Welcome to Hooked by Me, My Crochet Journal

My name is Jodie and this blog is all about a hobby which I’m really into at the moment, crochet. I’ve only recently picked it back up again in the last year or so from when I was a child, so this blog will detail what I learn and create from here on in.

Now, I know it’s not what most people would call ‘rock n roll’, but I’m loving crochet at the moment. I like creating gifts for friends and family and find it amazing that you can create all sorts of items from only a hook and some yarn.

From an early age i liked to make stuff. Anything. And i learned to crochet when I was a child, probably about 7 or 8 years old. My Mum’s a knitter and she would try to teach me how to knit, but I just could not get the hang of it as the yarn would become all tight and I couldn’t move it on the needles, which inevitably left me in a rage. So, she taught me how to crochet and if I remember rightly I don’t think I had any trouble picking that up. I only knew the basic stitches, but managed to create all sorts of things. From dolls clothes to hot water bottle covers and hair accessories, I managed to create an array of items (probably not well) but good enough for a child. I never read patterns either and so all of my creations were made by working things out for myself, along with some help from my Mum, of course. I suppose you could call them ‘designs’ but lets not get too carried away as I have no evidence of them and if I saw them today then perhaps I’d think twice before putting my name to them!

I sold some of my hair slides at school sales and entered the dolls clothes into the village fete, but once I left primary school the hook and yarn were abandoned. I guess I just didn’t think it was ‘cool’. Until one day when I’d found ‘amigurumi’. I thought those little creatures looked really cute and I thought about picking the hook and yarn back up. But months went by and I’d still not picked up a hook. I saw the cover of Inside Crochet on a magazine stand in a supermarket. It pictured a large amigurumi lion (Created by Maggie Vassie, A Crochet Ninja) and that little fella attracted me to buy the magazine and ultimately take up crochet again! OK, so I didn’t make the lion (it was marked up as intermediate in the magazine and as I’d not crocheted for years I figured beginners patterns were the ones for me), but I had picked up the hook again.

So that was a year ago and since then not only have I learned how to read patterns, I’ve learned lots of new techniques and discovered online community, Ravelry, where I have found loads of cool patterns which I plan to make at some point. I’ve created baby sneakers, berets and headbands and I have also made a clutch bag for my good friend Helen which she used for a wedding she attended at the weekend.

I’m currently working on a top for myself. This is the first item of clothing I’ve made for an adult, and so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. The design is by Doris Chan and the pattern is available from naturallycaron.com. Doris has soon become my favourite crochet designer. Her designs are modern and unusual and I’ve loved every minute of making this top. I’m sure I will make another one or two of her designs in the future. The top I’m working on is almost finished, I just need to add the sleeves and it’s a really nice fit. Really looking forward to finishing it.

My next projects include some baby items for my brother in law and I’m hoping to create some baby clothes for my local special care baby unit. I’m still surprised at how addictive crochet can actually be. Seeing the yarn take form into something that you hand made from scratch is pretty awesome. I’m definitely hooked!

Above: clutch made for my friend