Yarnovations

Broomstick Lace – Easier Than You Think

My (Dana) first impressions of broomstick lace were 1) it creates a gorgeous texture and 2) it will be difficult to learn. I may have been right on the first point, but I was oh, so wrong on the second.

At first, it felt a bit clunky working with a knitting needle while crocheting (especially one with the diameter of a broomstick handle). But in a short amount of time it became easy and even relaxing to create broomstick lace. In fact, I taught a friend how to broomstick lace in her second crochet lesson ever! Once she mastered the single crochet, she had all the skills she needed to create a beautiful broomstick lace scarf.

The Crimson Cowl pictured here was made with traditional broomstick lace. It originally appeared in Love of Crochet magazine and is now FREE in the shop.

Broomstick Lace – The Basics

Broomstick is created without turning your work, in two stages. First, there is a loop row where loops are put on a knitting needle (#50 is traditionally used). Then, there is a crochet row where crochet is worked around the loops (sc is traditionally used).

Below are the stages used to create traditional broomstick lace:

Start Your Project

• Chain the length you want (i.e. 26 ch)
• Sc in 2nd ch and each ch across. Do not turn work. (25 sc)

Stage One: Loop Row
Work from Left to Right (for right handed crocheters)

• Make the loop on your hook larger and transfer it to a knitting needle.
• Put your hook through the back loop of next st, yo (yarn over), draw up a loop and transfer it to a knitting needle. Repeat across work. Do not turn work. (25 loops on knitting needle)

Stage Two: Crochet Row
Work from Right to Left (for right handed crocheters)

• Carefully remove knitting needle from loops. Be mindful not to tug on the loops because they are all connected.
• Starting at the right side, put the first five loops on your hook and ch 1 around the loops. This brings your working yarn to the top of your work.
• Work 5 sc around the first 5 loops. Insert hook through next 5 loops, work 5 sc around them:repeat across the row. (25 sc made: 5 sc around 5 sets of 5 loops)

Repeat Stage One and Two to desired length.

Broomstick Lace Variation – Similar to Knitting Drop Stitch

One of my favorite variations is to work one sc in one loop. This creates something that looks similar to drop stitch in knitting. I call it single stranded broomstick lace.

This technique is worked just like traditional broomstick lace but with only one stitch per loop. So, following the instructions above, you would still have 25 loops on your hook and 25 sc at the end of each row.

This technique also looks great with various sized knitting needles. Use a #17 and a #50 alternately to create different lengths of single stranded broomstick lace.

There are lots of other variations that can be worked with broomstick lace. You can twist the loops prior to working sc around them. You can work other stitches besides sc around the loops such as hdc and dc. You can grab more or less than five loops at a time.

Broomstick Lace – Video

I’ve created a short video on broomstick lace: both traditional and single stranded are highlighted.

Broomstick Lace – Yarn Selection

If you want your broomstick lace texture to stand out, select a yarn with good drape. Yarns like silk, bamboo or linen work great. I also recommend lighter colors.

Pictured on the right is Milky Whey yarn by Kollage Yarns. This pattern was made with stranded broomstick lace on knitting needles #17 and #50. There is also a section of puff stitch and sc work.

This broomstick lace cowl pattern is available in the store.

Broomstick Lace pattern available on Etsy.

Textured yarn like boucle or thick yarn like wool and acrylic will hide the texture of broomstick lace, so I wouldn’t recommend them if you want good stitch definition.

That being said, a yarn that has multiple textures may look quite nice. The stitch definition may suffer, but the various yarns will showcase broomstick lace stitches differently making the whole project very interesting.

Pictured on the right is a single stranded broomstick lace cowl using yarn that has six different textures in one skein. This followed the same instructions as the crimson cowl above only working one sc in each loop.

If you haven’t tried broomstick lace, I hope this article has helped you understand a bit more about it and offered you some encouragement to try it. Find us on Facebook and G+ to let us know.