1. What is your business name & where do you live?
The Crochet Couch - I currently live in Pueblo, Colorado but am originally from Northwest Pennsylvania
2. What are 3 adjectives that best define your business.
I would say…..growing, affordable, exciting
3. How did you get started designing?
I’ve been crocheting for a long time and frequently would change a pattern to better suit me….went online to buy a pattern one day and noticed the number of sales a designer had, I multiplied that number by her least expensive pattern and thought OMG!! It was exciting to see that pattern designers could earn a living designing patterns……..I started designing a few things but didn’t really have a focus…..then I wanted to try and make an afghan for my daughter that had an anchor on it because she liked anchors…made a graph and thought “Hey, I could probably sell this”…….while crocheting I found I made a lot of errors when working from the graph so decided to sit and write it all out………then thought that other people might like this too so decided to include the written portion with the graphs I was selling. It just blossomed from there and I now do graph patterns exclusively.
4. What is your favorite part of designing?
My favorite part is having my own business - I’ve wanted to do that ever since I was a kid…of course back then I wanted to be an accountant lol….I love working when I want to and it’s satisfying to know that the harder and longer I work the more successful I’ll be and not the more successful I will make someone else.
5 & 6. What is most important to you when choosing yarn for a design? Look? Feel? Weight?
What is your favorite yarn.
I pretty much use the same yarns for most projects. I love how Hobby Lobby yarn feels…..the I Love This Yarn and the I Love This Cotton but they don’t always have the colors I want. I found “Premier Yarns” this year and their Basix Yarn has 81 colors and they have an anti-pilling yarn. I tried out several of their yarns, loved them, and decided to become an affiliate so I pretty much use their yarn exclusively.
7. Which project are you most proud of?
I love most of the afghans I’ve done but I guess the one I’m most proud of is the Mother Bobble one I did for my mom. This project was exciting from start to finish - I did a Crochet Along for this pattern and had over 300 people participate so that was exciting, and Annie’s has since commissioned the pattern so that is exciting as well. My mom has cancer and I gifted this afghan to her in May and I know she was touched.
8. What inspires you when you create?
What inspires me is really so many things…….It is fun watching graphics or patterns come to life…..sometimes I doodle on graph paper, sometimes I play with computer software - it’s just a pleasure to do.
9. If you could tell a beginner one thing about crochet, what would it be?
I would say don’t give up! It’s so easy to get discouraged when you see a crocheter working so effortlessly but typically who you’re watching has been doing it for years. It’s awkward for everyone at first and just like you learned to use a pencil to write easily, it will someday be just like that with a crochet hook.
10. Where can we find you online?
Website - www.TheCrochetCouch.com
YouTube - www.youtube.com/@TheCrochetCouch
Instagram - www.instagram.com/thecrochetcouch
Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/thecrochetcouch
Tumblr - www.tumblr.com/crochetcouch
Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/thecrochetcouch
Facebook Group - www.facebook.com/groups/thecrochetcouch
I really enjoyed this article. My name is Gail and I’m a yarnaholic. 😂 I have been crocheting for over 50 years. But I’m only 49?? I can’t always think about changing up a designer pattern, but I definitely want to change how some designers don’t use a beautiful, colorful project. A sweater in a 60’s avocado green doesn’t impress me as much as red,blue,purple, etc! Thank You for your time and creativity ❤️