First, a note about hairpin lace looms. They come How to Make and Join Hairpin Lace

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1 First, a note about hairpin lace looms. They come How to Make and Join Hairpin Lace in a few varieties. Most often the top and bottom bars can slide off but you may have one that has clip-on top and bottom bars. There are a variety of holes you can use to put your long bars in to form strips of lace of varying sizes. In most of the tutorial pictures shown, the bars are on the widest setting so it's easy to see what's going on. However, the strips used to show how to join them togheter were made using a smaller inter-bar distance. If you make the strips wider, the weave will be a little looser when you join the strips together, but it works the same (if you want a tighter fabric with wider strips, you can use more loops at a time when you weave the fabric together). If you have a pattern that calls for a strip of a specific width, use a measuring tape to In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a basic measure between the holes in the bars and choose strip of hairpin lace and one way of joining strips whichever ones are closest to the desired size (to of lace to form a fabric. This technique works very be very precise, measure to the outsides of the well for blankets and scarves! holes, which is where the yarn will be wrapped). Materials: Creating a Strip of Hairpin Lace Hairpin Lace Loom, available at most craft 1. Tie a slip-knot in your yarn (leaving a long stores. tail for weaving in at the end). Remove the Yarn specified by your pattern (here, Caron bottom bar of your loom and loop the Simply Soft) slipknot over the bar. The knot should be Crochet hook specified by your pattern centered between the two bars. For a right(here, an H hook) handed person (all of these pictures are Stitch markers or loops of yarn in a right-handed), the loop should be on the contrasting color. right bar, and the yarn underneath the left bar. Put the bar back on your loom.

2 2. Lifting the right side of the loom, turn the loom over. The initial loop should now be on the left side, with the yarn wrapped around the bar on the right. Hold the yarn as you normally would for crocheting, while holding the loom in your left hand. 3. Insert your crochet hook through the loop, hook the yarn and pull through, yarn over and pull through again to form your first stitch. 4. To prepare for the next stitch, turn your crochet hook so the hook is facing down.

3 5. Next, flip the crochet hook to the back of the work (the hook will now be up, but on the back side). It's a good idea to put a stitch marker or a loop of thread on the newly-formed loop on the right side. Now you have one loop on each side. It's important to end up with the same number of loops on each side of your strip, so you will always know to finish a strip with this stitch marker in the front. 7. Insert your hook under the top loop on the left side (I use my left thumb to make it easier to see where to insert my hook, and for the first stitch on this side it will be the only loop), grab the working yarn, and pull it through, yarn over and pull through both loops on your hook. 6. Turn the loom by moving the right side toward you, exactly the same way you did the first time. The hook will now be in the front of the work.

4 8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have as many loops as your pattern calls for. To make it easier to count, I like to put stitch markers every 30 stitches or so. Also, don't be afraid to scrunch up your stitches, you can definitely fit over 100 stitches on one loom! If you need to make a longer strip, unhook the bottom bar and slide the strip partway off, rolling it up as you go. Leave a few loops on the loom and put the bottom bar back on, then continue making the lace strip. If I need to do this, I like to slide the rolled-up lace strip into the bottom part of the loom so it doesn't get hopelessly twisted while I finish the rest of the strip. When you're done, remove the bottom bar and slide the strip of lace off the loom. I like to roll the strip up as I go to prevent it from getting twisted and tangled. 2. Insert your hook through the first three loops on one strip. 3. Hook three loops from the second strip and pull them through the loops on your hook. Joining Strips Together 1. Lay two strips of lace side-by-side.

5 4. Hook three loops from the first strip and pull them through the loops on your hook. 5. Continue in this fashion until you have used up all the loops. Voila! You're done! It's also a good idea to periodically check the back of the project to make sure you haven't missed any loops (it will be very obvious from the back), and make sure you alternate strips every time 6. To keep the strips from coming apart at the otherwise you will end up with an odd-looking gap end, pull one of the yarn tails at the end of in your fabric, and an angled edge. (See example, below, of gap). the strips through the last three loops on your hook (you can add a fringe or some edging later). 7. An important note for joining more than two strips You MUST alternate which side you start on when joining strips. If you start on the right side strip the first time, you must start on the left side strip for the next addition. Continue alternating which I hope this has been helpful! For a video showing side you start on, otherwise you will end up this technique as well as other tutorials and with a fabric that angles up quite steeply! patterns, visit! Happy Crocheting! 8. If you'd like to finish the edging (though the loops are kind of fun and you're welcome to leave them that way if you'd like), you can work the edges in the same way, by pulling through three loops at a time all the way up the side.