WHO AM I?
(a question I ask myself often)
Designer - Artist - Teacher! I was brought up in a creative family. My Dad is an artist, my Grandmother loves all things textiles and, for as long as I can remember, I have been creating in one form or another. From the early days of colouring books, to choosing all the arty subjects at school, right through to my university course in Textile Design and career job in Graphic Design - It's what I was born to do - Create!
I crochet, weave, felt, and sew (randomly because I always say I hate sewing but seem to be doing more of it these days!) and generally love to be making. Kids crafts are always a win too! I think I enjoy these activities more than my children do as I'm often the last one at the table.
Not only do I love to create and keep my hands busy I absolutely LOVE to share my skills and enthusiasm with others. Whether that's in my day job as an Activities Coordinator, my voluntary work in primary schools, community events, workshops, private lessons or even when chatting with the person next to me in the queue at the supermarket, creativity runs right through me and I was born to share it.
I crochet, weave, felt, and sew (randomly because I always say I hate sewing but seem to be doing more of it these days!) and generally love to be making. Kids crafts are always a win too! I think I enjoy these activities more than my children do as I'm often the last one at the table.
Not only do I love to create and keep my hands busy I absolutely LOVE to share my skills and enthusiasm with others. Whether that's in my day job as an Activities Coordinator, my voluntary work in primary schools, community events, workshops, private lessons or even when chatting with the person next to me in the queue at the supermarket, creativity runs right through me and I was born to share it.
WHAT DO I DO?
(so many things!)
I am an artistOne of my biggest passions is sustainability, sustaining and developing traditional crafts as well as practicing a make-do-and-mend ethos.
Over the past four years I have become increasing involved within community arts, project managing and creating joint community projects and installations, including Joining lines 2018, yarn bombs for the Bulwell Arts Festival as well as supporting smaller community focused events. I get so much of my drive and energy from engaging with people! These projects, as well as a deep rooted desire to make-do-and-mend (thanks Granny for your inspiration and skill sharing) have sparked a new motivation for upcycling, creating art with recycled materials and generally producing less waste. |
I am a teacherI absolutely love to share what I do with others and have been teaching crochet and crafts for over 10 years, including group workshops, community events, private lessons, creative parties and more recently during my day job as an activities coordinator .
I love to share what I know and often with anyone that shows an inkling of an interest - be warned, if you mention you'd like to learn to crochet or try a new craft just once in my direction, I will no doubt teach you at some point soon after! I am a designerI love to design and have created over 20+ crochet patterns and craft tutorials that are available for free on my blog or you can also purchase the more complex ones as instant downloads from my Etsy store.
Despite my many years of crocheting, I have very little experience of following other peoples patterns, I have of course followed some (because I too have to learn), but I love nothing more that making something my own and putting my own spin on it. My favourite things to design are amigurumi and crochet colourwork homewares and always like to offer customisable elements within my patterns so that you too can make them your own. |
I am a YouTuberIn recent years I have ventured into the world of YouTube and hope to expand my collection of video tutorials and guides over time.
To produce high quality video content can take a great deal of time so my wish list of possible videos is by far greater than the time I have available so these will appear as and when time and enthusiasm allows. I am a champion!I am currently employed as an activities coordinator for a local care home and after spending 13+ years sat at a desk as a graphic designer I feel like I have found my calling. I can't believe I get to share my days with wonderful people, being creative and making a difference.
I also volunteer within my childrens school and am working through a teaching assistant course. Driven by sharing, supporting and being creative my future path is unknown, will I continue to work with the elderly or will I move towards championing our next generation? Who knows? But right now, I'm loving the journey. |
HOW I GOT HERE
My path within this creative jungle since venturing into the real world (life after university) has been a wobbly one. Landing myself a graphic design job rather than a hands on textiles job like I had hoped was an exciting twist. 13+ years on and oodles of experience later - now, in 2021, amidst Covid-19 and redundancy, I am living my dream!
I have had one career job as a Graphic Designer and Marketing Assistant and it has helped me immensely as I jump head first in to self employment and full time Crochet Lady, Craft Lady, all round creative bean. Was graphic design enough to keep my creativity alive for all those years - nope! I have tried my hand at all sorts of business ventures, making to sell, teaching, designing, you name it I've explored it, all alongside the full time job and starting a family. It's all led me here!
My passion for crochet began when my Granny Leitha showed me the basics. Granny would always have a yarn based project on the go (she still does aged 88) and I always knew there would be a time I'd want learn to.
I began my journey some 15+ years ago by learning to knit and after a bit of knit-one purl-one and many frustrating dropped stitches I was soon ready to move on and crochet was next up. It's been a love affair ever since.
Edit (January 2022) - The above is still all relevant but I have, once again, pushed full time self employment to one side in favour of a part time role as an activities coordinator within a care home. I have been in the role for six months now and it's a huge game changer to where I thought I was heading. I find it incredibly rewarding and love each and every moment I am a work... there's not many people that can say that! I hope to write a blog post about my time as an activities coordinator, its been on my list for a while, but as with everything business wise, who knows when that will be. #enjoythejourney
I have had one career job as a Graphic Designer and Marketing Assistant and it has helped me immensely as I jump head first in to self employment and full time Crochet Lady, Craft Lady, all round creative bean. Was graphic design enough to keep my creativity alive for all those years - nope! I have tried my hand at all sorts of business ventures, making to sell, teaching, designing, you name it I've explored it, all alongside the full time job and starting a family. It's all led me here!
My passion for crochet began when my Granny Leitha showed me the basics. Granny would always have a yarn based project on the go (she still does aged 88) and I always knew there would be a time I'd want learn to.
I began my journey some 15+ years ago by learning to knit and after a bit of knit-one purl-one and many frustrating dropped stitches I was soon ready to move on and crochet was next up. It's been a love affair ever since.
Edit (January 2022) - The above is still all relevant but I have, once again, pushed full time self employment to one side in favour of a part time role as an activities coordinator within a care home. I have been in the role for six months now and it's a huge game changer to where I thought I was heading. I find it incredibly rewarding and love each and every moment I am a work... there's not many people that can say that! I hope to write a blog post about my time as an activities coordinator, its been on my list for a while, but as with everything business wise, who knows when that will be. #enjoythejourney
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