Welcome to Hooks, Lines, and & Stitches

Your place for all things crochet and embroidery

Hi! Welcome to Hooks, Lines, & Stitches!

I suppose I should apologize already for how long winded this article will probably be! I agonized over how to start this newsletter and I thought that the best way to start would be to tell me Origin Story.

I always liked the idea of an Origin Story. Something to set the stage, to build anticipation (and hopefully not put someone to sleep.)

Also, I’m Italian…all we know how to do is to tell long winded stories with no real beginnings or endings.

So, I’ll start this newsletter the same way my favorite Golden Girl would start her stories…

Picture it, my mother’s house, twenty-odd years ago…

I was drawn to crocheting out of nothing but necessity. In eighth grade I took a fashion class and our last project had to be either a sewing project or some other fiber craft. There was knitting, which I immediately knew I couldn’t do – for some reason I can’t get both hands working at the same time. Trust me, six years of piano lessons taught me that well enough. Then there was crocheting. It seemed just as tedious as sewing, but back when I was fourteen (I won’t even mention how many years ago that was) using a sewing machine was as hard as knitting. It didn’t matter that the machine did all the work, I couldn’t seem to sew in a straight line…literally.

My first crocheting project was a headband for a baby and it was horrible. Clearly the work of an amateur, which I very much was. I didn’t know anything about hooks or yarn and my Fashion teacher was wholly unqualified to teach me. So, after that project, I put my hook away and didn’t pick it back up until my first nephew was born.

It was honestly the simplest and plainest blanket I’ve made. I was proud of it back then, of course, but now I look at it and cringe a little.

This started my true love of crocheting. I started making the blankets, then the hats and scarves, and then finally amigurimi. It became my go-to when I was bored, stressed, or trying to work through a plot hole. And I began to love it more than I loved writing itself.

But, like a lot of people who practice a type of art, I fell into a rut. There were only so many things I could make and so many people I could give it to. Crocheting is great and all, until you do it for long periods of time and don’t know where to take it.

Except, I finally do. I know where to take it.

I’m going to learn to write my own crocheting patterns. It’s going to be messy, and I’m probably going to hate it at times, but it will definitely be something I can cross off my bucket list of art.

But wait, there’s more!

I can’t ever focus on one thing, of course, so I have a second challenge that I will embark on, side by side with crocheting.

 I decided to start embroidering.

My grandmother used to cross-stitch and she actually made these cute birth announcement type things way back when.

Cross stitching didn’t exactly appeal to me, but the idea of “painting pictures” with thread was something I could get behind so I thought, why not? The weather is shifting and I need something to do. Something small that I could give as gifts or whatnot.

My embroidery journey actually started with a paw print.

See, four months ago, I adopted a puppy named Moxie.

Don’t let those eyes (or eyelashes!) fool you. She’s all sweet and innocent until she becomes a terror!

Because I’m that type of dog mom, all the puppies I’ve owned had their own stocking and ornaments for my Christmas tree. I figured I wanted to try my hand at embroidery, and found a kit in Michaels to follow, so I made this for her:

The stitches aren’t perfect, no surprise there, but it turned out better than I excepted. Good enough, at least, to shut up the little critic in my head.😂

Once I finished with it, though, I knew I wanted to do more. But I didn’t want to try kit after kit. As in fashion with most of the art-type things I do, I went full throttle. I decided that, not only was I going to teach myself embroidery, but I was going to also create my own designs to embroider.

So now, because I need a challenge – and something to keep my occupied while the weather steadily gets colder – I’ve decided that I would record my journey of teaching myself embroidery and learning how to create my own crocheted patterns. And I want all of you to join me on this journey.

Maybe we’ll both learn something along the way!

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