A crochet designer? A crochet designer!

So it would appear I'm not exactly getting back into the swing of this blogging lark. And here's why. I'm just so busy! And it's all thanks to YOU. All of you. for your endless support and encouragement, for connecting with me here, on Instagram, Facebook and 'IRL'. Thanks to you, I'm able to find crochet solutions, find creative spirit and come up with ideas that people think are worth paying for.

Over the past year or so I've become a pretty much full-time crochet designer. Of course I'm still working hard on my features writing, too, and really excited to be subediting at 91 Magazine, but the bulk of my time (as you can well understand) is dedicated to crochet. Designing, making and writing up the patterns is really time-consuming but in my mind, time well spent indeed.

Since my book came out THREE YEARS AGO (?!) I've been writing patterns for Inside Crochet, Mollie Makes, Simply Crochet and my blog even featured in Homemaker magazine. More recently I've added some more magazines to my repertoire- The Art of Crochet, Love Crochet and Let's Get Crafting! Knitting and Crochet, and I'm loving the different briefs and design challenges I come up against. I've finally nailed hats! Wahoo! Next up, garments. 

Late last year I was lucky enough to be invited to Simply Crochet's offices for a pattern writing workshop, and the help and support given was amazing. Editor Sara really made me and my fellow designers Hannah Cross, Anne Egan, Louise Smith and the wonderful Fran feel part of the team, and I felt so proud of all the work I've done for them. I hope you don't think this post is a total boast-fest. But it's nice to celebrate one's achievements, yes? and also good for the soul to say 'yes, look what I've done, look at all the things I've made.' 

I'm also really excited that soon you'll be able to download some of my Simply Crochet patterns from Ravelry! For less than the price of a cup of coffee. Amazing. Including this beauty! And my neon doily rug, basket weave trio and super chunky striped and spotty hats. 

Also I met up with the wonderful Steel and Stitch in November (with gorgeous Claire Montgomerie- I was a bit star struck!) and I'm really thrilled to say that I'll be teaching alongside Emma Friedlander-Collins at the British Library (!!!) this Saturday, 20th Feb as part of the Alice and Wonderland Exhibition. It's all free and we'll be making some Alice-themed crochet goodies- come join us!

So anyway, with another four or five project to finish by the end of next week, I'd better get back to it! Visit my Ravelry page for updates on patterns, maybe one day I'll even get around to producing some of my other favourites for you to download. Thanks again guys, you're awesome. 

xxx