Open Stitch for Market Bag

Okay, this one looks better, so I’m documenting it.

This is a picture of the stitch when relaxed (well, the top is…
the lower part is the bottom of the bag that I described earlier).

This stitch is quite similar to the bottom during the forward pass,
except that you pull the loop around the chain,
instead of hooking it through the front vertical bar.

The other big difference is
that you chain twice between each stitch of the return pass,
as shown below…

Moving to the forward pass,
start the stitch by doing a “yarn over”

Then hook around the extended return chain

Then chain once through the loop you just pulled

And finish the stitch by pulling a loop though the last stitch
and through the “yarn over”

And that’s it!
It goes pretty quickly, once you’ve got it down.

Starting Market Bag Pattern

I looked back at the “Bag Stitch” in my Stitch Gallery 1 and the description is indeed pretty useless. After playing around with it for a while, it looks like I did my 2YO Top stitch (which is described) with some extra chains in the return pass.

I’ll be creating a pattern, rather than updating the Stitch Gallery.
I may or may not charge for the pattern, but in any event, I’ll be describing my progress here. …So the Tunisian stitch explorers among you can probably figure out how to do the pattern from that.

I’m using a slightly shorter (undocumented) stitch for the bottom of of the bag. I start with a chain of 14 and do a spiral of seven (7) increases every time I go around.

I keep track of the increases by increasing every time I get back to the first leg of an increase in the last row.
That looks like this:

And the net effect looks like this:

I’m also creating more of an open web by chaining twice (instead of once) between stitches during the return pass,
as below:

So that’s what’s up so far.
I’m not sure I like the look of the stitch and will probably be swapping it out when I get to the sides of the bag.

And I’ll end with a picture the cat that was “helping” me take these pictures:

Tunisian Sock Stitch (how to do)

I’ve started on another pair in some lovely yarn
and it seems like a good time to share the stitch combo that I’ve been using.

This is a row of Chain-top Simple Stitch (AKA Extended Simple Stitch) alternated with two (2) rows of an original stitch that I call the Sock Stitch. The Sock Stitch rows give the fabric a bit of elastic sideways stretch and alternating the stitches gives it a bit of vertical stretch.

The latest sock, so far

I’m using “gold” Opal sock yarn for the in-the-round return pass
and multicolored Jitterbug sock yarn for everything else.

First, the Chain-top Simple Stitch (aka Extended Simple Stitch),
which is probably already familiar.
1. You start by hooking behind the front vertical bar, as for the Simple Stitch

2. Then you add a chain stitch to the top of it

This produces a stitch that is flatter and a bit taller than the Simple Stitch

It’s a lovely stitch, but it has no sideways stretch to it at all.

…So on to the Sock Stitch, which does stretch sideways,
but tends to curl dramatically.

This is not a problem in the finished sock (in fact, it creates the vertical stretch),
but it does make it harder to photograph.
So all of the Sock Stitch pictures show the Sock Stitch being created
on top of a Chain-top Simple Stitch.

1. To start the Sock Stitch, I pull back that vertical front bar
so that I can reach the vertical back bar

2. Then I pull a loop between the vertical bars, so that the back bar is forced forward

This creates a stitch that is rotated sideways

But that’s not enough to keep the stitch twisted, so that it will stretch reversibly…
On the return pass, you also need to secure it with an untwisted return chain,
as shown here:

This picture is shot from the back of the part that I’m working on,
although you can see some of the front as well, because I’m working “in-the-round”.

If all goes well, the Sock stitch will have enough sideways stretch to work as a sock fabric. Knit rib is far stretchier, but not as cool IMO.

So anyway, that’s how it’s done.
The result is

and turned inside-out

Ways of Hooking the Yarn (YOs), Revisited

While making the last hat, I realized that my description of only 2 types of yarn overs (YOs) was not right. There are really three (3) distinct ways that I have been hooking the yarn.

The Traditional Crochet Hook
This is nice and secure and it’s the best one to use when you have no reason to use one of the others.

Here I’m executing a purled post stitch:

And this is the completed stitch.

.

Hooking an Extra YO for a Purled Stitch
You need to do things differently to give an extra yarn over to the top of a purled stitch.

So this is the same purled post stitch again,
but with an extra YO on top, to create a bump in the finished fabric:

Please notice that I’ve wrapped the yarn 1 1/2 times around the hook
AND in the other direction.

Here, you can see the extra loop, ready to go:

.

The Untwisted Hook
I’ve been using this one a lot to lock a twist into stitches,
so that they stretch a bit in the sideways direction.
The trick here is NOT to twist the loop.

So this is the the return pass on an in-the-round piece:

I bring the hook down onto the yarn and hook it as shown.

This is after drawing the loop through, to complete the stitch:

You’ll need to undo any twist that you introduce,
so this is easier to do with the sort of hook that has a long point
(because there’s less need to twist the hook to keep the yarn on).

And finally, here’s the start of the next one:

.

So that’s all I’ve got for today–three (3) distinct and useful ways of hooking the yarn,
when you’re doing Tunisian Crochet.

Much better hat…

I think I might be getting the hang of this hat thing.

The latest one:

On:

From the top:

The forward pass is all in red (which doesn’t photograph too well)
and the return pass is in turquoise.

Both yarns are Bernat Handicrafter cotton,
which has ZERO inherent stretch to it.

I tried for a woven-type pattern with the contrasting yarns,
although the stitches themselves look more like knit fabric
(and stretch kinda like knit fabric).

Yet another headband

I’m concentrating on decorating the top of the sock stitch,
since all such stitches have the (uncommon in Tunisian crochet) elastic stretch.

So, I’ve got Purled Post stitch at the edges
and Chain-top Sock stitch combined with 2YO-top Sock stitch in the middle:

This was made with DK-weight yarn.
Sock yarn (fingerling) looks better, but it’s a pain to do that many stitches.

Headband Breakthrough…

Yes indeed, there are some exciting times at this end.

I started adding random tops to my tunisian sock stitch
(aka Untwisted VBckBar Stitch)
to improve the fabric’s ventilation and flatness,
and hit on a winner that I should have been using all along.

This is the same foundation with a chain added to the top on the forward pass.
By some notations, that would make it an “Extended Untwisted VBckBar”,
but by my notation it’s a “Chain-top Untwisted VBckBar”.

Informally, I’m calling it the “cuff stitch”
because it would be better than the sock stitch combos that I have been using.

This is what it looks like,
just off of the head:

stretched:

and after stretching:

I’ve also used a row of Purled Post on the top and bottom to make the piece neater,
but those rows are not necessary (because the chain-top stitch does not curl).

Looking good…

The sock stitch is working out well as headband material.

First I reproduced the stitch combo that I used for socks:

It’s pretty,
but the simple stitch columns make the fabric significantly less stretchy.

Then I moved to straight sock stitch, which is kinda boring
and I didn’t finish the head band.

Then I moved to straight sock stitch,
except for a couple of rows of sock stitch, but extended upwards with a double-crochet top.

That worked out nicely and looks like this:

Nice, very nice!!
Especially if you live in a steamy climate zone, like myself.

This is the back of the head band–the join doesn’t look too bad:

And this is what it looks like on the inside:

You can see the double-crochet ventilation peeking through.

Good so far…
Next, I’m going to try it in worsted-weight yarn (rather than the DK I used here).

Some serious progress…

Finally!
Now this is a sock:

This shows striping due to a 3(Untwisted VBckBar)/1(Simple) stitch combo. The reverse pass shows through in the Simple stitch columns, creating a nice look.

And since there’s mainly Untwisted VBckBar everywhere, the sock is stretchy enough! (Unlike the last one I did in this yarn.)

Here’s the front and the back of the stitch combo:


There’s not much texture,
but I think that the color variation is enough.

Incidentally, I’m much happier with the tuni crocheted ankle.
If I put on a knit rib ankle, it seems way too flimsy next to the rest of the sock.

“Ribbed” Sock Stitch Combos

I’ve sadly given up trying to use mainly regular Tunisian Crochet stitches for socks,
because they have very little elastic stretch to them. 😦

The Untwisted VBckBar stitch, on the other hand,
has about as much stretch in two (2) directions as the knit stockinette stitch, so it works well.

So…
I did a sampler of rib-like stitch combos with the Untwisted VBckBar stitch that I’ve been using for socks.
The results are documented at the end of my Stitch Combo Gallery page.

After scrutinizing this a bit, I started some socks with an Untwisted VBckBar/Simple rib on the top of the foot.

This is working out pretty well–there’s no rib texture,
but the contrasting stripes from the self-striping yarn in the return pass do show up nicely
in the columns of Simple stitches.