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?

Red Melt The Ice Slouch Beanie Crochet Pattern Review

Some crochet projects are made simply because we need a warm hat. Some are made because we need a quick gift, a stash-busting project, or something easy to work on while watching television. And then there are crochet projects that carry a message.

This Red Slouch Beanie Crochet Pattern PDF sits firmly in that last category.

Inspired by the Melt the ICE craftivism movement, this red crochet beanie is more than just a wearable winter accessory. It is a handmade political statement — soft, practical, visible, and rooted in the long tradition of protest through craft.

You can find the Red Slouch Beanie Crochet Pattern PDF here.

Crochet as Protest

Crafters have always had a way of saying things with their hands. Quilts have carried coded messages, embroidery has documented women’s lives, banners have marched through the streets, and yarn crafts have wrapped public spaces in colour and defiance.

This beanie belongs to that same creative lineage.

The phrase Melt the ICE gives this pattern its political edge. It connects the humble red crochet hat to conversations around immigration enforcement, detention, family separation, human rights, community care, and the role ordinary people can play in public protest.

And that is what makes this pattern interesting. It is not loud in the way a placard is loud, but it is visible. A red handmade hat catches the eye. It invites questions. It gives the maker a way to wear their values without needing to shout over anyone.

Sometimes craftivism works because it is disarming. People expect political protest to be hard-edged, but handmade work brings something different to the conversation. It says, “I cared enough to make this stitch by stitch.”

About the Pattern

The pattern itself is beginner-friendly and refreshingly straightforward. The hat is worked flat in rows, then seamed and gathered to create a relaxed slouch beanie shape. That makes it especially approachable for crocheters who are still building confidence with wearable projects.

Instead of needing to work in the round or fuss with crown shaping from the start, you are essentially making a rectangle and turning it into a hat. I love that kind of construction because it gives beginners a real sense of achievement. You are not just practising stitches — you end up with something wearable and meaningful.

The design uses a textured crochet fabric, giving the finished beanie a cozy, slightly chunky look. The slouchy shape keeps it casual and modern, while the bold red colour gives it that unmistakable activist feel.

Why Red Matters

The red yarn is not just a colour choice here. It is part of the visual language of the project.

Red is urgent. Red is warm. Red is visible in a crowd. It can suggest anger, love, warning, solidarity, courage, and care all at once. For a political crochet project, that matters.

A red slouch beanie can be worn to rallies, community events, mutual aid gatherings, craftivism meet-ups, or simply out in everyday life as a quiet statement of support. It is one of those pieces that can be as bold or as subtle as the wearer wants it to be.

Of course, you could make the pattern in any colour, but for the Melt the ICE inspiration, red feels intentional. It gives the hat its message before a single word is spoken.