Tunisian Simple Stitch Crochet Tutorial

Tunisian crochet is often described as a cross between regular crochet and knitting. This easy to learn technique can create unique textures and patterns. The Tunisian simple stitch (tss) is one of the most basic and commonly used stitches in Tunisian crochet.

Foundation Row

In a previous tutorial, I showed a basic, Tunisian crochet foundation row. This tutorial starts with a foundation row of 10 stitches as follows:

Chain 10

Forward Pass: Insert hook into 2nd chain from hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, repeat for remaining chains. (10 loops on hook)

Return Pass: Chain 1, (yarn over and pull through 2 loops on hook) 9 times. (10 sts)

If you need help making this foundation row, please see the Tunisian foundation row tutorial first.

Choosing a Hook

For this tutorial, we are only working with a small number of stitches, so you don’t need to use a Tunisian hook. As long as you can fit 10 loops on your hook before you get to the thumb grip, a regular hook is fine.

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.

Tunisian Simple Stitch (tss) Forward Pass

Each stitch of the foundation row has a vertical bar in the front and one at the back.

When you pick up loops for your forward pass, insert your hook under the front vertical bar only. If you are right handed, you will be inserting your hook from right to left as shown. If you are left handed, insert it from left to right.

Repeat this in each stitch across. Now you should have 10 loops on your hook.

There is an alternate option for the last stitch that creates a more stable, tighter edge. Instead of working under just the front bar, insert your hook under the front bar and the little bump just behind it. This is not the standard way to do it, but is a commonly used alternative for nicer edges.

Tunisian Simple Stitch Return Pass

The return pass is worked exactly the same way as it was on the foundation row.

Start 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.

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

Binding Off

The last row of your Tunisian simple stitch will always look more open than the rest, because it hasn’t been worked into yet. To fix this, we need to bind off.

Starting with the 2nd stitch, insert your hook into the vertical bar and pull up a loop as before, but this time also pull that loop through the loop on your hook. this makes a slip stitch into the vertical bar.

Repeat this in every stitch across. If you used both loops for the last stitch, go ahead and do the same here as well.

Now you can cut your yarn and fasten off as normal.

Curling is Normal

Tunisian simple stitch will curl, in the same way that stockinette stitch curls in knitting. Blocking or adding borders can help minimize the curling, but it is just the nature of the stitch.

Tunisian Simple Stitch (tss) – Video Tutorial

Watch this video on YouTube

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