A Stitch By Any Other Name

Thirty-eight years ago, Mama & I made an afghan.  I was going away to college dorm life and needed something decorative and warm.  She made the granny squares and I made squares for the afghan using the Afghan stitch.  At the time, this struck me as quite clever.

Thankfully, Mama sewed the whole thing together and, if I recall correctly, I did the edging.   Time has taken a toll on the afghan.  The seams are giving way; there is proof that Red Heart eventually breaks down.  But still, I keep the threads that we worked.  I hang on to our joint project.  A weak seam, a broken thread, a smell of decades past. . . this is our history - Mama and I.

Fast forward to this week and the Afghan stitch is still part of my repertoire,  only now it is known as TSS or Tunisian Simple Stitch.  To refresh my skills and add to my own personal stitch knowledge, I signed up for an online class.  Check out Craftsy for a huge selection of learn at your own pace classes.  Craftsy lets you learn from the masters! 

Tunisian Crochet with Jennifer Hansen, of Stitch Diva Studios fame, is a fabulous class.  What I love most about this online video it the ability to adapt the excellent teaching to my style of learning.  Stop.  Rewind.  Take a video note.  Move faster.  Move slower.   Come back next week or next month.  I've bought the course and it is mine for as long as I need it.  


Look at my new Tunisian Crochet square.  It is a spa cloth.  I love the mix of stitches.  Yes, I had first learned the TSS in that afghan from the 1970s.  Somewhere along the line, I played around with the TKS (Tunisian Knit Stitch).  But never ever had I gotten to all the other possibilities such as the TRS (Tunisian Reverse Stitch).  I am enthralled.  


When life calms down a bit and my mind quits vacillating on "four different colors of DK weight yarn"  I will start the fantabulous multi-garment from the class.  

Are you excited yet?  Click on over and check out the super Craftsy classes, workshops and patterns.  I'm glad I did.

Maybe Not

Now that my arm is feeling better and the muscle does not cause me to make strange facial expression whilst uttering the un-utterable, yarn work is progressing.  Witness the completed pieces of the TSS fingerless mitts.  

Let's just acknowledge that this photo is the underside, which is kinda cool in a funky way, but it gives a good glimpse into just how curly these pieces are.  Seaming is definitely required.

What I like about these finished pieces is the sturdy fabric.  So, I am thinking that maybe these are not mitts but rather they are the beginnings of a new travel pouch.  My old standby little packing bag is on its last legs.  About the only thing left that is not fraying on it are the snaps.

The right side of the TSS fabric looks mighty fine.  There is a funky, almost but not quite, plaid look on this side.  The curled wrong side is more stripe like.  Because of the wonky plaid vibe, I am really thinking that these should become a nice little travel bag.  Just big enough to hold the ID, valued paperwork (folded of course), phone,  keys and color for the lips.  I rarely have pockets safe enough for the valuables, so I depend on simple functional light weight accessory pouches when encountering TSA and the new empty pocket rule or running towards the next flight.

And this fall, I do have several excursions on the schedule.

So - - initially intended to be fingerless mitts for sitting on the patio during the chill of desert winter.  But maybe not.  Maybe a new travel bag.

I think that the many days of being barely functional due to the muscle mishap has left my brain in a fog.  I'll save the decision process for the moment that I feel like seaming.