Tunisian Crochet Purl Stitch

Today, I would like to share with you this easy tutorial on how to make the Tunisian Crochet Purl Stitch.

A major reason why you might want to follow this tutorial is that the Tunisian purl stitch is one of the two ingredients required for the Tunisian Honeycomb stitch.
The honeycomb is by far one of the most known Tunisian crochet stitches out there and is also very easy. All you need to know is how to crochet the Tunisian simple stitch and the Tunisian purl stitch.

But the purl stitch is just not only for the honeycomb. Just like in knitting, the purl stitch will allow you to create the right texture for ribbings, or to give more visibility to cables.

Tunisian Crochet and Curling

Good news on the front of curling.
There are just a few Tunisian crochet stitches that do not curl, and the Tunisian purl stitch is one of those. Yay!

Purl vs Reverse

At first sight, the texture of the Tunisian purl stitch somehow reminds that of the Tunisian reverse stitch. However, you’ll see that the purl stitch creates a much thinner and flatter fabric than the reverse stitch.

So, while the reverse stitch is great to create some raised effects on your project, the purl stitch is great for making it flatter. As mentioned above, think about cables, ribbings, and so on.

Abbreviation and Chart Symbol

The official abbreviation of the Tunisian Purl Stitch is Tps and here below you can see its official chart symbol.

Before You Start This Tutorial

This tutorial assumes that you already know how to crochet a foundation row.

In case you do not know how to make a Tunisian foundation row, I suggest you go back to this tutorial. You can follow exactly what the tutorial says and crochet a foundation row of 15 sts. Then, come back and join me right here!

If you already know how to crochet a Tunisian foundation row, that’s super! Get your foundation row ready with 15 sts and go ahead with learning the Tunisian crochet purl stitch.

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Materials

– Yarn of choice. In this tutorial, I used some sport-weight yarn.
– Regular crochet hook without big handles. Here, I used a 4.5 mm (7 US) crochet hook.

Tunisian Purl Stitch

1. Let’s start with our foundation row with 15 sts.
2. Bring your working yarn to the front of your hook.
3. Insert your hook under the vertical bar of the designated stitch as you would do for a regular Tunisian simple stitch.
4. Lower your working yarn as shown in panel 4 of the picture below.

5. Yarn over.
6. Pull up a loop.

Congratulations, you just did your first purl stitch!

7. Continue working purl stitches in all next vertical bars until you reach the last stitch.
Crochet the last stitch by inserting your hook under both loops. This will ensure a neater edge to your project.
8. Make a standard return pass.
Keep reading below for more info on how to do a Tunisian standards return pass.

How to Make a Standard Return Pass

For more details about the standard return pass, you can take a look at this blog post.

In short, yarn over and pull through one loop on your hook, *yarn over and pull through two. Repeat from * until you have only one loop remaining on your hook.

Keep repeating the same steps described above to grow your project longer and longer.

When you reach your final row, it is time to bind off!

How to Bind Off with the Purl Stitch

As with knitting, also in Tunisian crochet, the bind off looks way better when you do it “in pattern”. What does that mean?
It means that you have to work your bind-off row using the same stitch pattern as your previous rows.

For the Tunisian purl stitch, this means that you have to work every stitch like a regular purl stitch but end it with a slip stitch instead of leaving it on your hook.

I hope you enjoyed learning how to crochet the Tunisian Crochet Purl Stitch. Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you need any help or support. I am looking forward to seeing all your beautiful makes on Facebook and Instagram!