sweetheart ripple | WIPs 'N Chains

I receive a lot of emails asking me why I do so much Tunisian crochet. Why don’t I ever do regular crochet? While it’s true that I’ve been doing a lot of Tunisian crochet lately, it’s certainly not all that I do. I think that, because my name seems to be synonymous with Tunisian crochet, there is a misconception that ALL of my work is in the technique. But, it’s really not. It’s just that I do some unexpected things in regular crochet sometimes and there is an assumption that it is Tunisian, when it’s not.

Here are my most popular designs of all time. All in regular crochet.

Sweetheart Ripple Afghan from Reversible Ripple Afghans here. Truly an unexpected surprise because of the ripples on one side and the hearts on the other. The immediate assumption was that it was double-ended Tunisian crochet. I had to work very closely with the Annie’s catalog staff for awhile there in order to word the description in such a way that there was no question that it was regular crochet because many people emailed me about it being Tunisian.

Dreams Shawl, published at Kimane Designs here. Before you could find laceweight crochet shawls by the hundreds on Ravelry, this shawl was published. It shot up to many favorite lists. But, I’m still seeing it labeled as Tunisian crochet. Just yesterday, I saw it labeled as Tunisian crochet on Pinterest. But, it’s not.

Clarice, published at Kimane Designs here. So easy! So popular! And, it’s popular world-wide. While we’re thinking about making afghans during the winter here in the US, this pattern is popular in Australia because it’s their summer. (And, have you heard of the record-setting high temps in Australia this year? They had to add a new color to their weather maps because the heat got up to 129-degrees Faranheit!)

Of all my designs, the most favorited pattern on Ravelry is this pattern called Elegant Hat, a free pattern from Caron here. Although it’s never been confused for Tunisian crochet.

And, there you have it! Tunisian crochet isn’t all that I do. My most popular patterns of all time are actually regular crochet. It’s just that, here lately, Tunisian crochet has been coming into its own. You see it quite frequently. But, it’s not new to me. I’ve been publishing books in Tunisian crochet for almost 15 years. I was Tunisian before Tunisian was cool. But, now that it is cool, I’ve got a lot of books in it right now.

I’d like to take a moment to pay homage to the most popular design in my career, the Sweetheart Ripple Afghan.

This incredible afghan actually happened quite by accident. I had been working on swatches for several days. I was developing a concept for a book proposal. After developing a unique stitch that gave this reversible effect, I set upon making lots and lots of swatches.

I had made this swatch in red, exactly as pictured above. However, I didn’t realize that there were hearts. I had no idea. I liked it. It was very clever. But, I didn’t know there were hearts.

I set it down after working on it and took a break. When I returned, there it was! The Hearts! My own heart just about jumped out of my chest in excitement. And, incredibly, it was actually in red! It was just meant to be, I guess.

I immediately took a photo and sent it to the editor of Crochet World magazine. I think that was the fastest submission and acceptance I had ever experienced.

That year, the afghan made the cover of the magazine. It was a lovely sight to see on the shelves of magazine stands.

You can now purchase this afghan pattern, along with the others I designed to go with it in a lovely book (both hard copy and PDF download) from Annie’s Attic called Reversible Ripple Afghans.