A Guest Post by Linda Cee.

Slip stitch crochet is a fantastic way of making a thin stretchy fabric but it can also be used to create thick and heavy hats, scarves, mittens, etc. It can be so durable that the thicker items are waterproof!!!

There are six basic stitches: front loop only slip stitch, inverse front loop only slip stitch, back loop only slip stitch, inverse back loop only slip stitch, inverse slip stitch and of course the regular slip stitch. Now these are only the very basics, there are so many more and it is interesting to note that because you can do these stitches in many different ways (change the yarn over, change the direction of hook entry, etc.) the possibilities are practically endless.

Slip stitch crochet has an interesting history it is believed by many to be the earliest form of crochet and is popular in many European countries such as Norway, Sweden and Bosnia. Actually, many English speakers know slip stitch crochet as Bosnian crochet (also Muslim crochet and Shepherd’s knitting) however traditional Bosnian crochet is mostly worked in the round and is not turned, so more modern methods are not really Bosnian crochet.

One difference in technique from regular crochet is how you hold the hook, for slip stitch crochet it is usually held in a manner called “the knife hold” because you hold it in much the same way you would a steak knife.

Using hooks with tapered ends is a good idea because regular crochet hooks are hard to insert into the stitches despite the fact that slip stitch crochet uses little or no tension.

You may wonder why you seldom hear about slip stitch crochet, it’s certainly not because it isn’t useful or beautiful as it both and there are many people who devote a lot of time to it (one blog you should definitely check out is David Burchall’s A Yarnified Life and you can also see some of his work on Flicker) So if you are looking to make a lovely thick scarf (or anything really) you may want to give this gorgeous technique a try.

Linda Cee is a young adult who enjoys many crafts including crochet, jewelry making, scrap booking and learning to tat. She also enjoys traveling and learning everything she can about history and foreign cultures.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 11th, 2011 at 1:01 PM by A Guest Writer and is filed under Tutorials and Help. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.