Crochet

Patterns, projects and techniques

CRO-TATTING, combining crochet with tatting

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If you like delicate crochet, you’ll love cro-tatting. I’ve seen this done ‘up close and personal’ from my friend Vicki Owen. We only get to see each other a couple times a year, but Vicki always shows up with some wonderful new design, employing her cro-tatting talents. She swears by her Japanese hooks, ones which you’ll not find at the usual outlets. She loved cro-tatting enough that she invested in this unique but costly set of hooks.

Traditional tatting is done with shuttles.  Shuttles can still be purchased at many craft stores, but there is a great market in the many forms of antique shuttles, bone, ivory, tortoise shell, etc.  Another form of tatting is with a longish needle with a large eye – large enough to carry size 10 thread to make delicate knots and picots using the needle and a finger.  Cro-tatting is distinct from these other forms in that it combines the flexibility of crochet and the ease of use of a crochet hook.  Cro-tatting hooks are typically longer than traditional crochet hooks, more the length of a tunisian hook, but with a long, tapered shaft.  The cro-tatting hooks sold at Annies Attic have plastic handles.  The expensive Japanese hooks used by Vicki Owen and other ‘serious’ cro-tatters are tapered metal hooks that look very much like plain ole’ crochet hooks, but are shaped a bit differently.

I actually took a needle tatting class at the Missouri Fiber Festival one year.  It was fun and I ‘got’ it.  But, I’m not one who typically creates ‘fru-fru’ items.  I much more the practical type so I didn’t see a great way for me to fit another craft in my repertoire.  However, one can make really dainty embellishments for garments as well as accompaniments to scrapbooking and other paper crafts.  So, if you enjoy scrapbooking, you might want to give this a whirl.

Here are some sites where you can get a good look at some of the lovely cro-tatted projects:

http://www.geocities.com/mountainhome1999/

http://groups.msn.com/Cro-Tatting/membersoriginaldesigns.msnw

www.georgiaseitz.com

Below is a course image from the Godey’s Lady’s Book showing a sample row of cro-tatting.

There are far better pictures on some websites out there.  Check out some of the links I’ve posted above.  You may fall in love with the crochet hybrid the same way Vicki Owen did!

Comments

  2. There is only one cro-tatting book I’m aware of – maybe two. Hobby Lobby used to carry the one. I’d check sites like amazon.com and alibris.com and enter the keyword cro-tatting.

    jd

  3. Hello All!! I found my crotat needles at LACIS.com and a book on the subject. I find all of my great old books at LACIS, shipping is very fast. Hope this helps, Pat San Antonio, texas Let me know is this co., helps,,,,

  4. Pat,
    Thanks for sharing the site where you got your cro-tatting hooks/needles. I have been looking every where and was about to give up finding any. Now I can use the book I have had for several years.

  6. The photo at the top of the yellow snowflake is NOT cro-tat… its totally tatted. Normally in cro-tat, rings would be tatted, and crochet for the chains between the rings. Examine and you will see the chains are not crochet chains.

Have you read?

Shock Wave Free Crochet Lap Blanket Pattern

This Free Shock Wave Crochet Lap Blanket Pattern from Mary Maxim looks like one of those wonderfully satisfying projects that gives big cozy payoff without fiddly detail. Mary Maxim lists it as a free download, designed as a crochet afghan/lap blanket, with a finished size of 45 x 50 inches.

What immediately stands out is the yarn choice. The pattern is made with Bernat Blanket Extra Thick, using 5 skeins, and calls for a U.S. U/50 (25 mm) crochet hook. That is gloriously chunky territory, which usually means fast progress and lots of squishy texture. If you are in the mood for a project that feels substantial in your hands and grows quickly row by row, this one definitely has that appeal.

Mary Maxim describes the blanket as having a beautifully textured, plush, soft finish and suggests it as a project for home décor or gifting. Based on the materials and oversized hook alone, that sounds about right. This feels like the sort of blanket you make for curling up on the couch, draping over a chair, or giving as a practical handmade gift that will actually get used instead of folded away “for best.”

The pattern is marked Easy, and the listed stitch requirements are straightforward: chain, repeat, double crochet, single crochet, and slip stitch. That makes it sound approachable for confident beginners and very appealing for anyone who wants a relaxing crochet project without too much counting drama.

I also think the lap blanket size is a smart one. Not every crochet blanket needs to become a giant commitment that takes over the lounge room and your will to live. A 45 x 50 inch blanket is a useful, manageable size for gifting, for wheelchairs or reading nooks, or just for keeping on hand for chilly evenings. That practicality gives this pattern extra appeal. The usability point is my own take based on the finished dimensions Mary Maxim provides.

At the moment, the pattern page shows no reviews, so there is not much customer feedback to go on yet. Still, if you enjoy easy crochet blanket patterns, super chunky crochet throws, or quick lap blanket projects, this one looks like a solid freebie to save.

My overall take? This looks like a fast, cozy, beginner-friendly crochet blanket pattern with plenty of texture and instant-gratification energy. Very much the sort of project you start because it looks easy, then keep going because the yarn feels ridiculously soft.