Skip to main content

Who am I?




Five years ago (or so) I picked up a crochet hook for the very first time - with some trepidation, I might add. I had been knitting for a while and was OK at that. Crochet just appealed to me somehow. It seemed easier, more compact and prettier. Those cute little flowers and amigurumi animals got me all excited and I had to have a go.

That very first YouTube video was for an amiguruni ball - nothing more than single crochet and few increases and decreases. But within minutes, the crochet hook was settled in my hands and to my amazement, something resembling a ball was emerging. Turned out I could do it and I didn't need anyone to teach me. Except that lovely YouTube lady...

Five years on, the knitting needles are in the bottom of the wicker basket and the crochet hooks are having pride of place right at the top. Not only is my home adorned with blankets, cushions, coasters and trivets - it is over run with cotton galore - in so many gorgeous shades.

Five years on and I am teaching crochet to unsuspecting students who at some time in their lives have thought to themselves "If only I could crochet". Well, you know what, you can!

I specialise in teaching beginners and in the last two years, I have come across only a handful of people who have struggled with crochet to the extent that they gave up. Usually, the desire to succeed is enough. With time, anything can become second nature.

I teach sporadically (this isn't my career) so the rest of the time, I am sat in my front room banging out web copy on my computer. I am that person who ghost writes other people's blogs, encourages you to buy products you probably don't want and who makes websites sound pretty much awesome. I am a copywriter and run my own freelance business. I have a couple of lovely ladies who write for me and I have the pleasure of working from home and setting my own hours. More time for crochet...

You will notice that I am pretty much as far from the chintzy crochet brigade as you can get. My crochet is bold and exciting, my baking skills are dismal and I can work in a pigsty and never really notice. I am married and I have kids, but I am far from the perfect wife. But I love to create lovely things for my friends and family and always have time for picking up a crochet hook.

This blog is how I will be advertising my crochet classes here in Basingstoke, Hampshire and showing off my creations. I can even make something for you, if you like.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Love Heart pattern and magic circle tutorial

So - we all know it is Valentines day coming up and coincidently, I am teaching a crochet class this week. In that lovely harmonious way, I can marry up my class with my love of all things cute and help my beginners to make some pretty little crocheted love hearts. I have created a tutorial for them, with some photos included which I will post up here for all to see. The main focus of this is to teach the magic circle (the way I do it, anyway) - but it is also a great way to practise some basic stitches and create something really cute. The class is actually a freebee for a group of friends and is a great way for me to get back into teaching crochet as I haven't done any for a good six months (events conspired and all that...). There will be six ladies attending and I expect that more cups of tea will be drunk than love hearts made! Take a look at the tutorial and pattern here: Tiny Valentines Hearts (using a magic circle) Make a magic circle: Wrap the wool arou...

Have Sunday mornings ever looked so nice?

Woke up on Sunday morning, nice and early, to bright sunshine. Not a regular occurrence in the UK, so worth making the most of. Made myself a lovely cup of tea, served in my 750ml floral cup and got out my latest project: a cushion cover of odds and ends made into solid granny squares. I spent 2 hours soaking up the sun, making a huge number of little squares that will be joined together using the join-as-you-go method with red wool. As you can see from my "into the sun" shot - it was warm - beautifully warm. Blissful in fact. The whole family stayed in bed, while I appreciated our newly cleaned garden. So the blissful bit might have come from being alone. Sometimes you just need it...alone with nothing but your thoughts and a crochet hook. I thought I deserved a break after spending 4 hours on Saturday making the garden look like this. Oh my aching back!

Remember the retro blanket...?

Well, it was finished some time ago. That Attic 24 inspired, Stylecraft Special DK stripey monstrosity. It now takes pride of place on our bed and is patiently waiting for us to re-wallpaper the wall behind to match. We did buy new blinds for the window in a lovely shade of green - but then ran out of steam. The wardrobe doors are also in a state of distress owing to the fact they were stripped but never painted... that's not good "shabby chic distressed" either. Its the bad kind. This was the first time I had tried a ripple and I am really pleased. We decided that it didn't need a border and I was too excited to put it on the bed in any case. That might be a project for another day. But actually, I like the ripply edge. Yes, you have noticed correctly. It doesn't quite fit our double bed and is really only for a single bed. I blame my lack of skills in the measuring department.  The next blanket I tackled was for our teenage son and as...