Cro-Tatting

This is one of those times when I suspect that I am the last person to discover something. No doubt people have been combining crochet and tatting for centuries. Although the name, cro-tat, this is new to me.

What's in a name? For me, everything! You see, I have long admired tatting and even thought to myself that I should one day learn. I wasn't in a hurry because tatting seemed like a craft that would require me to learn a whole new skill set and that takes time.

Then today, as I was reading my blogs of choice, my new friend Angie was sharing her latest creation. She crocheted an iPod case and embellished it with cro-tatting. Somehow, the prefix cro-, knocked down whatever barrier stood between me and tatting. I am comfortable with cro-! I have a collection of afghan crochet hooks in every size. "If I can tat with a crochet hook, I'm in!" I thought.

My first move was to Google cro-tat. My search led me to this Prym Newsletter with a set of basic instructions for cro-tatting. It looked like a great tutorial and I've gotten used to translating the European stitch abbreviations into what we use here in the US. Still, I felt like I would need a little more instruction to get me started.

I headed over to YouTube where I found this lovely video for the basic cro-tat stitch. This helped me quite a bit. The way the knots are cast on seems like it would be second nature for anyone who knits, but as a crocheter, I took a hard look. Once I had that part down, I was in great shape. I went back to the Prym tutorial and made this little flower shape.

Now my mind is whirling with excitement. It is so much fun to teach myself something new and I can't wait to do more. Of course now that I have cro-tatted, I can easily envision needle tatting and I can even see the ways in which needle tatting may be easier. There would be no worry of dropping your yarn as you pull the hook through your knots. It would be fun to try to make my own needle tatted lace. I can also see endless possibilities for incorporating cro-tatting into my crochet projects. Like I said, WHIRLING!

Okay, I'm probably getting ahead of myself, but I'm excited. I hope you enjoy exploring these links, but I warn you, the cro-tatting bug may be contagious!