Tunisian Foundation Row Crochet Tutorial

Welcome to the world of Tunisian crochet! A cross between regular crochet and knitting, this technique can create unique textures and patterns. Lace and other complicated designs may start differently. But most basic designs will start with this Tunisian foundation row.

The Tunisian 2-Step

A normal single crochet has 2 parts – first you pull up a loop, then you pull through both loops on your hook. In Tunisian crochet we split these 2 steps apart. First we pull up all the loops in all the stitches. This is called the forward pass. Then, we work through the loops two at a time. This is called the return pass.

Tunisian Crochet Hooks

Because we pull up all the loops at once in the forward pass, we need a hook that can hold all those loops with an even tension. This means that the space between any thumb grip and the neck of your hook has to be able to comfortably hold as many loops as you have.

Tunisian crochet hooks resemble knitting needles with a hook on the end. They are long, with no thumb grip, and often have a stopper at the back to keep stitches from falling off.

For this tutorial, I am only showing a small number of stitches, so I am actually using a regular crochet hook. This hook, which I received from Brittany Hooks some time ago for a product review, has a straight shaft without a thumb grip. This makes it perfect for small sections of Tunisian crochet, like in this entrelac cowl.

Starting chain

Like most crochet, we start with a chain. You only need as many chains as you would like to have stitches. You do not need any extra chains for turning. For our tutorial, let’s work with 10 chains.

If you are working on a project with a long foundation, you can of course make extra chains to be safe and rip out any leftovers at the end. See this post for more tips on working with long starting chains in traditional crochet.

Foundation Row Forward Pass

When picking up loops for the forward pass, you can work into any part of the chain as you normally would. I prefer to work into the back bump.

The loop that is on your hook is coming out of the last chain you made. We will treat that loop as the first stitch. Starting with the 2nd chain from your hook, insert your hook into the chain, yarn over, and pull up a loop. Repeat this in every chain across. You should now have 10 loops on your hook

Foundation Row Return Pass

The return pass starts with a chain, similar to making a turning chain when starting a new row. To make the chain, yarn over and pull through only the first loop on your hook. That first loop becomes a vertical bar, which is our first stitch.

Now, yarn over and pull through two loops on your hook. Continue doing this until there is only one loop left on your hook.

You can see that each of the 10 loops has created a vertical bar, for 10 stitches. Each stitch has a vertical bar in the front, a vertical bar at the back, and a chain like section at the top. This is your Tunisian foundation row.

Tunisian Foundation Row – Video Tutorial

Watch this video on YouTube

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