Since I finished up the surprise afghan, I set about teaching myself at least some basic Tunisian crochet. The important thing I think I learned is that my Grandma’s hook must be for sock-weight yarn. But I found this pattern on Etsy and it’s really easy to follow and the leftover yarn from the surprise afghan is working up really beautifully.
I guess, if you’re going to learn any kind of crocheting, I have two recommendations for you. 1. It’s easier to learn on bulkier yarn. 2. It’s easier to learn on wool.
The parts of the stitch are easier to see on bulkier yarn. Plus, it works up quicker, and when you first start out, you’ll need some early victories to keep going. And wool. Okay, it’s expensive. I don’t recommend you buy a whole project’s worth of wool yarn if you don’t know what you’re doing. But having a skein of wool yarn, the kind that’s fairly stiff, to try out new stitches on is really invaluable. Wool holds its shape where as a lot of other, softer, types of yarn don’t. Soft yarn is awesome. Don’t get me wrong. And, once you know what you’re doing, floppy stitches aren’t going to stop you from finding the parts of the stitches you want. But man, to have a yarn that holds its shape, that has the stitch parts right where you’re looking for them as you’re trying to learn a pattern? That makes a huge difference.
So, needless to say, I spent a big part of the afternoon trying to learn this Tunisian crocheting with soft, acrylic yarn. It was brutal.
Switch to wool? Suddenly, everything is right where the directions said it would be and it’s coming together. Or at least I can see how it will come together.
Tiny Cat Pants 