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Tall Stitch Virtuosity Class Resources

Collage of many examples for Tall Stitch Virtuosity Crochet Class by Vashti Braha

Tall Stitch Virtuosity is a new crochet class for 2020. I’ve discovered more than I imagined is possible about tall stitches! In fact, the official class graphic above is about six months old and already seems out of date.

Originally scheduled for the July 2020 Chain Link conference (an annual national event of the CGOA), Tall Stitch Virtuosity is now virtual. The traditional in-person conference is postponed until next summer. The virtual version is split into one-hour sessions over three consecutive days.

This is the first resource page I’ve created for a virtual class. At first I thought a virtual class wouldn’t need one. I started these pages back in 2012 to make online links easy to visit for an in-person event. I’m finding that I don’t want to load up the class handout (a PDF in this case) with what I think of as miscellany. Also, members might have a chance to visit this page over the three days of the class.

— Vashti Braha

Tall Stitch Virtuosity 2020

Nine tall stitch crochet experiments that I've posted recently in my Instagram feed.
Recent tall stitch swatches I’ve posted to my Instagram feed.

Newsletter Issues & Blog Posts

These are issues of my Crochet Inspirations Newsletter, and blog posts, spanning 2010 to today. Keep in mind that many links in pre-2018 newsletter issues are broken.

Tall Stitch Patterns

Some of my published tall stitch patterns over the years. Half of them are Tunisian crochet. Click an image for more info. Missing: Cats Eye Lariat (in Ravelry) and Twinkle Links.

Tall Stitch Projects & Swatches

Tall Stitches Around the World Web

  • Tall Crochet Stitch Artistry pinboard (Pinterest)
  • Bloggers on the lack of tall stitches:
    • Jenny Guldin: “Most lists of the basic crochet stitches end with the triple crochet. Call it a new technique, or call it breaking the rules: I’m tired of being limited to the height of a triple crochet, and I’m not going to take it anymore! Why isn’t there a taller stitch? I’ve received varying answers from many crocheters, but I’ve never heard the suggestion “try it”. There are two basic points of view I’ve heard about the subject: It doesn’t exist, or, there’s no purpose for it. With all due respect, I have two responses: I’ve made it exist, and there is a purpose.”
    • CrochetSpot’s Amy Yarbrough: “These stitches are not very well known today because most modern crochet patterns do not use them. This begs the question, when are they used then? Perhaps the most I have seen these taller stitches used would be in patterns with crochet thread. Such as Irish Crochet Lace, crocheted Antebellum Dolls, and crocheted Doilies.”

Issue 102: Wild Whys of Y-Stitches

Crochet Inspirations Newsletter sent to 8,600 subscribers on June 13, 2020.

Very tall stitches shown as 5 kinds of Y stitches for improving semicircle shapes
(Original header)

These semi-circles are crocheted of Y-shaped stitches. In each case I started with a quadruple-treble stitch (quad; in the UK and AUS I do believe it’s a quint). Yarn over 5x to begin one. After each completed quad I chained 2, then crocheted a shorter stitch into the side of the quad to turn it into a Y-stitch (Y-st).

I’m going to call the shorter stitch a branch that is crocheted into the taller one, or host stitch. 

The Y-sts in these semi-circles vary from very deep (farthest left one) to very shallow (upper right). The longest branch, a triple treble (I yarned over 4x to begin it), is crocheted close to the base of its host quad. The shortest branch is a half double (hdc in the US, htr in UK/AUS). I crocheted it up close to the top of the quad.

Don’t you love how the lacy look changes just from this simple difference?

I also really love how Y-sts look when they radiate from a center. It’s what lured me down a rabbit hole of new delights.

Every stitch you see in this newsletter is my own new stuff.

Four tall stitch circles with new looks thanks to the branches you can add to the sides of them

Branched? “Rune” Stitches?

I searched 34 crochet books for these stitches (16 are stitch dictionaries and the rest are guides to crocheting). Of the 34, 14 at least mention X-stitches. Very few include Y’s and inverted Y’s, or really run with with any of them. 

When I think of “Y-stitches” I picture a category of stitches that remind me of runes and ancient symbols! 

Bend a tall stitch or two to form letter shapes

The list above is about half of some old letters I’d like to try crocheting with branchy tall stitches. See my swatch of a few modern letters in Instagram. (These crazy B’s are for Braha and for Black, as in Black lives matter, and for Because of course they do.)

The first blue wheel above was inspired by ancient wedge-shaped cuneiform strokes. I see the green motifs as being Druidic wheels of seven “trees”. In fact, lately I see Y-stitches all over the place in nature!

Key Y-Thinkers

My three favorite sources on these stitches: James Walters, Duplet magazines (Irene Duplet), and Sheruknitting videos (Elena Rugal). It’s not a stitch shape. It’s a way of thinking. Thank you so much James, Irene, and Elena!

Examples of tall stitch artistry by James Walters, Irene Duplet, Elena Rugal

How To?

I need to blog that. I have ideas for how to sort out the yarn overs, and make the most of them for motifs. Until then, I mention Y-stitches with a how-to link in my tall-stitch circles blog post. Also try some Sheruknitting videos. 

Can you spot the Y-sts? And X-sts in the upper-right blue circle? Y’s are fabulous for reducing the number of tall stitches in round one AND for suavely doubling every stitch as required in round two.

Using tall stitches for circles is how I got here. I had no idea how practical and problem-solving Y-sts could be for crocheting circles—the taller, the better. They offer creative solutions and pretty options for tall-stitch circle crocheting!

OK One More Y-Why for Today:

Convert Two Rows into One

[This section got its own blog post a few weeks later; the light green swatch referred to is also pictured there.]

Sometimes, two or even three rows of a stitch pattern can be turned into one row, using using taller into-the-side stitches. Here’s a two-row shell-and-cluster stitch pattern (upper swatch) turned into one-row one lower swatch). 

You can get more stitches to face the front this way. It also removes a “grid” effect caused by the connections between every stitch across a row. It fits in the “clever substitutions” category which is the topic of newsletter #92.

That grid effect adds structure to the fabric. Removing them adds more drape. So it depends on the yarn and project.

“I Didn’t Know You Could Crochet With That!”

Vashti models a mesh poncho crocheted of a mauve-pink silky angora-like medium weight yarn called Gedifra Micro Chic.
CGOA fashion show,
Manchester NH, 2004.

I wrote “I Didn’t Know You Could Crochet With That!” for the May 2006 issue of Yarn Market News. I wonder how often comments like these are still overheard in yarn shops today. At the time I was teaching in a new boutique-type yarn shop. It featured novelty-textured European yarns and youthful, trendy fashion patterns.

This is a poncho I crocheted in 2004 with yarn I purchased at the shop. It’s a silky and angora-like yarn called Gedifra Micro Chic.

Here’s the first of six News from the CGOA columns I wrote. Text of my original, updated submission follows.

Page of “I Didn’t Know You Could Crochet With That!”, my first CGOA column published in Yarn Market News May 2006.
This is the only article of the six for which I’m missing the magazine’s cover image.

“I Didn’t Know You Could Crochet With That!”

When I started teaching crochet at a local high-end yarn shop two years ago, I expected to meet a lot of knitters, and I did. What I did not expect was how often I overheard a customer exclaim, “I didn’t know you could crochet with that!” Invariably it was in reference to a new yarn with an unusual texture, done up as a trendy skinny scarf or other small project.

Knitted samples usually outnumber crocheted ones in yarn shops. It’s often the case in big craft stores too. If instead someone said, “I’ve never seen this yarn crocheted before,” I would be less surprised.

Surprise! The person who says “I didn’t know you could crochet with that!” may be a lapsed crocheter—one who hasn’t crocheted since the 1970’s. Back then, smooth worsted-weight wool imitations were in vogue. I sense liberation in their tone along with the element of wonder. It’s the sound of creativity sparking.

Then come the follow-up questions: “Do you give crochet classes here too?”, “Did someone here crochet these?” or “And can I crochet with that yarn too?”

Benefits of Lacy Stitches

A new yarn doesn’t have to be crocheted up into a whole scarf, bag, or wrap to generate sparks. A simple swatch can have the same effect when you try the more open crochet stitches.

The added benefit of open stitches is they work up faster than the usual all single crochet or all double crochet stitches. Open stitches can look fancy and still use the same stitches that all beginners learn.

If you already know how to make beginner crochet stitches (chain, single crochet, double crochet), here are three swatches to try, but there are many more possibilities.

  • Swatch #1: alternate one row of all single or double crochet (a “solid” row) with a row of 1 double crochet–skip the next stitch–1 chain stitch–across (an “open” row).
  • Swatch #2: for the first row, do 2 double crochet into the same stitch, skip the next stitch, and repeat across (creates “V” stitches); for the rest of the rows, do 2 double crochets into each “V” stitch space of the row below.
  • Swatch #3: Using a yarn that has big texture, do each row in all single crochet in the front loop only, with a hook that is at least four sizes larger than recommended on the ball band!

Update a Swatch or Two

Swatch #3 is an example of loosening up the stitching gauge dramatically to update a swatch. Another easy update: change the shape to flowers and round motifs.

Fashion runways and magazines have primed customers to spot crochet with a single glance for many seasons now. The trend showing no signs of abating!

Hang up an openwork crochet swatch next to a knitted one and watch people make a beeline to it. It will double the possibilities of the yarn in customers’ minds, and they will associate your store with the liberating feeling of “I didn’t know you could crochet with that!”

(Sidebar) CGOA’s national conference takes place annually in July. Two enduringly popular events book-end it: Professional Development Day and our yearly fashion show banquet. For more information and to register, go to http://www.crochet.org/.

This article is the first of six “News From the CGOA” columns I wrote for Yarn Market News. Find links to all six in the Advice for Yarn Shops blog post.

The Ideal Crocheting Customer

I wrote “The Ideal Crocheting Customer” for Yarn Market News. This was the January 2007 issue. The three steps yarn shop owners can take are still relevant today.

This is the second of six News from the CGOA columns I wrote beginning with the May 2006 issue. Text of my original, updated submission follows.

"The Ideal Crocheting Customer" article page and cover of the January 2007 issue of Yarn Market News.
January 2007 “The Ideal Crocheting Customer: How to Hook the SuperLoopers” CGOA column by Vashti Braha for Yarn Market News.

The Ideal Crocheting Customer

If the ideal yarn shop customer is enthused, skilled, confident, open-minded, and spendy, find and keep these “supercustomers” with a few simple steps. My focus is on the crocheting supercustomer. Few people seem to know how to reach this untapped market.

Step 1. Sharpen your Focus

Depending on your locale, you’ll find big differences between the crocheting general public and CGOA members. The latter, especially conference-going types, are the avid connoisseurs of the crochet world. They’re likely to:

  • take an artistic approach
  • know how to read crochet patterns and how to crochet clothing
  • have more funds to play with
  • be well-educated
  • aspire to design professionally
  • be fiber savvy.

Step 2. Reel ‘em in! Before the Competition Does!

Who is already serving this market? By default it is primarily the yearly CGOA conferences and internet groups. An intensely gratifying sense of community is not available to them locally year-round. In other words, no one locally, yet.

What many don’t realize–whether they be shop owners, craft store execs, or the many disaffected crocheters themselves–is that crocheters simply don’t have community pit-stops. That’s what most yarn shops are for knitters. Contrary to popular belief, the big craft chains do not serve this function. Whether or not a crocheter buys hooks or yarn there, the craft store is not an irresistibly cozy community magnet for crocheters to “hook up” with each other and stay in the loop. Not yet, anyway.

An easy shortcut: invite CGOA members to meet up in your shop. Find out if there is a CGOA chapter in your area or email [email protected].

The need is there and it’s increasing. Proactive yarn shop owners who are community builders for local crocheters now will be locked in with fiercely loyal hookers in the event that the chain stores decide to do the same.

Here’s an easy shortcut: get CGOA members to meet up in your shop. Find out if there is a CGOA chapter in your area or email [email protected]. If so, invite the chapter to hold meetings in your shop.

Offer enticements that you’ve seen work for knitting groups—a discount on purchases, or refreshments, for example. If classes work well in your shop, consider helping a chapter bring in a guest teacher. CGOA chapters tend to be education-focused.

No CGOA chapter in your area? Step 3 is for you.

Step 3: Turn Existing Customers into Supercustomers

Be the shop that starts a new chapter, or helps interested customers or employees do so. Then, brag about it. Post a simple sign near a crocheted swatch about CGOA or how to join your chapter. Do you do email blasts? Add a recurring “Proud to be a supporter of the Crochet Guild of America, click here for more” link.

Many yarn shops I’ve visited don’t have much information available (if any) to customers about CGOA. At yarn shop “Knit’n’Bitch” groups I’ve gotten blank looks when I mention a conference. Yarn shop owners think I’m referring to TNNA shows or Stitches Expos. Customers are often unaware that crochet and knitting guilds exist, or else they picture guild members as doddering grandmothers.

The reality is that serious crocheters attend CGOA’s Chain Link conferences to stay current and to be creatively challenged. The sense of community is intense and electric.

The Conference Quotient

Why should you put a tent sign near the register announcing an upcoming Chain Link conference? Crocheting customers who start attending guild conferences will:

  • sell for you! After the intoxicating exposure to information, authors, and products at conferences, they return home with stories that excite their fellow customers who didn’t attend. Their fresh enthusiasm for your shop items is contagious.
  • become skillful and confident quickly. They’ll not only need much less in-store hand-holding, but they can provide valuable help to other customers while you’re helping someone else!
  • take on more challenging projects and are less likely to have stalled projects at home that inhibit new yarn purchases.

The conference-goer is a shop owner’s dream customer who already has the true community spirit. S/he’s just waiting for a way to hook up locally, instead of going online while waiting for the next conference to come around.

Since 1995, CGOA has run at least one Chain Link conference a year (sometimes two). That’s over 20 years, which makes it the longest-running crochet event—often the only crochet-focused event. If you as a yarn shop owner haven’t yet attended one yourself, now is a great time.

Don’t feel you have a good sense for how to have crocheters beating a path to your door? This is how to get in the loop fast. These conferences are where the serious Crochet Culture happens. Don’t make your crocheting customers rely on the internet for community for the rest of the year.

Immerse yourself in the thriving crochet culture. Witness firsthand which classes, teachers, designers, vendors, and products generate the most buzz. Meet the designers or national-level teachers your customers want to learn from in your shop. Some of the most prominent crochet designers have actively supported CGOA for years. They’re very accessible to their fans at conferences. This keeps the inspiration stoked, which pays off for the shop owner who takes advantage of it.

A few yarn shop owners have been attending CGOA conferences all along. I have a feeling, however, that many others do not see it for the business-savvy trip it is.

This article is the second of six “News From the CGOA” columns I wrote for Yarn Market News. Find links to all six in the Advice for Yarn Shops blog post.

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Crochet Advice for Yarn Shops

I used a CGOA column to provide crochet advice for yarn shops in six Yarn Market News issues - five covers from 2007-2009 shown

From 2006 to 2009 I wrote six half-page “News From the CGOA” columns for a trade publication called Yarn Market News. It was mailed free of charge to all industry professionals. Its focus was on helping even the smallest yarn shop succeed.

Scroll to the end of this post for the linked list to all six full-text articles.

Crocheters nowadays might not know how CGOA professionals have worked for decades to make crochet visible in the minds of yarn shop owners and the rest of “the industry”—the yarn industry. It started with the founder, Gwen Blakely Kinsler. She and Nancy Brown, an early guild President, had a CGOA booth at annual industry events. They persisted.

When Crochet Was Sidelined

CGOA professionals spent long hours in CGOA booths at trade shows and markets, served on task forces and committees of other organizations, provided crochet for displays, and invited members of the wider industry to serve on CGOA’s board.

Maybe we need less of this kind of work nowadays. Crochet is no longer sidelined as much in favor of knitting. (Nancy Brown used to say crochet was treated like a “red-headed stepsister”.) Meanwhile the internet is a big factor in declining attendance at trade shows, and in overall ad revenues.

I have fond memories of performing this free labor with Marty Miller and with many more designing friends! Marty and I helped check in fashion show items at the The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) trade shows, for example. Truly, folks: every fashion show entry was knitted except for approximately two crocheted things.

In that climate, you can imagine that yarn shops needed crochet advice badly. I met many yarn shop people at industry events who wanted to attract and satisfy more crocheting customers, but didn’t know how. I drew on these experiences when I wrote the six “News From the CGOA” columns for Yarn Market News.

The Crochet-In

At peak exasperation we staged a crochet-in, as a result of a Crochet Summit, in the middle of the 2007 TNNA show floor. It was a gentle and upbeat protest. Isn’t it weird that it was necessary?

  • 60s-style Crochet-In at 2007 TNNA industry show from front left around: Gwen Blakley Kinsler, Amy (yarn shop staff), Drew Emborsky, Candi Jensen, Doris Chan, Marty Miller, Jane Schwartz, Sheryl Means (Texas yarn shop owner)
    Crochet In, TNNA Show 2007 ©Amy O’Neill Houck
  • Kim Werker's photo of crochet designers & publishers during 60s-style crochet-in protest at 2007 TNNA show
    Another view of the Crochet In, TNNA 2007 ©Kim Werker
  • Amy O'Neill Houck's photo of Brett Bara podcasting while crochet designers protest last of crochet representation 60s-style at 2007 TNNA industry show
    Brett Bara podcasting about the 60’s style Crochet-In: TNNA Show, 2007 ©Amy O’Neill Houck
  • Linda Permann, Doris Chan, and Ellen Gormley using new season's yarns on the yarn wall to create crochet swatches to balance out all the knitted ones.
    TNNA show, 2011: Linda Permann, Doris Chan, Ellen Gormley are crocheting swatches for the ‘Great Wall of Yarn’ to balance out all the knitted ones.
Click each image for more information. Or view Amy O’Neill Houck’s here and my 2011 one here (including as a rough video).

Wearing Crochet Matters

When I re-read this 2008 blog post it does sound like we were starting to make a difference. Even just showing up with crochet on helped at a time when crocheters were under-served by this industry that we share with knitters. I wrote about the Minuet Vest prototype during this time. Doris and I had a blast doing this! Here’s a comment she left on this 2008 post about a TNNA show:

Wearing your stuff in public at events and in your everyday life does help raise the level of crochet consciousness. I used to get annoyed when the typical response was “Oh, did you knit that?”. Can’t fault anyone for not readily discerning the differences between some knit and some crochet stitches. Nowadays I treat such comments as teachable moments…There will come a day when I won’t feel the need to do this, either! 🙂

Yarn shop owners stopped to ask us about the crochet we wore on the trade show floor and displayed in booths. The crochet classes offered at TNNA shows may have been meager at times, but they were well attended by yarn shop staff. I directly experienced yarn shop owners seeking crochet advice. The only source I knew of was the Yarn Market News column. Isn’t this also weird?

Crochet Advice for Yarn Shops: Today

If improving crochet – industry relations were all CGOA did, the annual membership dues I pay it would be worth it for me. Shop owners still need business advice about crochet and I don’t know where they can get it nowadays. Soho Publishing ceased publication of Yarn Market News with their January 2020 issue.

CGOA has offered to help local stores succeed with crochet since our founding in 1993. CGOA members have always shopped in their local yarn shops and craft stores, looking for inspiration and new products with crocheters in mind. Yarn Market News offered a way for CGOA to speak directly to yarn shop owners and I’m grateful for it.

Full text of Vashti’s “News From the CGOA” columns in Yarn Market News:

This might also interest you:

New Guild Goings-On

I wrote “New Guild Goings-On” for Yarn Market News magazine in 2008. Both the CGOA Design Contest and the growth of local chapters are still important for yarn shop owners to know about in 2020.

This was the January 2008 issue. Beginning with the May 2006 issue I wrote the News from the CGOA column every January and May for three years. Text of my original, updated submission follows.

January 2008 Yarn Market News cover and "News from the CGOA" column page on the CGOA design contest and local chapters
January 2008 “News from the CGOA: New Guild Goings-On” column by Vashti Braha for Yarn Market News.

New Guild Happenings

CGOA has two important developments to announce. The most exciting news is the launch of our first annual Design Contest, with a grand prize of $1000. It is open to CGOA members only and the four prize categories are: Women’s Fashion, Home Decor, Baby, and Accessories. A First Place ($300), Second Place ($200), and Third Place ($100) prize will be awarded to entries in each category. The Grand Prize will be awarded to the best design among all categories.

Note: Prizes for the CGOA Design Contest have increased every year since 2008! –2020 Vashti

First Annual Design Contest

All entries in the contest will be displayed and judged at the CGOA Annual 2008 Chain Link Conference in Manchester, NH. We’ll announce the winners on July 24, 2008 during the Keynote Address. The People’s Choice Award carries an additional prize of $100. Attendees are encouraged to cast a vote for their choices on the market floor.

Vashti models the Weightless Wrap, a winner of the 2010 CGOA Design Contest
The Tunisian Weightless Wrap was a
winner of the 2010 CGOA Design Contest.

We are especially grateful to Coats & Clark. By generously providing the cash prizes, they are making it possible for us to revive our beloved tradition of juried exhibits. Gwen Blakley Kinsler, founder of CGOA, established them.

The CGOA Design Contest will also serve to powerfully reinforce the guild’s mission—to promote future design ideas, to encourage excellence in all facets of crochet, and to uphold standards of art and skill. Viewing a CGOA exhibit has always been an unforgettable experience.

Freeform and thread crochet designs are also encouraged. For contest rules, entry form and general information, visit https://www.crochet.org/page/CLConference (in 2020 the direct link is https://www.crochet.org/page/CL20DesignCompetition.) Email questions to [email protected].

Note: The deadline for 2008 entries was June 15, 2008; in 2020, due to the Coronavirus outbreak, the event has been postponed.

Local CGOA Chapter Upsurge

Even in this age of electronic and mechanical automation, crochet is one of the very few crafts that cannot be machine-made. This special attribute makes CGOA’s mission to promote crochet a crucial one. Crochet can continue to exist for only as long as there are hands that know how to create it, stitch by stitch.

As you might imagine, we’re also very pleased to report that CGOA is seeing a sustained upsurge in local chapter activity; it’s fundamental to the success of our purpose. Broader lifestyle trends in the general public, and flourishing online crochet resources, bolster interest in crochet. Another likely factor in the growth of our local chapters is that non-CGOA members are now welcome to participate in the local chapters.

Chapter Projects for Charities

Many members cite their chapter’s charity projects as being the most rewarding. This includes creative reasons: members learn from each other about new yarns and stitches. The One Hook Hookers Chapter of central New Jersey is a good example. Their members are abuzz about donating to area cancer care hospitals for anyone undergoing chemotherapy.

Members of the Fishnet Hookers in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire just finished lapghan donations for HEARTH (Helping Elders At Risk Through Homelessness). They’re now starting on pocket scarves and shawls for them. One member wrote, “It is great fun to see the variety of creations that come in – we all ooh and aah over each other’s work.”

Retailers who keep current with the charity projects that hook their local crocheters will capture their hearts and create repeat customers.

Another thing to know about charity crocheters: they typically clock a lot of yarn-miles. They need a constant supply of yarn. Consider that it is the widening range of charity projects, from durable afghans for the homeless to butter-soft chemo caps, that teaches many crocheters how to choose the right yarn for the job.

For CGOA Design Contest or chapter inquiries in 2020, please contact CGOA’s Executive Director Deb Ryan of Celtic Associations. Call 847.647.7500 or email [email protected].

This article is the fourth of six “News From the CGOA” columns I wrote for Yarn Market News. Find links to all six in the Advice for Yarn Shops blog post.