Experiments in Tapestry Crochet

Tapestry crochet is a color working technique where you use two or more yarns at the same time to create color patterns and pictures in crochet.

Very simple patterns as well as more complicated multicolored tapestries can be created with this technique.

One yarn is worked while the other color is carried underneath the stitches. To change colors, you switch the working yarn with the carried yarn while completing the stitch before the color switch.

Sounds confusing? It’s not at all! You can find plenty of tips at tapestrycrochet.com, which also has several free patterns to try. This website is full of great resources including books, videos, free patterns, and a history of tapestry crochet around the world.

After learning a bit about this form of crochet, I decided to give it a try. My first project was this hat, with which I learned to create my own pattern in the round. I used graph paper to sketch out a simple pattern.

The tough thing about tapestry crochet and something important to remember: keep an even tension. I tend to crochet pretty tightly, and I hadn’t noticed until it was too late that my hat’s brim was getting tighter and tighter. Oh well, it’s now a kid hat instead of an adult hat!

My second tapestry crochet project required significantly more designing and planning. I call this Transformers-inspired hat “More Than Meets the Eye” because it’s reversible. Depending on my mood, I can join forces with the protectors or the destroyers.

This beanie is fully double-lined: basically I made two complete hats and stitched them together at the brim. The result is the warmest hat I own, which will get a lot of wear this winter! I used Joann Sensations Bamboo and Ewe yarn. It’s a bamboo/wool blend sock yarn that was smooth, sleek, and an ease to work with.

It was quite a learning experience.

I started by drawing out each design and transferring it to graph paper. It took some guesswork and trial and error to get just the right size that would work with the size of the stitches, the size of the hat, and the detail of the design.

The next part was the most complicated. Crocheting in the round produces a slanted fabric, and it’s virtually impossible to get the stitches to line up vertically. I tried to compensate for this by shifting every few rows by a stitch. It wasn’t an exact science, and the result is far from perfect, but it’s better than having the whole design look italicized. It’s most evident in the (what are supposed to be) vertical lines.

I did the Decepticon (blue) side first. I started carrying the blue yarn when I got down to the design, rather than carrying it all the way through from the beginning. When I did the Autobot (red) side, I carried the second yarn from the crown, and I was more conscious of my tension. as a result, the red side was much more even and relaxed, but it was a bit bigger than the blue side. This actually worked out favorably for me, because when I stitched them together, the red side tended to flip under at the edge while the blue side flipped out a bit. I just let it do its thing, and now the hat is two slightly different styles depending on which side I’m wearing.