need to improve my “pulling longer loops” technique and make other adjustments before I love the stitches. (This is probably “old news” to many experienced TCers.)

For instance, this is the Weave Stitch (#14 in the Stitch Dictionary) as best I can reproduce it.

But… I get this version, which I like better, if I use a smaller hook and pull the loops longer:

I consider this swatch excellent and am using it as a washcloth.

Also, there’s the Plow Stitch (#86) which has a lovely look, but leans severely when I do it (see bottom part of swatch):

By choosing different horizontal bars, I can get it to lean the other way (see middle of swatch). 

And the top part of the swatch is straight because I alternated between rows of the two (2) variations. This has an interesting, but quite different look to it.

And there are many more intriguing stitches left in the Dictionary, so the adventure continues.