‘Something a Little Different’ - A Bit of My Crochet and Knitting Journey

Oh, and artists, all artists, deserve paying.

Dec 06, 2024

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Dear Red Cabbage Heads,

Many years ago I became a knitter. I started very young, around 5 or 6. And I was taught by my Granny and my Mum both of whom were also left handed. Here I am looking rather a) cute and fashionable for the very early 1970s, b) sort of gingerish (my mother always bemoaned the fact she didn’t have a red headed daughter), and c) deeply concentrating. I didn’t manage to make much, I also knitted far too tightly and consequently dropped the odd stitch or made the odd stitch and nothing stayed in shape. I remember the piece often being taken away and ‘fixed’ by various female relatives.

I dabbled over the growing years but never made anything of note, I rarely kept a straight edge, my tension was erratic, and I dropped stitches and made extra ones with alarming regularity. various iterations of scarves and even an ambitious attempt at a jumper ensued, but nowhere were successful until I was fully adult, married and much more patient. I became enamoured with Kaffe Fassett and though I’d never even completed a simple scarf I embarked on two ambitious projects - a cardigan and a jumper. I made a reasonable attempt and was quite proud. I only have a picture of the jumper.

When I first left teaching after becoming ill I got very bored and picked up the needles again, just making knitted squares, unravelling them and reknitting them. Then, whilst still bored and surfing YouTube I found a wonderful site called Moogly. As a left hander I had never been able to pick up crochet, though many people had tried to teach me. Moogly had dedicated left handed videos and soon I started. And became obsessed. My first attempt with some left over yarn was meant to be a square, and let’s say, simply, it wasn’t.

(I did have a pic but I’ve lost it, probably deleted in a fit of unwisdom.)

I decided not to start simply and headed straight into learning complicated designs and some 3D crochet. Sophie’s Garden was my first major foray. Then a complicated 3D cushion design which I for some reason decided to knit in cotton. Very drying on the hands I found out, especially as I still seemed to crochet tightly, just like my knitting. It is below in the 2nd pic on the left. This ended up a freebee for an aunt who gave multiple hints about lots of my stuff and I gave in and gave it all to her. After this I discovered Attic 24 and easier patterns. Bags, wall decorations, bunting etc. A lot of which can be seen below.

It was at this point my house was beginning to get a little overcrowded so I signed up to sell at Bath Artisan fair. I had to be vetted an’ all. However, it didn’t reallywork out, we did a whole year of once a month stalls, only once ever even making back our fee. It didn’t help that after a while we were set up next to someone selling mass produced items including hats etc.

I set up my first Etsy shop but again failed to find traction, I’m just really awful at self promotion. Anyhoo, I made a lot of blankets cos I enjoyed the crocheting and it kept my hands busy, until I stopped a few years ago as the house was filling up again and I’d given so many away as presents. I also tried selling via a Facebook page, but people barely wanted to pay for the yarn let alone the hours it took. These are just a few of the ones I made that I have photos for.

This was made for a fantastic baby photographer I know, See here she had quite a few blankets from me when crochet was ‘in’ for these types of photo shots, sadly no longer. (Sold for £35.) Granny squares are so versatile and varied.

This was a different pattern and I didn’t enjoy making it. Not sure why, I have an inkling I just found it boring and I wasn’t keen on the colour choices. I gave this one away a good few years later.

Now I did enjoy this one. Loved the popcorn stitches in the border and the variation in the granny squares, especially the more dimensional ones. I think it still languishes in the back of a cupboard somewhere.

I did make quite a few full sized blankets for beds. This was made for the stepwitch, she chose the colours to match an eiderdown she already had. It was oversized king size (pictured on my double bed). It took over 3 months of at least 2-3 hours everyday to complete. It was totally boring. I did get paid for the yarn. I imagine, as we aren’t talking anymore, it’s been consigned to a box or charity shop. I do quite like the autumn coloured band in the middle. The pattern is from Attic 24.

This was made for my eldest for Xmas. I can’t remember the pattern name sadly.

This is the Sophie’s Universe pattern by Dedri Uys. Pattern can be found here. I recommend clicking through and seeing the gorgeousness of this pattern. It is so textural. It’s been well used this version and is a tad out of shape consequently.

This was another of Dedri’s patterns and I made it cos I could. It was gifted to my sister for her birthday. Pure alpaca wool it was so soft.

This is the Chunky Monkey pattern by Sue Pinner, sold to another crocheter, oddly (for £75). The colour combination just sang to me.

Oo, I loved this, despite it being simple granny squares. An Attic 24 pattern. (Sold on Etsy for around £85). By this time I was seriously outstripping demand so I decided to use up a lot of my yarn stock and then stop making blankets.

This one was huge, it’s doubled over in the pic, and I used it in out Airbnb when we lived in Wales, I sold it to the new owners (for £50). This one I sort of wish I’d kept but then I’d have to give up a different one.

I really was delving into the scraps for this one and I decided to sew the hexies together randomly and I hate it. Just no. It’s been donated to my MIL.

I quite like this, even though I had to buy extra cream yarn to finish it when I was trying to destash. It was sold twice to the same person, but they didn’t pay and still expected me to let them have it, so I have it still.

This is a special blanket . Over 95% of the yarn is pure wool, and the provenance of the yarn was known at the point of sale, the name of the animal shorn to provide the raw materials, hand spun and hand dyed. It resides on my bed. About £500 worth of yarn there. I was offered £50 for it once.

Now this is one of my favourites, and I made it for me, I love the 3D flowers, and texturalness of it. This is the one I sit with and fiddle with. It’s 100% alpaca yarn very warm, very soft, has weight to it but not too much.

One more. Nearly finished with blankets.

This was the last blanket I made, my pixel blanket, and the last straw in my attempts to sell. 700 individual flowers each taking 30 mins each to make, plus the time needed to sew it all together. I priced this one up, and the cost even at minimum wage for the time taken was in the thousands (approx £5K) I marketed it at £350 though, I was offered £100 for it. I also got messages that I should just do this for an hobby and expecting even the cost of the yarn was ridiculous. And with that I gave up.

Artists deserve to be paid for their time. We shouldn’t have to sell cheaply in order to be seen - that never works. It is pure luck and a lot of hard work promoting yourself if your style takes off and you make sales. And if you are spending time working on being visible and marketing you aren’t creating and these projects take a lot of time.

I have made other things too, my friend asked for hanging basket liners, (and paid fairly for them)

And a Christmas wreath for myself

But I suspect I’ve lost you now. It is a tad long. Mind you Tom Cox writes missives and gets away with it, so why not me.

I do have some crochet patterns I might start, once my frog obsession has abated. So I suppose I just want to reiterate that artists deserve paying for their time and expertise but mostly isn’t it amazing what yarn can do?!

Thank you for your patience. Tx

If you have enjoyed my ramblings I’d love for you to click the ❤️. It pleases the social algorithm, lets others know there’s something interesting here, as well as letting me know you liked it and giving me a little virtual hug. Without virtual hugs I have been know to get sad 😜. Shares are good too and a comment buoys me up even more 😁 A comment of what you liked, what you didn’t etc would be most gratefully appreciated.

3 Red Cabbage Heads - poetry, knitting, and essays of life

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