Broomstick Lace aka Jiffy Lace

I have been fascinated with Broomstick Lace for years. Yes, years. And yes, I've only been crocheting for just under 2 years.

My mother from time to time has ventured into the craft world. On her current plate right now is knitting. And knitting one pattern, and one pattern only. She makes slippers from time to time when she has the time. I do believe that I have a pair floating around my apartment, I'll have to take pictures! But I digress. She has in the past also sewed, knitted other objects and crocheted, although the last two well before my memory time span.

One of the objects she made was an afghan made of Broomstick lace that is light and airy. She also made a baby blanket that we used for years as a doll blanket for our Cabbage Patch Kids which my nieces are now using!

My Grandmother recently moved and cleared out her stash of yarn and patterns. I gained 4 bags of yarn (almost all acrylics) and several pattern books, including one with instructions for Jiffy lace.

Several of you have mentioned wanting to learn / try the Broomstick lace so I thought that I might list some links to Tutorials that I have in my collection! For those of you who do not want to spend the money on purchasing the large knitting needles just to try this pattern, it is possible to use a ruler (one without sharp edges that will catch the yarn), dowels or even the original broomstick.....

Here are the tutorials:

Crochet Cabana Broomstick Lace - Nice with pictures

South Bay Crochet Tutorial - written, no pictures, includes tips and tricks

Crochet By The Hook - Includes pattern for hat with instructions

While not a lot of patterns exist out there for broomstick lace, I think that the possibilities are endless!

I have a few ideas floating around in my head of finished projects - a unique finish on a sweater, edging on a hat, edging at the top of socks. Scarves as I've shown in my swatching this morning. You could easily work this into several designs for afghans.

The technique is flexible - you can use three, four, five or even six loops at a time for the pattern repeats, making sure that you have the correct multiples in the patterns. You can even change it up for variety....using multiples of 15 will allow you to switch back and forth between groups of 5 and groups of 3, multiples of 12 between 6 and 4 or even 6 and 3!

I would love to see what people can come up with using this over looked technique!

I do believe my missing Muse has been located.....