let’s craft a Tunisian Crochet pattern for a square with a “beak” feature. This will involve a combination of basic Tunisian stitches and some shaping to create the beak.
Materials:
- Crochet hook suitable for Tunisian crochet (a longer hook is recommended)
- Yarn of your choice
- Scissors
- Yarn needle
Basic Tunisian Stitches Used:
- Tss: Tunisian Simple Stitch
- Tks: Tunisian Knit Stitch
- Tps: Tunisian Purl stitch
- yo: yarn over.
- RetP: Return pass.
Pattern:
Part 1: The Square Base
- Chain: Chain the desired number of stitches for the width of your square. For this example, let’s start with 20 chains.
- Foundation Row:
- Insert your hook into the second chain from the hook, yarn over, and pull up a loop. Repeat this in each chain across. You should have 20 loops on your hook.
- RetP: Yarn over, pull through one loop, then yarn over, pull through two loops. Repeat until one loop remains on the hook.
- Square Body:
- Work Tss in each vertical bar across.
- RetP: Yarn over, pull through one loop, then yarn over, pull through two loops. Repeat until one loop remains on the hook.
- Repeat step 3 until your square reaches the desired height. Ensure the height matches the width for a true square.
Part 2: Creating the Beak
- Beak Shaping (This section will decrease stitches to form the beak):
- Here is where you will start to create the beak. For this example we will make the beak in the center of the row.
- Work Tss until you are close to the center of the row. Example, work 8 Tss.
- Then work the next 4 stitches as a decrease. To do this, insert your hook into the next 4 vertical bars, yarn over, and pull up a loop through all 4. This will decrease the amount of stitches.
- Then work the rest of the row in Tss.
- RetP: work a regular return pass.
- Work several more rows repeating this decrease in the center. Decreasing the same amount of stitches in the same center location each forward pass row. This will cause the center to become a point.
- Continue this process until the beak reaches the desired length and sharpness.
- Finishing:
- Bind off: Work a slip stitch in each vertical bar across.
- Cut the yarn and weave in the ends.
Video tutorial
Tips:
- You can adjust the size of the square and the beak by changing the initial chain and the number of decrease stitches.
- Experiment with different Tunisian stitches to add texture to your square and beak.
- Adding a boarder around the square will help to give a clean finished look.
- When working the decrease for the beak, stitch markers can be helpful to mark the center of the work.
