Tunisian crochet mesh stitch is my new favorite stitch ever. Why, you might ask? Here are my reasons:
It’s turbo fast. This is one of the quickest crochet stitches I know how to do.
It’s super easy.
It is gorgeous!
It’s really versatile. It can be colorful or plain, and it can transform into nearly any kind of project. So far I’ve used it to make hats, scarves, cowls, fingerless gloves, baby projects, pouches, trim, beadwork, placemats, headbands, dishcloths and pouches — and I’m not finished yet! I have so many more ideas for this stitch…and I bet you will too, once you start messing around with it…
…but don’t take my word for it. Take a look at a few of my project photos and see what you think:
This photo collage accompanies a crochet pattern for rainbow fingerless gloves worked in Tunisian mesh stitch.Tunisian Crochet Mesh Accessories: Hat, Infinity Scarf and Wrist WarmersThis picture accompanies a crochet pattern for a Tunisian crochet mesh stitch dishcloth.One-Color Tunisian Crochet Mesh Headband PatternCrochet Baby Headband and Fingerless Gloves — Toddler SizeTwo-Color Tunisian Crochet Mesh Baby Headband
See what I mean? Isn’t it a fabulous crochet stitch?
Important Note: I plan to make free patterns available for all of these projects soon. If you are already a subscriber to my knitting and crochet newsletter, you will receive emails from me when they’re available. If you aren’t, please be sure to contact me if you’d like to be added to my list of newsletter subscribers. That way you’ll always be alerted when new patterns are added to our website. Thanks for your interest, and read on for Tunisian crochet mesh stitch instructions.
How to Do Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch
If you want to crochet a practice project, grab some worsted weight yarn and crochet a starting chain of 7 stitches. When it’s finished, you can make it into a baby or toddler headband like the black and orange one pictured above.
Crochet Your Starting Chain:
The first step in working Tunisian crochet mesh stitch: Crochet a foundation chain. You’ll want to make your starting chain a multiple of 2 + 3 stitches.
Work the Row 1 Forward and Return Passes Just Like You Would for Afghan Stitch.
Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch Row 1: Work as for Afghan Stitch.
Your active loop counts as the first stitch in the row without you having to do anything to it.
Your next stitch is going to be an ordinary afghan stitch.
Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch
Insert your hook into the next vertical bar. In the photo above, you can see my crochet hook pointing to it. In the photo below, you can see me actually doing this.
Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch
Wrap the yarn over your crochet hook…
Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch
…and pull it through the loop to complete a stitch.
Tunisian Crochet Mesh StitchHere’s how the completed stitch looks. So far so good, right?Next, you’re going to work a yarn-over. Wrap your yarn around your hook from back to front, then gently manipulate it back out of the way towards the back of the work. At the same time, you want to skip the next vertical bar.Next, you’re going to work an afghan stitch into the next vertical bar after the one you just skipped.Here’s a work-in-progress photo showing me wrapping the yarn to work the afghan stitch.In this photo, you can see both the completed afghan stitch and the lacy effect made by the previous yarnover.This pattern consists of afghan stitches alternated with yarnovers, all the way across the row. So the next step is to work another yarnover and then skip the next vertical bar. Then work another afghan stitch, and so on.You’ll end the row with an afghan stitch in the last vertical bar.Do not turn at the end of the row. The right side of the work will always be facing you.However, you do want to work one chain stitch, similar to a turning chain, but without actually turning. Here’s how the work looks when the turning chain has been completed.The next step is to complete the return pass. You’re going to work this almost exactly the same as you do in afghan stitch, treating the yarnovers just like any other stitch. Wrap the yarn over your crochet hook……and pull it through 2 loops on your hook. Repeat all the way across the row until you have only one active loop left on your hook.To work rows 3 and up, simply repeat row 2.Afghan stitches will be stacked on top of afgan stitches, and yarnovers will be stacked on top of yarnovers.Last Row of Tunisian Crochet Mesh Stitch: Work 1 Slip Stitch in Each Stitch Across, Including the Yarn-OversHere you can see my crochet hook pointing to the next vertical bar in the row. I’m going to work a slip stitch into this vertical bar.Here you can see my crochet hook inserted in the next vertical bar in the row. I’m now in the process of working a slip stitch into this vertical bar.Wrap yarn over your crochet hook……and pull it through both the vertical bar and your active loop to complete the slip stitch. Here’s how the completed slip stitch looks.Next, you’re going to slip stitch into the closest yarn-over. In this picture, you can see my crochet hook pointing at it. The yarn-overs can sometimes be a little tricky to spot, but if you worked the previous row correctly, it’s there.Here you can see how I’ve inserted my hook under the yarn-over stitch in preparation for completing a slip stitch in this spot.Wrap the yarn over your crochet hook in preparation for completing the slip stitch.Grab the yarn with your crochet hook and pull it through both the vertical bar and the active loop on your crochet hook to complete the slip stitch.Here’s how it looks at this point with the slip stitch completed. Continue working slip stitches in each stitch all the way across the row.Here’s how the piece looks after all the slip stitches have been completed. Now it’s time to finish the piece. There are bunches of different ways you can proceed with the finishing.
