I've had the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework since Junior High. In this book is the coolest looking crochet loop stitch. Once every couple years I'll do a swatch of it and then remember - ugh! - that if you pull on the swatch at all the loops just pull through. The crochet loop fabric just won't hold together.

I just noticed that my book 300 Crochet Stitches Vol. 6 has a loopy crochet stitch hidden in the instruction part of the book. I hadn't noticed it since it's not in the illustrated part of the book with the other 300 stitches. The instructions are different than the Guide, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

Eureka! It totally works. The fabric is solid and doesn't pull apart. I did a blue swatch with the loops and a cream swatch where I cut the loops to make fur. It looks and feels great. Why, oh why, could I have discovered this in Junior High when I could have made myself a bazillion furry pillows and a furry blanket for my bedroom? I *want* to do that now, but I share my bedroom with this guy ... and, well, I'm pretty sure he'd object.