Barbara Price, Library Consultant at MLC, won a blue ribbon at the Mississippi State Fair. The ribbon was awarded for her Tunisian Crochet Sampler afghan. Many people have never heard of Tunisian Crochet, which is why Barbara decided to create the afghan to display the versatility of Tunisian crochet. The afghan demonstrates the 10 Tunisian stitches, as well a two panels of basic which demonstrate patterns created by changing colors and cross-stitch on basic Tunisian crochet.
When asked how she learned about Tunisian crochet, Barbara’s answer is always “In books!”. She first became interested because of her cross-stitching. She wanted to know about how to cross-stitch on crochet, and learned this from
McCall’s Big Book of Cross Stitch (ISBN 0-8019-7363-5). This book included instructions for basic Tunisian crochet. Barbara recently completed an afghan of basic crochet with an eagle cross-stitched in the center.
When she wanted to know more about Tunisian crochet, she turned to another book, the
Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework (ISBN 0-89577-059-8). This book taught her the 10 Tunisian stitches, which are Basic, Knit, Purl, Cross-stitch, Lace, Popcorn, Honeycomb, Bias, Cable, and Shell. There are variations on these stitches also.
If you want to know more about Tunisian crochet, check your library catalog. I found the above older books still owned by some libraries, plus a 2009 book by Sharon Silverman titled Tunisian Crochet: the look of knitting with the ease of crocheting.
Post written by Barbara Price, guest blogger
