Learning Tunisian Crochet

[Hookin Catluvr]

I am learning tunisian crochet but get very frustrated dealing with the hooks. I crochet with a pencil hold and cannot seem to get the knife hold with the tunisian crochet. I have both straight hooks and interchangeable hooks but have difficulty with both. Any suggestions? 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Hookin Catluvr
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[Granny Square]

This is an interesting question:  I don't know why there is any reason you must switch to overhand for Tunisian.  I crochet pencil hold as well, but have only done a few TSS entrelac projects; it's been a while but I don't recall switching holds.

I just picked up a regular hook and some yarn, and made a couple of short TSS rows...yep, it works fine with pencil hold. 

Confession: I knit overhand, and learned to knit first, so I wasn't entirely sure how that would go. I tried a couple of TSS stitches overhand, and NOPE, very clumsy (for me), I'm certain the entrelac projects I made were done using pencil hold.

[NCcountrygal]

On 7/31/2022 at 3:55 PM, Hookin Catluvr said:

I am learning tunisian crochet but get very frustrated dealing with the hooks. I crochet with a pencil hold and cannot seem to get the knife hold with the tunisian crochet. I have both straight hooks and interchangeable hooks but have difficulty with both. Any suggestions? 

Because of the length of the hook and the way your stitches flow you’ll need to practice till you can adjust. 

[Hookin Catluvr]

Granny Square,

I can do entrelac without any problem because I can pencil hold. But with the long needles and many stitches it requires a knife hold. 

[Anita A Badger]

I managed to do a crochet entrelac Afghan with a normal hook without issues.  Of course it didn’t require me to have that many stitches on the hook. 

[Granny Square]

That makes sense (short entrelac rows works OK with pencil hold).  

I have made exactly 1 non-entrelac Tunisian thing, it was a plain TSS potholder with a cross stitched embroidered design added later over the TSS stitches, and I don't honestly remember my 'grip'--it did require a long hook.  I may have auto-piloted into my overhand knitting grip without realizing it.  

I can't think of anything else but to agree with NCcountrygal, it might just take a lot of practice and conscious effort to turn off your pencil-grip autopilot. 

Example, I am a very non-ambidextrous right-handed person, and I had a cascade of medical events 20 years ago that pretty much forced me to stop using my right wrist for most things for well over a year.  My job was using a computer all day long, I could type OK with both hands but I had to learn to 'mouse' and 'spacebar' (and all sorts of other non-computer things that involved my right thumb and wrist) with my left hand.  I'm not suggesting you use your left hand to crochet with, but just that it is possible to teach your hand new tricks with enough practice.

 

 

Edited August 10, 2022 by Granny Square