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)

Free Pattern: Simple Lacy Baby Blanket

Description:
This lovely little baby blanket is bouncy and lacy with just a bit of reinforcement built into it and along the side edges. The lacy bands are alternating single crochet and chain stitches. The solid lines are single crochet stitches. The side edges (along the end of the rows) are slip stitches. Might be an achievable challenge for a practiced beginner.

The Story Behind the Project:
I made this with the last skein of a batch of Bernat Softee Chunky (5) yarn in Natural I got from a friend.

It really was down to the wire with this one. Near the end, I tried to get one more set of pattern rows and made it through almost all four rows, only to come up short with about 6 inches left in the project. Hurt to unravel it, but doing that left me enough to reinforce the sides with slip stitches (I didn't have enough to reinforce the top and bottom, too).

Still, I think that's one of the things I enjoy about crafting without a pattern using dubiously minimal amounts of leftover yarn. It forces you to be creative and to make choices. In this project, I used a lot of open work to use less yarn, but it was springy and nice. I also used a huge hook (N) to make it even bigger. The slip stitches on the edges weren't my first choice, but I would have run out with single crochets. I also prefer my finishing borders to go all around a project, but I didn't have enough for that. 

Now, you might say, "Why didn't you just run on down to the store to buy some more yarn?" I did about halfway through the last ball I had (when I saw the writing on the wall), and then I went online. You know what? I found the color. I found the brand. I found the Softee Chunky. What I didn't find was all these things in a 5 weight yarn with only a two strand twist. Nope, looks to me like Bernat reclassified the Softee Chunky as a 6 weight and it now has three strands. It still looks lovely, and I want some of it to work with, but as you probably know, switching weights would have been rather noticeable in the final product.

Anyhow, I worked up the rest of the yarn and maybe a half an ounce of it from the previous skein and had just enough for a decently proportioned, if a bit small, baby blanket. It will likely be more of a snuggle blanket than a keep warm one, but I like it.

Stitches used:
Slip Stitch (ss)
Chain (ch)
Single Crochet (sc)
Both Loops = normal crochet stitch through both of the loops that make up the top of the stitch in the row below
Front Loop Only = just the loop in the front of the two loops that make up the top of the stitch in the row below

Scaling:
Starting chain = 42 (or any even number of stitches to gain width)
Pattern rows =  The pattern rows are 1 closed, 3 open, 1 closed. Scale up the length 4 rows at a time.  A 1, 3, 1 pattern could be made more open by changing to a 1, 5, 1 pattern, or more closed with a 2, 3, 2 pattern. The key is in keeping an odd number of open rows so each set of pattern rows and the project as a whole, ends up facing forward on the last row.

I used Bulky (5) yarn with a size N Hook for the blanket. For the swatch in the illustrations, I used 4 weight yarn and a size J Hook.  Use whichever you like. The bulkier yarn and larger hook make a springier fabric. The smaller one results in something a bit more flat with more obvious open work.

Ideas:
Lacy scarfs
Baby blankets
Wraps

Continue on to the Pattern

WOOT, done with the baby blanket, now on to roses...

I finally finished up with the pink baby blanket and just in time to find out a friend had just welcomed their first granddaughter. That's how it goes sometimes.

I dug up a little tote bag I'd made some years back and it fit in there perfectly. I'm happy I found this a home so quickly.  And so, here are the pictures.

Glamour shot!

Draped over a chair.

With the little bag I had stashed away.

And now onto the roses...

I got the pattern for the rose here.

The crochet was easy, the wrapping and securing not so much. This one took about four tries to figure out the best way to secure it. The pattern didn't go into much detail there.  My advice is to work through that with a different color of yarn so you can see what you did and undo it if need be.

I managed to make one other of these, but it's also pink and looks the same, so no need to post a picture. I'm going to have to think about what to do with them, though. I was thinking pencil topper, but that would be a bit heavy unless I used a thinner yarn. I'll update when I've got something.


On that note, I'm almost out of this watermelon color yarn. It was good while it lasted.

Until next time...