Hairpin Lace Tutorial
Basic Loops
Hairpin lace is a very easy technique. Here I show you how to make the basic loops. These loops can be braided or crocheted together in various ways.
To create hairpin lace strips you need a hairpin lace loom.
You work hairpin lace by winding yarn around the prongs of the loom. That way you make loops that are held together by crochet in the center of the prongs.
This is a Prym loom where you put the prongs into holes in the top and down plasticholders. This way you can create different widths for your loops.
Make a slip knot.
Make a slip knot and put the left prong through it and fasten it to the loom. Center the knot right in the middle between the prongs, else your loops will not be the same length to the left and right.
Take the yarn over the right prong and behind the loom.
Draw the hook from beneath through the left loop. Yarn over hook and draw yarn through loop – chain 1.
The hook is now being flipped from the front side of the loom to the back side through the loom.
Turn the loom clockwise and catch the hook when it comes in front of you.
With the hook in front insert the hook from beneath through the left loop. Work a single crochet.
Continue working like this: Flip the crochet hook through the loom and work a single crochet from beneath into a previous loop. Work until you have made the desired amount of loops.
When there is nomore space on your loom to put the hook through the loom you can open the loom at the bottom and pull some loops out. This way you will get new space for more loops.
Before you pull the loops out insert a safety strand of yarn through the loops on the left and on the right side. This way your loops don’t get tangled up when they are taken off the loom and they are in perfect order for getting crocheted.
For counting loops you can insert stitch markers on the loops.
If your pattern says you need 200 loops, you have to make 200 loops on both sides.
When you look at my Free Patterns, you will find several free hairpin lace patterns.
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I was curious, I am just learning to hairpin lace from your tutorial, thank you, but when I had to take loops off to make more room, and I threaded in the “safety yarn”, when I have continued turning to make more lace and loops, my loops taken off have twisted. They still have my safety yarn in there, but they just don’t look as neat and wonderful as yours. My loom is 12 inches long. Thank you for your help!
Hi Chrystal,
Glad to hear you are using my tutorial for the hairpin lace technique.
The degree of twisting might be dependant on the type of yarn you use. My best guess is, that a cotton yarn would not twist as much, because the yarn is more ‘hard’ than a 100% wool yarn. On the last picture in my tutorial I have only taken a couple of loops off the loom. So when I take many loops off the loom the strips also look like a’bird’s nest’. This safety yarn is extremely useful, else you’ll have a difficult time assembling the strips in a neat way.
Some people use big safety pins instead. They gather groops of loops with it.
Hope this reply was helpful to you :-)
Thank you, that is extremely helpful! I am currently using worsted weight acrylic, since it is my play with version, but I still want to be able to make something with it, even if it is only 2 or 3 groups for a scarf or miniature stole. What about fishing line or thin, very pliable wire? I will likely be in a city with a craft store on Friday, so I can look for very large safety pins to help. Thank you again for your quick reply and for your willingness to share your craft and talent to help bless others!
Crystal
Hi again,
I choose a thin yarn for safety yarn that is still ‘hard’ like cotton. I have no experience with the other line or wire types you are mentioning. Making a knot easily with the yarn would be important to me.
Some people put up the safety yarn on the loom. Personally i find this method very messy, because the safety yarn gets tangled with the loops you are working with. It works for some people though and that way you don’t forget to insert the safety yarn before pulling the loops off the hook ;-)
I would love to see these directions for lefty’s! I suppose I could try to do it in front of a mirror…
Hi Karen,
I only offer a right hand instruction on my site, because I only offer tutorials where I am 100% sure about what I am writing about.
I found a Youtube video, where they explain the technique for left handed people. Search for hairpin lace left handed.
I was trying to work this like I work the broomstick lace, but they are nothing alike! How would I go about connecting more than one strip to put a baby blanket or a larger afghan together with different colors using this method? I am searching on Google but I cannot find anything very helpful. Thanks!
Hi Rashelle,
There are endless ways of joining hairpin lace strips. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.stitchdiva.com/tutorials/hairpin-lace/joining-strips-with-single-crochet
http://www.stitchdiva.com/tutorials/hairpin-lace/joining-strips-with-a-cable-join
There are also several videos on Youtube about it.
I have a free pattern for a hairpin lace scarf, where I show a crochet chart
If you make a blanket be sure to make more loops for the corners. Else the corners will get too tight. Hope this helped you in the right direction.
I was so happy to see I could again get back into Hairpin Lace! It is so beautiful! I made numerous afghans! Thank you!
You are welcome Beverly! Hairpin Lace is a wonderful and fast crochet technique. I keep meditating about how to use it for future projects.
My grandmother showed me how to do this hairpin lace. I used to love doing it, too. Thanks for showing the pictures…Linda
I love this idea and your patterns, but I was wondering where you can buy the loom needed to make the pin lace? I have been searching for a Prym Loom but it doesn’t look like what your picture shows.
Hi Holly,
I don’t know which country you come from, but I found some options for you on the internet. (It doesn’t have to be a specific hairpin lace loom, I just mentioned the manufacturer of mine).
http://www.amazon.com/Susan-Bates-Adjustable-Aluminum-Hairpin/dp/B00097HXHM
http://www.yarntools.com/hairpin-lace-looms.html
The technique is very easy and there are several videos on it on Youtube.
Well, that finally answers what those things are for. Thanks!
Yeps ;-) It is a very easy technique – you should try it out!
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