Have you ever considered the tension your yarn is under once it’s been wound into a cake or ball? One of the main reasons yarn is sold in a skein is to preserve its elasticity. So, from the second you wind it, it’s being held at a stretch.
Animal fibres in particular have a gorgeous spring to them. If you stretch them, they snap back on release. This elasticity gives a finished garment a bounce and a wearability that is a pleasure to behold.
But if these fibres are held at their limit for too long, they can lose that elasticity entirely. That’s why you should only wind your skeins when you intend to knit or crochet with them soon after. It’s also why those old balls of donated yarn tend to seem so lifeless – they’ve been held at a stretch for decades. Yikes.
Ball winders and swifts are an amazing piece of kit I believe every crafter should invest in, but there’s a pull between swift and winder, so even they can add tension to a newly-wound skein.
They’re actually the exact same skein. The one on the left has been wound directly from the skein on my swift. The one of the right is the same ball, wound from the first cake into a second, much more relaxed cake.
Look at the size difference! And imagine the tension the first one would have been under had I only wound it once.
Same exact skein of yarn, first wind (left) second wind (right)
So, tell me. Are you kind to your yarn? Do you ever rewind?
And if you haven’t done it before now, have I convinced you to start? I sure hope so! And I bet your yarn will thank you, too!
Oh! And… psst! The yarn I’ve pictured here is a beautiful skein of Ballyhoura Fibre yarn. It’s Cierra’s 4-ply sock in colourway “Pot Pourri”. Watch out for it in a pattern this autumn! You can find the link here: https://www.ballyhourafibres.com/
Knitters, don’t say I never give you guys anything!
This long Tail Cast On method is flawless. You’ll never scrabble for yarn to make those last few stitches ever again. Long Tail anxiety will be a thing of the past! And it’s so gosh darn easy.
Let me show you how.
Before we begin our long tail cast on.
Start off with your needle, and both ends of your yarn ball. Every ball has an inside end and an outside end. Fish them both out and have them ready to rock like this.
Inside and Outside yarn ends and my 6 mm knitting needle
Knot the ends together
Yea, no… seriously. I know a lot of knitters are averse to knots, but don’t worry, you can undo it later. For now, gather your courage and make that knot!
Leave a good 6 inches between the knot and the ends. You’ll sew the ends in later.
Slip the needle between strands.
Your first cast on stitch is an easy one. Just pop your needle between the strands, and place the knot flush with your needle. The front strand will act as your long tail, the back strand will make up your cast on stitches.
keep the knot pressed against the needle.
And then set your hands up as you would for a regular old long tail cast on. Remember, the thumb holds the long tail, the index finger holds the new stitch.
Pro tip. Check the knot is still lying against the needle. We don’t want it wandering off anywhere!
After that, it’s just a matter of casting on as normal. The bonus here is that your long tail will be exactly as long as you needed it to be because you’re feeding yarn out of your ball as you need it.
Aren’t they gorgeous?
Do you have a tail or two more to weave in at the end? Sure you do, but I think that’s a small price to pay for the peace of mind you get from possessing an infinite long tail!
If you’re a lover of the cute and cuddly world of amigurumi, and you want to improve the look of your finished crochet toys, this post is for you. Crochet fabric is highly textured, but your eye can be drawn to any disturbances in that texture, rather than to your hard work and crochet skill. Making an invisible crochet decrease is a really good way of keeping your fabric smooth and unblemished.
Read on to see how this clever little trick is done.
This is the beginning of one of my Patreon Amigurumi patterns. To be specific, it’s my Meerkat’s bum.
I’ve gone round and round with regular increases (which are naturally pretty invisible, so we don’t need to worry so much about them showing up), and now it’s time to start decreasing towards the neck.
Meerkat bum!
The Lay of the Land
In my hand below, you can see the edge of my crochet fabric. I’m working in UK double crochet / US single crochet stitches, as these are nice and dense and will make a good solid fabric for my amigurumi.
When you focus on my index fingers (behind the fabric), you’ll spot a stitch sitting between them. That’s my next stitch along, and it’s where I’ll begin the invisible crochet decrease.
Locate the next stitch along
Ready to Crochet?
Press your hook through the FRONT LOOP ONLY of that highlighted stitch. I like to stretch it out a little as this makes it easier to work the rest of the stitch without your hook getting caught later on.
Hook into front loop
Biiiig stretch
Then, find the next stitch along, and work your hook into both sides of that stitch’s V.
Hook into next stitch along
Yarn Over hook, and draw that Yarn Over back through only the stitch you just worked into. Everything else on your hook stays where it is for now.
Yarn Over…
Draw Yarn Over back through both sides of the stitch’s V
Yarn Over again, and draw that Yarn Over through all the loops remaining on your hook. Your Invisible Crochet Descrease is complete!
Yarn Over…
Draw Yarn Over through everything on hook
Spot the Invisible Decreases
In the image below, there are six invisible decreases. Can you spot them?
That’s how good they are.
Spot the decreases
Invisible Crochet Decrease – A Spotter’s Guide
They’re elusive, that’s for sure. But if you’re checking your stitches and counting as you go, it’s important that YOU can find them.
So, look at the Wrong Side of your fabric (i.e. the inside of your amigurumi), and you’ll spot the tell-tale signs of your decreases there. Use the slider below to see my decreases in situ. (They’re the little horizontal lines the blue arrows are pointing towards)
And if you’d like to see more of my Crochet Buddies collection, you can browse them all here. Joining my Patreon family will get you one or two of these patterns every month as a gift – depending on your chosen tier level.
I hope you like ’em!
Cow, Koala and Giraffe say Hello!
Video Demonstration of an Invisible Crochet Decrease.
Tunisian Crochet has texture for daaays. It’s one of the things I love the most about it. From that gorgeous stripe on Simple Stitch, to the squishy bounce of Knit Stitch, you can’t go wrong with a little TC. But sometimes, you wanna turn the volume up on that texture. That’s where Tunisian Crochet Relief stitches come in.
You can use it to add ribbing and cables to your crochet or a simple POP! to the edge of your fabric.
Starting off. A small piece of Tunisian Simple Stitch fabric.
Let’s Get Set Up
Below you’ll see I’ve worked the first 5 TSS on the next row, and added 1 Yarn Over to my hook. That gives me 7 loops on the hook in total.
Yarn Over on hook
Next, make a TSS3tog decrease.
To make a TSS3tog, slide hook into the next 3 lines, Yarn Over, and draw loop back through all three lines.
Hook in…
Yarn Over and draw through
Once you have that done, add another Yarn Over to the hook, and complete the row as usual.
Yarn Over…
Work TSS sts for the rest of the row
At the end of the Forward Pass, we use the same rule as always for the Return Pass. That rule? Yarn Over and draw through one loop, then *Yarn Over and draw through two loops* repeatedly until you are back to one loop on the hook. (Psst! Treat each loop the same, whether it’s a Yarn Over, or a legit stitch.)
That’s the “Foundation Row” complete
And, this is what your row will look like after all those “YOs and pull throughs” are complete.
Two eyelets with a TSS3tog decrease in the middle
As you can see above, our decrease is now flanked by two lace eyelets made by those lovely Yarn Overs we added. Those eyelets will be used to anchor the beginning of our relief work.
One Last Thing, before we get to the Crochet Relief Stitches
Complete one more row of regular Tunisian like this:
Work TSS sts up to the first eyelet. Then press hook from front to back into eyelet.
5 TSS sts on the hook (Making 6 loops in total)
Hook through first eyelet
Yarn Over Hook, and draw the Yarn Over back to the front of the fabric.
Yarn Over…
Draw through eyelet to the front again
Press hook into next stitch (This will be the stitch coming out of the previous row’s TSS3tog) Yarn Over Hook, and draw the Yarn Over through stitch.
Hook in…
Yarn Over and draw through
Find the second eyelet, and press hook through it to the back of the fabric.
Identifying the eyelet
Hook in second eyelet
Yarn Over and draw the Yarn Over through eyelet to the front again.
Yarn Over…
…and draw through
Complete the Forward Pass of the row as usual…
And then work the Return Pass to complete the row.
Ready to make your first Tunisian Crochet Relief Stitch!
Everything is all set up, so we can now get to our Tunisian Crochet Relief Stitches! First thing we need to do is work the first 6 TSS sts. This will bring our hook up to (but not into!) the st directly over the TSS3tog.
Then, Yarn Over on your hook TWICE.
6 TSS sts made (Giving you 7 loops on your hook)
Yarn Over TWICE
Push hook through first eyelet to the back of the fabric… Then weave it back to the front of the fabric through the second eyelet.
In one…
and out the other
Yarn Over, and draw that newest Yarn Over back along the path your hook hook. i.e through the second eyelet to the back of your fabric, then forward to the front of your fabric through the first eyelet.
Yarn Over…
…and draw through
To complete your first Relief Stitch work the following: *YO, draw through two loops* twice.
First Relief Stitch complete
If you’d like to see your relief stitch a little clearer, fold the fabric in front of your hook back. Your Relief Stitch will stand out better.
A better view of the completed Relief Stitch
Complete the rest of the Forward Pass as usual, starting with the stitch directly above the second eyelet. (There is a stitch behind the Relief Stitch that should remain unsued)
These two photos below are what it looks like once you have the Forward Pass of the row complete.
Relief Stitch in place
Thumbs highlighting the Relief Stitch
When your Return Pass is all done and dusted, this is what it will look like. As you can see in the second photo below, a nice big gap exists betwen the relief stitch and the body of the fabric. That gap will be used to attach the next row’s Relief Stitch to the first one.
Return Pass complete
Check for the gap before continuing.
Pro Tip. If you have difficulty controlling the gap, pop a lockable stitch marker in there.
Second Relief Stitch
Start your second Relief Stitch by adding one Yarn Over to your hook. Then press your hook into and through the gap we just checked out.
Yarn Over
Through the gap
Yarn Over, and draw the Yarn Over back through the gap.
Yarn Over…
Back through the gap
Yarn Over, and draw through two loops.
Yarn Over, draw through two loops complete
And this is what the row looks like with the Return Pass complete
Work the Return Pass as per usual, folks.
On every relief row after this, work the same instructions you used for the second relief row. After a few rows, it’ll start to look like this little piece of gorgeousness below.
Several Relief Stitch rows complete
Final Thoughts
Now, some of you may be asking “But, Aoibhe! Why did you use TWO Yarn Overs on the first one, and only ONE thereafter?”
And I’d answer that by complimenting your eagle eyes, and by telling you that for the first relief stitch, we had two rows to work over, so it needed to be a bit longer.
The rest of the relief stitches will only have one row to work over, so they get to be a little shorter.
Additionally, if I worked all the relief stitches with two Yarn Overs, they’d be saggy and loose, and would catch on ev-ery-thing when you wore it.
So, there you go! Well done!
Video Demonstration of a Tunisian Crochet Relief Stitch
Like many crafters, I can struggle to get a good fit on my home-made sweaters. Sweater yokes I have designed from scratch are a particular challenge, so I have put together a sweater yoke calculator to help.
Sweaters Are Tricky
When you have a sweater yoke (the circle of knit or crochet fabric which will go over your head and over your shoulders, upper back and upper bust) and you’re ready to split up the stitches to focus on making the body and the sleeves, it’s not a simple question of quartering the number and knitting merrily onward.
If you use an equal number of stitches for the front, back and each sleeve, you’ll end up with a body that’s too narrow and sleeves that billow and buckle.
Practice Makes Perfect, But a Calculator Helps!
I have made many sweater yokes over the years with too many stitches, or not enough rows, and each new make has seen me refine my maths and fiddle with my technique to the point where now, I have it down to a tee.
I transferred my own calculations from the back of an envelope into a handy sweater yoke calculator. To use it, count your yoke stitches, feed that number into the calculator, and you’ll know exactly how many stitches you need to section off for your sleeves, for your front and for your back.
This calculator may occasionally be off by one stitch in its final result. It’s not that you miscounted anything. It’s a product of fractions being rounded up and down to the next full number. Please take care to count your separated stitches and correct this small error before you begin knitting or crocheting again.
If you’d like a bit of guidance and a little extra fitting advice to accommodate broad shoulders, large busts and wide upper arms, click here for a helpful tutorial.
Ah, Pax. Pax, my beloved Tunisian crochet shawlette.
This is my most popular pattern (as much because I’ve priced it to be accessible to anyone wanting to learn Tunisian lace crochet, as because I kept it complication-free purely to keep the pattern simpler for beginners).
Occasionally, I get questions about it, though, and the majority of them are to do with starting out. Usually, I reply to beginner crocheters’ questions individually, but I thought “How great would it be if I updated Pax with a new photo tutorial?” It is 11 years old at this stage, and could do with sprucing up… so…
If you’ve got a copy of Pax, a crochet hook at the ready, and you’re not sure how to begin, let me help you out.
Today's Yarn, by the way, is Drops Flora.
It's a wool/alpaca blend that I'm currently obsessed with. It's warm, has great stitch definition and a wide range of colourways.
And my hook, as always is a beechwood KnitPro Symfonie - this one's my trusty 5 mm.
Make Some Chains
OK, so the pattern calls for way more chain stitches than this. I’ve made 20 chains here to demonstrate the technique, but you will be making way more when you start your own Pax adventure.
First things first, we need to take a look at our chains. We’re going to skip the chain closest to the hook, and work instead into the second chain along.
Find the second chain…
Push hook through top loop of chain
Hook is now completely through loop on second chain
Yarn Over on your hook, and draw that Yarn Over back through the chain. This will give you two loops on your hook –
The loop furthest from the hook head was there already.
The loop closest to the hook head is your first Tunisian Simple Stitch.
Yarn over
Draw through chain
The Forward Pass
We then do the same for the next chain along.
Important Note for Beginners: We ONLY skip the very first chain in Tunisian crochet. No other chains are skipped from this point on.
Find the next chain along
Push hook through
Yarn over…
Draw Yarn Over through chain
Every time we repeat this process, we add a loop to the hook. When we have added ten stitches, we’ll have eleven loops in total (that includes the one that was there from the beginning)
11 loops = 10 stitches
For this tutorial, this completes our “Forward Pass”.
In Tunisian Crochet, we have two “Passes” per row of work. The “Forward Pass” that we have just completed sees loops being added to the hook. The “Return Pass” will see us remove stitches as we work until we are back to one loop on the hook.
Between the Forward and Return Passes in Pax we have an extra dance step to do, and it involves the next chain along on our string of chains.
Working the “Base”
I want you to identify the next chain along, work your hook into it, Yarn Over, and draw a final loop onto your hook. A note on this loop: It is created the exact same way as all the loops before it, but its job is very different. It’s not counted as a stitch because it is, in fact, the base of the column. This will become clear as we work on.
There are now 12 loops on the hook That’s 1 at the start, 10 Tunisian Simple Stitches, and 1 base loop
The Return Pass
The Return Pass is easily my favourite bit of this whole process. It require far less concentration and is oddly satisfying.
All you have to do to complete the entire Return Pass is to *Yarn Over on your hook, and draw it through two loops* repeatedly, until you are left with one loop on your hook.
Yarn Over
Drawing through two loops
After the second repeat you start to see the row/colum forming in your hook’s wake
When you’re at that point, you’ve completed your row/column!
Foundation Row/Column complete
As you can make out in the above photo, the row/column we have completed has ten little rung or lines evenly spaced down its length. In the above photo they are vertical, look like little fence posts, and start at my right thumb nail and travel down the fabric to my left thumb nail.
We’re going to use these lines to anchor our second row/column.
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Row/Column 2
Slide hook through the first of these lines, like a bolt locking a door. We stay on the Right Side of the work for this. There’s no neeed to push through to the Wrong Side at all from hereon in.
Original loop on hook (right) and vertical line (left)
Then, same as before, we simply Yarn Over, and draw the yarn over through the line, giving us two loops on the hook.
Yarn Over
Draw through
Then, we find the next line along, and slide the hook through that.
Next line along
And we do the same thing – Yarn Over, pull through.
Yarn Over
Draw through – 3 loops on hook
Now, it’s just a matter of carrying on down, picking up loops using each of the available lines.
Ten loops added to hook for a total of eleven loops
With the Forward Pass complete, we work The Base into the next chain along:
Hook in next chain along…
Yarn Over
Draw through – 1 more loop added to hook There are 12 in total now
With that taken care of, we get to do the Return Pass for the row/column. That’s *Yarn Over, draw through 2 loops* repeatedly until 1 loop is left on hook.
2 rows/columns complete
Row/Column 3
With another whole row/column complete, this is what you’ll be looking at:
3 rows/columns complete
More Rows/Columns
After another few completed rows/columns, you’ll start to notice your dangling chains aren’t so dangly anymore. Each row/column uses up one at its base, and adds some strength to that edge of your shawl and helps ensure the completed shawl blocks into a gentle curve.
6 rows/columns complete
I hope this tutorial helps you get started on your own Pax Adventure!
You can find the pattern (using both UK and US crochet terms) here:
And remember, small, independent businesses like mine can only make it work through word of mouth, so leave a review if you liked this pattern, tell a friend if you loved it, and don’t forget to tweet about it too!
Every Christmas Eve, without fail, I curl up with a glass of wine, a warm and snuggly dog and a pile of socks in need of repair.
It’s a tradition I started about a decade ago that helps centre me before the onslaught of cheery faces and socialising that Christmas Day entails. It’s my self-care ritual before my autistic brain is overcome with the chaos and cameraderie of the season.
My family usually go out for Christmas Eve pints, but they have long learnt that despite my love for them, my socks need my attention that night, so they imbibe without me… and we’re all better for it the next day when I arrive batteries fully charged and able to enjoy the day’s feasting.
This year – as with last year – is to be quite different, however. My family aren’t off to the pub tonight. And tomorrow, I won’t be joining them in their celebrations.
Despite this, I am clinging to my sock tradition. Somehow, it feels even more important this year.
I’m not sure if I’m deriving comfort from the preservation of this tradition when so many other customs fall necessarily by the wayside, or if repairing that which has been worn away this past year is an act of self-care and regeneration.
Whatever the reason, I examine each patch, I observe its unique shape and then I chose a contrasting yarn to repair it.
The contrast is important to me. What is the point of repairing something only for your hard work to disappear? It took time and effort to get that hole there, and time and skill to repair it. Both are worthy of acknowledgement. So, I use orange yarn on a grey sock, green yarn on a black one. Each repair declares “I made it through, I have the scars to prove it, and I’m wiser for them.”
I know it’s just a sock, but it feels like more than that right now so this evening, I intend to curl up with a glass of wine, a warm and snuggly dog and a pile of socks in need of repair.
I highly recommend it as a Christmas Eve activity, if you’re so inclined.
Once you have your Reoite Glove panels complete, and the vine details added with either a crochet hook or an embroidery needle, it’s time to sew them up! This tutorial will take you through the process.
What You Will Need
Panels 1 and 2 are laid out in the image below, as is the afterthought thumb. I’ll be sewing up a right-handed glove in this tutorial, using the right-handed snow flower panel and my stitch markers set for the thumb on my right hand.
Panel 1, the afterthought thumb, Panel 2, my right hand and a bodkin
Below, I have a blunt-ended darning needle known as a bodkin. I prefer to use a bodkin for seaming up a piece because the blunt end won’t split a strand of yarn when I’m passing it through the fabric. This gives a neater finish to a piece of crochet.
bodkin!
To Begin
Align the stitch marker on your thumb with the lower stitch marker on Panel 2. Then, thread your bodkin and pass it through the two marked stitches. Add a few more stitches to give this join a bit more strength.
align these two markers
bodkin through both marked stitches
This is what we end up with:
thumb tacked to Panel 2
When you sew up the rest of the seam, you get a little thumb flap off the edge of Panel 2, like this:
Once again, add a few extra stitches to the last stitch, then weave the end in on the wrong side of the work. I like to travel back down along the stitches I have just made:
Adding Panel 1
Now that the thumb has been attached to Panel 2, it’s time to add Panel 1 to the party.
The image below is a little misleading, and I apologise for that. The intention was to ensure you knew how to orientate the panels (with the last row of each panel at the knuckle end of the glove), but I really should have put Panel 1 on the OTHER side, with the thumb itself in the middle.
I’ll fix this when I have another glove made up, but for now, let’s press on!
With the Wrong Sides of panels pressed together, start at the cuff end and seam the thumb side of both panels together up to the lower stitch marker.
seaming…
seaming…
more seaming…
When your seaming reaches the lower stitch marker, work through marked stitch AND the stitch at the point of thumb.
stitch marker marking the point where the thumb is included in the process
I recommend you run a few extra stitches into this spot for neatness and strength. This join is the one that will get the most wear. Seam up the open portion of thumb to Panel 1.
panels 2 and 1 seamed on thumb side, and thumb and panel 1 open
thumb seamed to panels 1 and 2
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Completing The Thumb
Fold glove in half along completed seam.
fold…
…fooooold…
…folded!
Add a few stitches to top edge of thumb where indicated below:
right there
thumb stitches in place
Those stitches add a bit of a gusset to the thumb and makes the opening fit far better.
Then, carry on seaming Panels 1 and 2 together above thumb.
…last few stitches…
…and done!
Lovely stuff! Time to weave in your ends, then admire your handy work and get another strand of yarn ready.
Flip your glove like a pancake, attach yarn to cuff end of open seam, and start sewing!
open seam
seaming in progress
seam complete
Once all your ends have been sewn in (or, more likely tucked inside and hidden from view, amirite?) your gloves are ready to be worn and admired by friends and strangers alike!
Well done!
And remember, small, independent businesses like mine can only make it work through word of mouth, so leave a review if you liked this pattern, tell a friend if you loved it, and don’t forget to tweet about it too!
Finola€5.00
Blue Belle Hat€4.00
Honeymeade Shawl€5.00
