Hairpin crochet is made as Tess describes using a two pronged tool
shaped like a large hairpin, though it could be as big as two inches
wide. An initial loop is made and slipped over one prong. The work is
rotated 180 degrees and a crochet stitch worked between the prongs,
rotated 180 degrees and another crochet stitch worked.......... The
result is a braid with loops on each side. These braids can be
crocheted together in various ways.
Broomstick crochet uses a *very* big knitting needle, 20mm or a length
of broom handle tapered at the end, hence the names broomstick crochet
or witchcraft crochet. The yarn is taken around the stick, a crochet
stitch worked, around the stick, a crochet stitch worked..... several
times, the whole lot slipped off the stick and a chain stitch worked
through all the loops to hold them together, and the process repeated
numerous times. The result is a holey braid which can crocheted
together
Tunisian crochet is worked with a tool which is a cross between a
knitting needle and a crochet hook - hook one end and knob at the
other. Starting with a foundation row of chain incomplete crochet
stitches are worked into that chain so that one loop per stitch is left
on the hook each time. At the end of the row there are lots of loops
on the hook, gradually reduced by working yarn over pull through two
loops as many times as necessary to get back to one loop again.
I have an ancient (30+ years old) sample of broomstick crochet and a
1970s piece of hairpin crochet joined to make a circular mat/cushion
cover (which is very wobbly in places. I have just made a sample of
Tunisian (which I found very clumsy and haven't got the hang of getting
the sides straight!) and have put them all into a web page. The images
haven't been compressed so that the detail of the stitches is not lost.
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/lace/arachne/broomstick/
broomstick.htm
I made the broomstick sample from instructions in a little booklet
dated 1981 published by the WI. It states " Little is known about the
history of this craft. Although broomstick crochet is a relative
novelty in Britain today, it is thought to have originated in this
country and to have been taken to America - where it is still popular -
in the 1600s by the Pilgrim Fathers."
Brenda
On 17 May 2009, at 16:04, tess parrish wrote:
Try looking up "hairpin lace." I imagine the word "broomstick" was
invented in the seventies when knitting, crochet, macrame, and other
such handwork became so terribly coarse. The references I have in the
older books--and the way it was referred to in my youth--were to
"hairpin." I have a tool from the old days, not much bigger than a
lady's large hairpin, and I imagine that with fine thread and the
small pin the work could look quite lovely.
Brenda in Allhallows, Kent
http://paternoster.orpheusweb.co.uk/index.html
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