Hi, Again I want to start by thanking everyone who has sent and email or commented on a post lately - I have read them all but I am utterly behind on replying, I hope to catch up soon. But please know they are all very much appreciated. It's been a not unexpectedly emotional experience winding the business down. I've been reflecting a lot on what we achieved and I thought it would be nice this week to share with you some of my personal favourite designs. I've no idea how many items I have...
9 months ago • 2 min read
You guys! 🥲 Thank you so so much to each and every one of you who has taken the time out to write to me to wish me luck or tell me what The Crochet Project has meant to you. I've been sharing all of the messages with Kat so she gets to see too what a wonderful impact we made. Reading all of the messages has been a wonderful way to reflect on the past ten years of The Crochet Project and I wanted to share three of the things that came up the most in messages and those just happen to coincide...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Hi, I think this is going to be a bit of a long email as there is a lot I want and need to tell you. I've tried to break it up a bit with headers so you can find the things you are interested in. The short story The Crochet Project will be closing at the end of this month. We are ceasing to trade on 31st December 2023. This is for personal rather than financial reasons, the business is profitable and there are no unpaid creditors. The fuller story For about the last twelve years I've worked...
9 months ago • 5 min read
Hi, Our sock class members are racing towards the finish line this week with the classes about making the toe loaded up - don't worry if you would like to join us still there are plenty of people working at every stage and the classes will all remain yours forever (or if accessed through hub membership as long as you are a member) The socks we are making are cuff down with a traditional heel flap so the toe is the last section. I always think its very satisfying to end on a section that...
10 months ago • 1 min read
Hi, I'm feeling cheerful today. Today marks the start of heels week in our socks class (sign up here if you'd like to join us). Bright yellow sunshine heels on the Tipping the Scales Socks Heels and heel turns are a little bit magic. You start with a straight tube and with a few rows and a flick of your hook you make the fabric turn and curve: you can hardly fail to feel a bit proud of yourself, you created a textile engineering miracle! I know lots of people are scared of the heel which is...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Hello, The Sea Urchin hat (below left) that I started got ripped back this week. I didn't follow my own advice. In the pattern notes I clearly talk about the type of yarn you need, it needs drape and I tried to make it in a yarn without much and it just doesn't work as well. The hat is just a little too rigid which makes the puff stitches form corners giving too much of an octagonal feel to the hat. I tried to photograph it to show you but it was hard to see in its unfinished state and I...
11 months ago • 2 min read
Hi, Knitters cast on a project but what do we use as crocheters? Chain on? Hooks up? Mostly I see cast on still used. Nothing standard it seems, but isn't that always the way with us crocheters? We have so many fewer standards than knitters with much more variation in how stitches are named and how patterns are written. The only true international standards are for charts and there are still a few idiosyncrasies in those. I'm not quite sure why this is, maybe we are just a quirkier bunch than...
11 months ago • 3 min read
Hello, I've been waiting for what feels like forever to be able to take my classes and the Hub membership into an app so it works better on tablets and phones. I'm very aware that most crafting is best done away from a desk and so a great mobile experience will make it much easier for you to access the content and enjoy using it. I host all of my video classes on a platform called Thinkific and they have had an app for a little while but I was hanging back from adopting it as I wanted to wait...
12 months ago • 2 min read
Hi, Any of you who are parents will be fairly familiar with this cry during the school summer holidays. However this year it's not the children shouting it, it's me! I feel like I am drowning a slow death by admin this week. Normally I like to balance my tasks and split them up to tackle when I'm in the correct mood. I'll have low and high concentration tasks and fun and dull (to me) tasks, tasks that are urgent and tasks that aren't. I don't know what I have done wrong this week but...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read