Eyelets and decreases in Tunisian crochet

In this tutorial you will learn different ways of creating eyelets in Tunisian crochet fabric. Eyelets with and without accompanying decreases. You will use this knowledge for making the Macaw wings shawl TCAL and other Tunisian crochet lace patterns.

There are multiple ways of creating holes in Tunisian crochet fabric.

Generally, these holes are called eyelets when created intentionally.

Tunisian crochet pocket shawl pattern Cozy pinecones pocket sewn — Cozy pinecones pocket shawl

fluorite capelet square — Cozy pinecones pocket shawl

Sometimes they are created by mistake and you can find out how to fix some of these mistakes in this informative article.

Holes that are created in the fabric when you join panels or sections of a pattern are not called eyelets, but they can also be decorative, like in the example below.

black hole sun small — Section of a panel worked in the round with sections of short rows attached to each other. Where each new row is attached, a hole is formed.

In the Macaw wings shawl and other lace patterns you will encounter eyelets made with yarn over spaces and one of two options: skip a stitch or decrease.

WIP Rainbow love Tunisian crochet lace shawl pattern 3 edited — Example from the Rainbow love wrap with eyelets and decreases.

In this tutorial, you have examples of both, with step by step photos.

Abbreviations

The following tutorial uses some common Tunisian crochet abbreviations, explained in detail below.

Ch – Chain;
St(s) – stitch(es);
Tps – Tunisian purl stitch: YU, insert the hook under the vertical bar of the next St, YO and pull up a loop;
Tss – Tunisian simple stitch: in foundation chain, insert hook into the back bump of the next Ch, YO and pull up a loop; in other rows, insert hook under the vertical bar of the next St, YO and pull up a loop;
Tss2Tog – Tunisian simple stitch 2 together (decrease): insert hook behind the vertical bars of the next 2 Sts, YO and pull up a loop;
YO – yarn over;
YU – yarn under: bring the yarn under and to the front of the hook.

YO, Sk1 or eyelets with skipped stitches

These eyelets are made by skipping a stitch.

The neighboring stitches on the row below will be pulled up higher than usual, since there is no tension on them, as they were skipped.

In the exaggerated example below, you can see the shorter, skipped stitches marked in light blue and the longer neighboring stitches marked in magenta.

These eyelets are larger and more visible when your finished object is blocked and the lace stretched, but they do have a tendency to distort the rest of the fabric more than the other type of eyelets.

To make these eyelets, first you make a YO.

Then you skip one St and pick up a loop in the next St.

05 YO Sk 1 Tss 2 — Skipped one and made a Tss in the next St.

After the return pass, you are left with a large hole where you can easily see the YO and the return pass chain.

05 YO Sk 1 Tss 3 — Eyelet with skipped stitch complete.

Continue in pattern, repeating this process every time you encounter an eyelet with a skipped stitch (YO, Sk1).

Here’s a tutorial on how to work Tss and Tps in eyelets.

If you have trouble seeing the eyelets, you can also use stitch markers to mark them, to make sure you don’t skip them.

YO, Tss2Tog in Tps or eyelets with decreases

In the Macaw wings shawl, you will have to make eyelets with decreases both after rows with Tss and after rows with Tps.

While making a YO, Tss2Tog after a row with Tss is simple, doing the same after a row with Tps is slightly more difficult.

In the following photo tutorial I demonstrate the Tss2Tog done after a row with Tps to show you where to find the vertical bars.

To make “YO, Tss2Tog” after a row of Tps, you need to find the vertical bars of the Tps in the row below. YO.

07 YO Tss2Tog in Tps 1 jpg — Row with 2 identified Tps below (marked with magenta) and the YO on the hook.

Insert the hook under these two marked vertical stitches.

07 YO Tss2Tog in Tps 2 jpg — Hook inserted to prepare for Tss2Tog.

YO and pick up a loop.

07 YO Tss2Tog in Tps 3 jpg — Preparing to pull the loop through.

Pull the loop through the 2 loops on the hook to finish the Tss2Tog.

07 YO Tss2Tog in Tps 4 — Tss2Tog finished, with a YO before.

After the return pass, you can observe the eyelet and the decrease after it, both marked in magenta in the photo below.

You can make the YO after the decrease.

This will influence the appearance of the fabric where the eyelets and decreases are made and can create diagonal lines that you can use to your advantage.

For example, in the Macaw wings shawl, these decreases are used to create the surface texture that creates the illusion of feathers.