Going from Crocheter to Crochet Designer
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My mom taught me to crochet at a pretty young age, I was about 10. When I was young, I loooovvvveed all things crafty, I made friendship bracelets and sold them to other kids at daycare, asked for *all* the art kits every birthday, and got my first sewing machine around the same time.
Honestly, growing up, crochet was just another craft I did. I just dabbled in it here and there, and didn’t really pay much mind to it compared to my other creative interests like photography or graphic design when I was in school. Then when I was in college I started to get into it a bit more. I found out about Ravelry about that time and enjoyed seeing other people create really cool things with yarn, so I decided I’d pick up my hook again and make a cool hat (Vicki Howell’s Urban Jungle Beanie to be exact). To my surprise friends and family loved the hat and wanted me to make them one.
I continued to venture into the land of crochet accessories, mostly just making them as gifts.. a few craft shows here and there. But there seemed to be a reoccurring theme with all the patterns I followed— I usually didn’t have the patience to follow the instructions given by someone else. I always wanted to venture off and try to tackle it myself… I truly enjoyed the journey of bringing an idea to life by experimenting with different stitches and yarns. I wanted to be the creator of a new favorite accessory, the process gave me life!
Then came my verrrrry first crochet design and pattern in 2011 (you can see it in the photo above— I’ve still got it!). I tell this story often over on Instagram, but I’ll share it again here.... I saw a photo of a really neat crocheted bag in an online store that had these raised “bump stitches” in the shape of diamonds on it and decided I needed to recreate it, and make a pattern for it since it was a pretty pricey bag. But what sweet little clueless Meg didn’t know at the time was that those “bump stitches” were indeed bobble stitches, that could be crocheted in the round. Yep, so I looked at that bag and thought.. hmm.. how would I create that effect? Why, by crocheting millions of little crochet pieces then sewing them all. on. individually. LOL! Thinking back to that pattern always cracks me up because of how straight up ridiculous that is. But I’m still kinda proud of myself for just tackling the task with what knowledge and skill I had at the moment. I started a little blog called “knot the knorm” and put that pattern on it, along with some other sewing projects I was doing at the time. The website didn’t survive (and I’m glad it didn’t because that pattern was probably ROUGH) mostly because I was in college and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life.
Fast forward quite a few years to 2016. Our son had just been born and I was looking for a way to earn some income online because I really valued staying at home and raising him. At the time I was making and painting wooden signs, and just wasn’t really enjoying it. I was craving something more… and right about that time I began to see really cool crochet designs on Pinterest and Facebook. It took me a few months of thinking and researching, but I eventually decided I’d become a crochet designer, and earn income via a website as well as selling the PDF patterns. The next year I started the Megmade with Love blog, crochet hook in hand and a crazy amount of inspiration to create patterns that people "*needed* to make.
With the teensiest bit of design experience under my belt, I decided to finally go for it. I crocheted a couple of hats, and with the help of some very patient testers, they gave me suggestions and thoughts on each of my designs. Was I a professional right out the gate? Definitely not. But I was learning some really valuable lessons while releasing patterns and I was actually getting my stuff out into the world. Slowly, after each pattern release, I became a little better and it became easier to put them all together. I was finding what I enjoyed making (what my “style” was) as well as what other people were diggin’.
I am so darn happy I decided to “just go for it” when it came to designing. I am 100% an advocate for just jumping in when maybe you don’t know everything or have everything figured out. I know if I never did, I’d be regretting it now… and I’d hate for someone else to have those feelings. I figured out all the particulars as I went, and I wonder if I spent more time researching or trying to figure out all those unknowns before starting I’d just be burnt out and end up not going for it. So if you’re thinking about taking the plunge into the world of crochet design, I beg you to take that next step into making it a reality. And if you find it’s not for you, that’s totally okay. You’ve learned something valuable about yourself and at least you won’t be thinking “what if?”
And that, folks, is my lil’ journey from being a crocheter to designing. Crochet designing really fulfills a deep creative desire for me, that I’m really grateful I get to do. It may not be for everyone, and I am in no way suggesting that everyone needs to be one. I just love sharing my journey on here with you, and hope to inspire others if they’ve got that itch, ya know?! If you have other questions about designing or blogging, leave them below in the comments. I love delving into this topic, so ask away... I’ll try to cover it in a future post. :)
Until next time,
Meg
