Designer Interview | Catherine Crochets

I’m delighted to share a new fibre friend chat with you today. Join me in giving a big welcome to the KCACOUK blog to Catherine of Catherine Crochets.

Image of Catherine from Catherine's Crochet holding up a tapestry crochet blanket
© Catherine Crochets 2023

I had the pleasure of actually meeting Catherine at the end of last year, when I was a guest, and she was the guest designer at The Crochet Sanctuary. You will have no doubt come across her work, as I did, on social media and in magazines – she really has an eye for design using colour work and tapestry crochet.

I was delighted to have a go at her methods of tapestry crochet as we worked on her Winter Flora Cushion as our Crochet Sanctuary crochet workshop project. I thoroughly enjoyed making the cushion, and the tapestry stitch technique, so I wanted to find out a bit more about her designing processes and about her in general. Here’s what we chatted about…

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hi Heather! Thanks for inviting me for this interview. It was great to meet you in November at the Crochet Sanctuary and chat all things “crochet designing” with you!

I’m a crochet designer from just outside London, in the UK. I live with my husband and two daughters. As you mentioned, I specialise in tapestry crochet. I absolutely love designing blankets with this technique although I’ve also produced a number of cushion and accessory designs too.

© Winter Flora Cushion – Catherine Crochets 2023

Have you always been crafty?

Yes, I’ve always loved crafts. I dabbled in lots of things as a child and my friends were really arty too so we inspired each other and were always making things. I took pottery classes for a few years, which I loved, and also tried lots of other arts and crafts like Fimo, calligraphy, quilling, painting, stamping, cross stitch… I don’t actually think I was particularly yarny as a child though, although I did learn the basics of how to knit.

How did you become a crochet designer? Do you do it full time?

I guess I fell into it a bit by chance really. I started crocheting when my youngest daughter was a toddler, mainly making blankets (with plenty of mistakes in them!). One day, I saw a tapestry crochet scarf online and I absolutely loved the look of it. I’d never seen that kind of crochet before. I thought it would be fabulous to make a blanket with lots of different tapestry crochet patterns on it. And so I came up with the Geo Georgie Blanket. It got a really great response from the crochet community on Instagram, which encouraged me to keep going with more designs and things just spiralled upwards from there.

Sadly, I don’t do it full-time, although I wish I could! I mainly fit it in during my evenings and weekends, and the odd lunchtime crochet break too!

© Geo Georgie Blanket – Catherine Crochets 2023

You really seem to enjoy colourwork and tapestry crochet – what is it about that style of crochet that you love?

I love patterns and spot them all over the place. I find it really exciting recreating these patterns in crochet, and tapestry crochet is the perfect technique for this. I especially love taking a motif, like a square or hexagon, with a colour work pattern on it and repeating it over a large blanket to create an even more striking pattern.

Can you tell us about where you draw your inspiration from?

Some is from nature – I really like leaves and flowers – and some is more abstract like pure geometric patterns. I see a lot of inspiration on textile items or even ceramic tiles, that I then love to try recreating with crochet.

© Midnight Diamond Blanket – Catherine Crochets 2023

What does your design process look like? Do you sketch things out first, or do you just like to grab a hook and start?

I always sketch first. I use a lot of squared paper as I find this is essential when coming up with a tapestry crochet design. I usually draw out a design on squared paper first and then work up a test swatch or motif from that. Mostly, it turns out a bit different to how I expected once I’ve worked it up in crochet, so I make a few tweaks and try again until I’m happy with it.

Sometimes, I plunge straight into making the project and write it all up at the end. However, recently I’ve been getting much better at making notes and starting to write it up as I go along. That saves a lot of time at the end!

Do you have a favourite creation that you’ve designed?

That’s a tough one! Can I pick two?

My personal favourite is my Clarissa Blanket. Both the colours and the pattern are so me. This was a design that I just couldn’t help but make!

However, in terms of getting me started and known as a designer, then I have to say my Midnight Diamond Blanket. This is by far my most popular pattern and I’m so grateful for the wonderful response it’s had and continues to receive.

© Clarissa Blanket – Catherine Crochets 2023

How do you fit everything in that you want to? Are you strict with yourself and your time or is it a struggle to juggle?

I never fit in everything that I’d like to! But I just do my best to do as much as I can and never miss an opportunity to work a bit more on a project. I make a lot of lists – I find that helps a lot – and I try not to be too hard on myself at not being able to do everything I want to straight away.

What advice or top tips would you suggest for anyone new to colourwork or tapestry crochet?

I’d say that it’s really not as hard as it looks. Watch or read a tutorial first, to get a feel for it. There are lots out there but I have a video tutorial on YouTube or a step-by-step guide on my blog that are both good places to start. Then just dive in with a pattern. I outlined a few relatively simple ones to start with in a blog post if anyone needs some inspiration.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, if you’d like to design your own, then all you need is some squared paper and colouring pencils and away you go!

What can we expect to see from Catherine Crochets in 2023?

This year, I’ve decided to focus on blankets as I love them and they are also my most popular patterns. I’m working on a new floral design at the moment using hexagons, which I’m really excited about.

I’m also hoping to create a tapestry crochet course with a series of patterns of increasing complexity, each introducing a new skill or aspect. That will be quite a big project for me of course, but I’m hoping to start work on it later this spring.

© Design in progress – Catherine Crochets 2023

And just for fun if you could have a superpower what would you choose?

I’ve always loved the idea of the time turner that Hermione uses in the Harry Potter books. It would be great to have the power to turn back time so that I could fit more crochet into each day!

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Catherine for taking time to chat to me. I’ve really enjoyed getting a better understanding of her life and designing process and hope you have too.

Follow Catherine everywhere on the web:  BLOG, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK and you can buy her patterns on RAVELRY and ETSY

Catherine also has an email list which you can sign up to here if you’d like to get news of new pattern releases and the biggest discounts on her patterns. Plus, you get two FREE tapestry crochet patterns just for signing up.

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If you enjoyed this interview you can catch up on all the other designer chats and discussions with other people in the fiber industry. And if there’s any other people you’d like to maybe see featured here on the blog, let me know in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.

Make sure you are signed up to blog (below) and / or my mailing list to get a reminder when new blog posts like this one, discounts or new pattern releases are available.

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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Tapestry Crochet: Step-by-step mini tutorial

So yesterday if you were here on the blog you will have seen my review of Anchor Creativa Fino yarn that Anchor crafts kindly sent me to try.  I also shared with you a little sneeky peep of the free patterns I’m sharing with you today.

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I thought I’d do a bit of a double post today, in this post I’m going to first talk about how I do tapestry crochet working in rows to make it easier, for folks that haven’t tried it before, to go onto the patterns for both decorations next.

Tapestry crochet is one of those that might seem a little intimidating because it can involve a lot of different yarn colour changes, but I’m going to show you below how easy it is – and how to weave most of your ends as you go!

The main thing you need to know is that you will be working normal UK double crochet (US single crochet) stitches. The only difference is that you will carry additional yarn along with you and working over it as you crochet the row. 

Step 1:

Work your rows and stitches as the pattern indicates as normal…

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Step 2:

Then on the next row where you have to change colour, lay your second colour along your row and work over the top of it until it’s time for you to actually change colour…

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Step 3:

When changing to a different colour, pull the new colour through the last two loops of the previous stitch to complete that stitch…

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Step 4:

Continue in the new colour, following the pattern. Change colours in this manner, whenever indicated on the pattern…

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Step 5:

When you get to the end of the row carry your yarn up the side of your work…

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Step 6:

Then carry the unused coloured yarn along and crochet over the unused colour to work the next row…

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And that’s pretty much it! Keep working the steps above until you have finished the tapestry part of your work as indicated in the pattern.

There are often  two types of instructions available for tapestry crochet patterns; a written pattern and a pictorial chart. For a pictorial chart you usually work one UK double crochet (US single crochet) per square indicated.

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In the pattern coming shortly I’ve included both the written pattern and a pictorial  chart for both the Christmas tree and the Christmas wreath crochet decoration so you can decided which you prefer.

Many thanks to Anchor Crafts for supplying the yarn so I could make this pattern for you.

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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Anchor | Creativa Fino Yarn Review

I had a lovely email recently from Anchor Yarns to see if I would like to review some of their yarn. I’d heard of Anchor crafts through their embroidery threads but I must confess that I hadn’t realised that they also had a range of cottons suitable for crochet.

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I enjoy doing the research into yarn companies because they often come from such a rich heritage! And Anchor crafts are no different; the brand can trace back it’s history all the way to 1866 originating in Scotland. As years passed the manufacture of Anchor threads moved from Scotland then to Germany and today, the Anchor brand in Europe is manufactured by Mezcrafts in Hungary.

As well as supply yarn they also seem to have a great ethos as a company; they mention on their website that they are continuously building and improving their ecological footprint by looking to reduce CO2 emissions, have minimal textile waste and through low water consumption. All good stuff! 

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Anchor offer a wide variety of yarns of different thicknesses and compositions suitable for many craft techniques but for crochet they sent me some of their Anchor Creativa to play with.

So let’s check out the yarn’s vital statistics we: 

  • Weight:  4ply / Fingering Weight (2)
  • Blend: 100% Cotton
  • Yarn Ball Weight: 50g
  • Yarn Ball Length: 125m
  • Wash instructions: Machine Wash 40°C
  • Price: £1.90 (at the time of this post)

It’s available in a whopping 72 solid shades in 4ply (and in 8ply) but I was sent a nice selection of six different colours to play with.

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It’s really nice yarn to use, it’s very smooth, not rough to work with and as a cotton is great for home decor items and wearables as it’s machine washable – ideal for easy care! The recommended hook size is 2.5mm (US size C/2) which I found to be spot on for me, and I had fun trying out a couple of ideas, but I’ll share a little sneaky peek of the first idea I came up with now…

As it’s Christmas and I love making Christmas decorations I had the idea to make some little Christmas pillow decorations for the tree.  They are a great beginners project to tapestry crochet (of which I’ll share a bit of a photo tutorial), they are quick to make (easily finished in an evening) and so make a fabulous little project for either you or as a seasonal gift for a friend.

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Check back tomorrow for the pattern and tapestry charts for both the Christmas tree and the wreath Christmas crochet decorations.

Many thanks to Anchor Crafts for supplying the yarn so I could make this pattern for you.

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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KCACO-UK CAL 2015 – Block 18

I have to confess that I am intrigued by tapestry crochet; just because you can be so creative with a design so I was very excited when our next lovely designer, from Crimson Clover, designed a tapestry crochet block for us to use in the CAL and what a unique design it is!

Click on the link in the title below to go straight to the pattern or add it to your Ravelry queue hereThis square is currently free on Ravelry and will be forever yay!

If this is the first you are hearing about the CAL the full schedule can be found here.

Aztec Square by Kim Green

Notes:

  • Hook: 5.5 mm (US Size I)
  • Yarn: Aran / 10 ply / Worsted / Weight #4
  • Colours: I would suggest at least two different colours
  • Pattern uses American crochet terms see conversion chart here

Specialist Stitches:

None but you might want to research colour changing if you are not familiar with the technique:  Crochet Guru has a good video on Youtube.

My Version:

Ta dah!! This is my version of this square using my colour palette (I blogged about this here). I love how this design looks in two colours but I really wanted to use all five of my colours – as I have in all of the patterns we’ve made so far. I had fun coming up with this finished version.

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Don’t forget to stay tuned for the next block to be released on the 16th or 17th September.