I’m using the horrible flimsy 2 ply cotton that came with the kit. Because it was so flimsy it would actually pull apart if I pulled on it at all, which made me have to load my ds to the needle part of the hook, very carefully. BINGO! I found I could finally pull the hook thru the stitches! My problem had been I was loading them on just like when needle tatting, and they were too tight. In neede tatting, you don’t have to pull a HOOK thru the stitches, so you make them as tight as you can, but with cro-tatting the hook just gets stuck in those double stitches. I imagine it is like the bouillion stitch technique.

I’m also using the cro-tat hook that came in the kit. It has a very long shaft for loading stitches on, but the hook looks identical to my crochet hook #7 / 1.65mm. At the end of the long shaft is a plastic handle to hold on to, rather than the thumb groove that appears in regular crochet hooks.