Directions for Hairpin Lace

Hairpin lace can be made with a special hairpin, or one you make yourself by twisting some wire.

Hairpin lace creates stunning and elegant effects. The technique is a bit tricky, but once mastered it enables you to create intricate and stunning designs from any type or thickness of yarn. Hairpin lace makes for fabulous scarves, sweaters, skirts and shawls. It also adds elegant edgings and interesting accents to any project you are already working on. There are many commercial hairpin looms available, but a simple one can be made by twisting a piece of wire into the required shape.

Things You'll Need

• Yarn
• Crochet hook
• Hairpin, or piece of wire twisted into a hairpin shape

Instructions

Make the Lace

1. Tie a slip knot into your thread, slip the knot over the left hand side of the hairpin and tighten the knot a little bit, but not completely. Hold the hairpin with either the prongs facing you or facing away from you–whichever way is more comfortable for you.

2. Wrap the yarn around the back of the hairpin and around the right hand side of the forked pin, bringing the yarn around to the front of the pin.

3. Put your crochet hook through the slip knot (from the bottom) that you looped onto the left hand side of the fork. Hook the yarn above it (the yarn you just wrapped around the right hand side of the fork), and pull the yarn through the original slip knot. Then chain one stitch.

4. Keep the stitch on the hook, and turn the crochet hook up and through the center of the hairpin so that the hook is at the back of your project. Then flip or turn the entire frame from right to left. This will cause the yarn to loop onto the fork and now the crochet hook will be in front of you and ready to chain one. Insert crochet hook between the two loops on the left to make a single crochet.

5. Continue in this way (flipping the crochet hook to the back of the project, turning the hairpin so that the yarn loops onto the fork, chaining one stitch and then making a single crochet) until the lace is as long as you want it to be. Finish off as you would a regular crochet stitch.

6. Make as many long strings of hairpin lace as your project needs. Attach the strands together by linking the loops with a crochet hook or running a line of single crochet to attach the strands together.

References

• Bella Online: Instructions for Making Hairpin Lace
• Crochet Cabana: Hairpin Lace
• Knitting-Crochet.com: Hairpin Lace Instructions
• Stitch Diva: Hairpin Lace Tutorials