Learning Broomstick Lace. There's even a video!

Broomstick Lace

Description
Broomstick lace is an interesting stitch that appears to defy gravity. It balances some level of sturdiness due to the single crochets against the openwork of the lace due to the twists.

I'd heard of it before, but decided to give it a go when I found a pattern for it I actually understood. It's not as daunting as it seems.

As always, when I'm trying to learn something new, I make something rectangular. In this case, a couple of baby blankets seemed perfect. Not too big, not too small.

As for gear, this stitch does require something a little more than a normal crochet project, as the name implies. They do sell broomstick lace pins, but for my exploratory foray into the stitch, I went with something a little more old school: a bamboo bo staff. As in for Taekwondo or Karate. I ended up using mine, rather than my son's because the ends of mine were cleaner and less well used. 

I found it to be a little be tough to use, ergonomically, a bit too long, but after making a second blanket using the proper pin, I brought the results to work. Folks tended to like the more open lace the bo staff generated.

Anyhow, if you want to give it a go, I'd recommend picking up a good book on it or checking for patterns online. Still, those will only give you a couple of drawings and may leave some things to be desired, like knowing what right looks like.

Luckily, I took some snapshots as I went.



Stitches used
Chain (ch)
Single Crochet (sc)
Broomstick lace, which uses single crochet and loops cast on to a stick or pin.

The broomstick lace stitch involves two passes for each row. 

First pass, cast loops on to the stick from left to right, one for each stitch below. Another way of looking at this is to draw a loop up through the stitch, but make it big and slide it up onto the stick. Be careful not to twist the loops or face them in different directions as that will affect the appearance.

Second pass, slide five loops off of the stick at a time and single crochet 5 times across the loops. This will twist the loops sideways.

I used two strategies to keep the loops steady while crocheting across them.

With the bo staff project, I had to pull the loops completely off and hold the loops with my thumb and forefinger, twisting and eventually holding the loop bundle open by sticking my thumb in there.

With the broomstick lace pin, it was easier to leave the loops on at the tapered end (because it has a tapered end lol) and use that as my "thumb" until I had enough singles on there to hold the work for me. The downside to this approach was the tendency for the stitches to lean to one side.


Scaling
With the 10 inch broomstick lace pin and the bo staff, I made two blankets, each casting on 90 stitches. That seemed to be the capacity for the pin.

If you want to scale it up or down, go by fives. Each broomstick lace stitch builds on the five stitches below it.


Ideas
Scarves/wraps
Baby blankets
Regular blankets (if you're really frisky and have a big stick)



Pattern

Chain 90 (or any multiple of 5).

Row 1, pass 1: From left to right (end where the working yarn is), draw up one loop per ch below and cast it onto your stick or pin. Your first loop will draw up from the second ch to the end, otherwise it ends up undoing that last stitch.

Count your loops to confirm sets of 5s. I did this by sliding the 5s together into little visible bundles. I did this every time because errors are obvious in the finished work and it's better to find them before you do the next part, which is a lot more work to undo.

Row 1, pass 2: From right to left (end where the working yarn is), slide off 5 loops and 5 sc into and across the top of the loop. Repeat across to end. All loops should be used.

Row 2, pass 1: From left to right, draw up a loop from the back loop only of each sc below. Count to confirm groups of 5 loops across.

Row 2, pass 2: From right to left, slide off 5 loops and 5 sc across the top, across to end. No loops remaining on pin.

Repeat until the baby blanket is the size you'd like.

Finishing: Sc down each side, at a minimum. I did 2 sc in the end of each loop row and 1 in each sc row. If you can, also sc or slip stitch across the bottom and top to give them some strength. Be sure your project is facing forward before you start putting on the edges.

~~~End of Pattern~~~

Illustrative Figures


First pass of loops on the chain.

Rotate so loops are at top. Bunch loops into 5s to check number.

Pull 5 loops off and sc 5 across top. See the twist?

First row completed. I found this one always had a bit of a loose edge.
After project, sc across the bottom to tighten it up.

Two rows done.

It starts looking like a flag, especially if you're actually using a broomstick-like implement.

This is when it was nearly done! So pretty!

I actually took a video! Production quality is, uh, lets just say it's a video, shall we? I may need to invest in a stand or pay off my son to hold the camera in future. I was using my chin for this... :-)

Anyhow, this was on my second project for which I used the broomstick lace pin. The video shows how you cast on the loops.





~~~

Project Idea: Sparkly scarf

Sparkly scarf using up last of my Enchantment yarn.

After my two baby blankets, I decided to use up the last of my Enchantment sparkly yarn (discontinued, I'm afraid). Basically, it's just a sparkly yarn with a bit of metallic thread woven in.

I started with  30 ch and then worked it up as described above. 


Why make one when you can make two?
I made a second scarf, using Caron Simply Soft Party yarn and holding two strands together for a thicker result.

Because of the thickness, I had to do sets of 4 loops per broomstick lace stitch for this one. Started with 20 ch. Larger hook. Used this Broomstick Lace Pin.

https://www.amazon.com/Boye-Broomstick-Lace-Pin-Size/dp/B000QHDCQ6/

The Caron yarn was much softer than the one shown above and the result was lovely. I used an entire 3 pack of the yarn, which I got off of Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0044ODDUM/

~~~End of Project Description~~~



I do realize my instructions aren't the end all, be all. Here's the book I learned from. The broomstick lace is one of the BONUS projects.

https://www.amazon.com/Boye-NOM070472-Taught-Myself-Crochet/dp/B00AR64DBE/

Alright, so there you have it! Go forth and work up some broomstick lace. Let me know how it goes.