Tatted Kokopelli

Earlier this month my husband and I spent some time in Taos, New Mexico. It’s a beautiful, historic place with lots of gorgeous adobe buildings and museums. I loved the old church on the south end of town, but most especially I enjoyed the Taos Pueblo. It is located just outside of Taos and is a living Native American community which has been inhabited for over 1000 years.

Kokopelli is seen on ancient petroglyphs in the American southwest and dates back over 3000 years. He is very common on much of Native American art, and I really enjoy him. I thought it would be fun to make him up in tatting. And also since he changes winter to spring, it’s the perfect time of year.

You can read more about Kokopelli here. This page is at an online shop, but they have a good description of him.

This design is experienced beginner/intermediate level and uses one shuttle. I used size 20 Flora Buttercup Dark (color 225).

Printable pattern (170K. Opens a new window.)

Patterns are available for download as a PDF file and are readable by using Adobe Reader. Download Adobe Reader free.

You will need:

Thread in your choice of color and size.
1 tatting shuttle
1 safety pin
1 small crochet hook is optional, but very helpful

ds	double stitch	p	picot	lp	long picot
j	join	lj	lock join	sp	small picot

Instructions:

Make the long picots on the head so they’re about 1/2″ (1.5 cm) long when closed.
R (head): (3 lp) 4 times, 24ds p 6ds p 3ds, close, turn
Ch: 5ds turn
R: 3ds j to last p of head, (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds, close, turn
Ch: 6ds turn
R: 3ds j to last p of previous R, (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds, close, turn
Ch: 8ds turn
R: 4ds j to last p of previous R, (4ds p) 2 times, 4ds, close, turn
Ch: 8ds turn
R: 5ds j to last p of previous R, (5ds p) 2 times, 5ds, close, turn
Ch: 10ds turn
R: 6ds j to last p of previous R, (6ds p) 2 times, 6ds, close, turn
Ch: 10ds turn
R (skirt1): 6 ds j to last p of previous R, 5ds p 1ds, close, turn
Ch: 18ds lj to last p of previous R, 5ds

Tricky part 1:
Add safety pin to shuttle thread. This creates a small loop on the lower edge of the chain for joining later in the pattern.

Ch: 18ds, turn
R (skirt2): 1ds j to loop at safety pin, 5ds j to same p as first j in R(skirt1), 6ds, close, turn
Ch: 6ds lj to next available p, 4ds lj to next p, 4ds lj to next p
Ch (arms): 9ds sp 9ds

Tricky part 2:
Pull the sp in the arms slightly apart. Fold the main body up at the sp so that the next available p on the body is positioned for a regular join. Pull a loop through this picot, pull the shuttle through and tighten as you would for a join. Instead of continuing with your stitching, do a shoelace trick here to position the threads to continue along the body.

Ch: 2ds lj to next available p, 3ds lj to last p of head, 4ds lj to next p on head. Do not turn.
Ch: 9ds j to sp on arms, 9ds
Cut and tie.

When blocking, pull the long picots on the head taut and shape the feet.