Tunisian Crochet Dishcloth Sampler

I went to Fiber Fest New England on November 1 and had a wonderful experience. One of the best things about the trip was taking a beginners Tunisian Crochet class with Heather McQueen. I knew going in I was likely never going to finish the assigned project. My goal was to work through the hurdles that had blocked me from learning the basic stitches. Heather was great and stayed and helped those of us who were struggling until we could figure out where the hook was supposed to go so our stitches looked like the sampler she had made of the pattern she'd given us to practice.

I avoided the pattern and decided to just stick with the stitches so I'd gain the maximum value of her time. It would do me no good to finish the first section of the pattern and still not know how to complete most of the major stitches. Even after the class I recognized one of my major faults was I stitched too tight. It likely comes from years of working ami projects where tight is a goal not a problem.

When I came home I started searching for a dishcloth pattern that would help me practice my Tunisian stitches and I came across not just a pattern, but an amazing free tutorial from Maxine Pike that took me even farther than my class did. You can find the pattern here.

This time the stitches are both tight and sometimes too loose. I'm working on finding a balance between really tight and too loose as I learn the basics of the stitches. There was a battle going on, but I didn't give up and I did manage to learn the mechanics of the stitches. That is a huge break through for me because I just couldn't figure some of them out before taking the class.

This first dishcloth isn't a work of art, but I proudly display it here because after over a year of trying to learn the basic Tunisian stitches, I have gotten through a sampler in which I made quite a few of the basic stitches. I had tried videos and DVD's but I needed a human who could explain not what they wanted to tell me, but what I couldn't understand. I hope this encourages others to keep trying. You can eventually find someone who can help you find the way.