English Name: Tunisian Japanese Purl Stitch (tjps)
Symbol
Level of Curling: Heavy curling. More information on the natural curling of Tunisian crochet.
Suggested Foundation: Typical foundation row.
For many years, I’ve let people know that I used the Japanese chart symbols when writing this book. I wanted to try to establish some standard symbols in the US and I wanted people to be able to learn the symbols in my book and then apply them to the Japanese chart books.
It was recently brought to my attention that my Tunisian Purl is different than the Japanese chart books. I yarn over as I’ve learned in my Tunisian crochet books. I yarn over like this for all stitches (except when it’s impossible).
I have decided to designate the purl I use as simply “Tunisian Purl Stitch” and the one in the Japanese books as “Tunisian Japanese Purl Stitch.” Notice the very subtle difference between the way the yarn is pulled through in the two stitches.
Foundation Row
If you are unfamiliar with the foundation row, or the first row, of Tunisian crochet, you’ll need to review our foundation row tutorial.
Tunisian Crochet Japanese Purl Stitch: Step by Step
Instructions: Bring yarn to the front of your work, insert hook in a side to side motion (right to left for right-handers or left to right for left-handers) under front vertical bar, yarn under, pull loop through.
Notes: Because there is a yarn under in use, the legs of the stitch are twisted. Anytime you have a twisted stitch made with a yarn under, the rows will be shorter. Notice how squished up these rows are. You can barely see the bars.
This swatch is incredibly stretchy from top to bottom. It’s so stretchy you would think it’s a knit rib.
I’ve investigated by making a Honeycomb using the Japanese purl and it produces a different look. I can’t say that making the stitch is easy, though. You’ll want to practice and you may still want to use the regular purl. I don’t really think it’s going to make a huge difference in most cases.
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Yarn Support
The yarn shown in this stitch is Cascade 220 Superwash Wool in color 847 Caribbean. Thank you to Cascade Yarns for providing the yarn for this stitch library.
All images, charts, symbols and text, as shown on this page © Kim Guzman, 2019