How did you get into needlecraft?

So, how did your passion for crafts begin?

For me, it started when I was just a very little girl watching my great-grandmother do her needlework—I was allowed to sort the yarn, play with the needles, and so on.
I also started doing crafts very early on and loved experimenting with yarn.
Then I first got a knitting dolly and a loom, and when I was about 5, my great-grandma and my great-aunt taught me how to crochet (I crocheted endlessly long foundation chains, then little rectangles that I turned into pouches...), and when I was about 8, I learned to knit...
My mom made me a great yarn drum out of an empty detergent drum, and I got wooden boxes for my knitting and crochet needles—I was so happy!
My stuffed animals, dolls, and Barbies got clothes and accessories...
And then I was a teenager, and crafts were uncool...so while I did knit something every now and then (mostly scarves), it was very irregular and more or less in secret, and it wasn’t until I was 26 that I became seriously hooked on needlecraft again...At first—inspired by my husband’s grandmother, whom we visited regularly near Lyon (and in France there are sooooo many great magazines and stores for crafts)—I did cross-stitch obsessively for several years, until my little one was just shy of 2. That’s when I discovered sewing for myself and very quickly started my own side business. Then a cute little crochet project crossed my path (a picture of a strawberry), and my passion for crocheting flared up again in a big way.
I started with my first strawberries and cherries, quickly expanded my repertoire, and had so much success with these little play shop items that I just kept crocheting more and more.
I wrote my first “patterns” just for myself, so I could recreate my own ideas over and over again...

But I love doing anything that has to do with needlework and crafts.

And now it’s your turn ;)

So I also grew into it through my family. I think I could read knitting charts before I could read anything else.
Partly because of my grandma, who placed a lot of importance on needlework. At her house, every free space was decorated with doilies; the tablecloths were crocheted, the bedspreads were crocheted—basically, the whole apartment was a collection of crocheted items. I wanted to be able to do that too, and my grandma taught me. That’s how I ended up making a few crocheted doilies.
My mom was always more of a knitter; she was constantly knitting for us kids. Of course, I wanted to be able to do that too, and because I wanted to do it right, my first knitting project was a sweater for myself. It was a little wonky, but I was proud of it.
Later, I took up embroidery—we learned that in school, and I really enjoyed doing it.
Actually, things were different back when we were in school—for a while, it was cool to knit during class.
After school, I took a longer break from it. Once I had my own family and a full-time job on top of that, I just ran out of steam. But things have fallen back into place :-) My daughter knits now, too. She’s not really into crocheting yet, but maybe that will come later.

I don’t remember exactly.
After all, it’s been 44 years since I learned to crochet and knit when I was 10 or so.

I took needlework classes in school.
My mom taught me how to knit.

Even today, I still knit “the French way.” That is, I hold the yarn in my right hand instead of my left—just like my mom did.

I’m self-taught—meaning I taught myself how to knit and crochet. As a teenager, I bought a magazine called “Modische Maschen.” At the front of the magazine were diagrams showing how to hold your hands to form a stitch. And sure enough, it worked. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anyone who could show me how to do it in person. In my family, we only did cross-stitch; no one knew how to knit or crochet.

My Grandma Lotte (born in 1912), who fled East Prussia with her four children, knitted a lot so the kids would have something to wear. Later, she knitted for her grandchildren—my siblings and I always had to wear knitted dresses as children. That wasn’t very comfortable in the summer because it was just “polyacrylic yarn,” which made you sweat. When she died, I was 14—at that time, I still had no interest in needlework. So unfortunately, I couldn’t ask her about it later, but I definitely inherited the talent from her. Here’s a photo of my grandma—the lady on the far left with her knitting needles. She could knit without looking, which always fascinated me—and every stitch looked exactly like the next.



I then taught myself the craft step by step and project by project. After all, there was no internet and no YouTube to turn to for help. I simply tried it myself, discarded it, tried again, until I was satisfied.

Then I started a family and from then on (for decades) had no time left for such things. I had neither the time nor the desire for it. I gave away all my wool supplies, needles, and knitting magazines because I thought that chapter of my life was over.

Once the kids had left home, I had more time for myself again. I’d go out for a stroll every now and then, and that’s how I ended up in a yarn shop—and was thrilled by all the wonderful yarns that were now available. A yarn paradise, so to speak. My “wool era” had ended in the ’80s, and now here was this abundance of materials and ideas. I couldn’t help myself and started again. Ever since then, I’ve enjoyed every project I’ve taken on. So the yarn was just waiting for me :-)

Warm regards from Ina

We learned to crochet in school (2nd or 3rd grade), and we crocheted a seal... I was really good at it and even “invented” crocheted flippers, even though we were supposed to glue them on using felt...

It was soooo much fun that I crocheted all sorts of things... what felt like 100 more seals, headbands, bags (even with a functional button!),... all without patterns, though just using single crochet stitches.

After crocheting eventually fell by the wayside, it suddenly came back in 2013, when I was 22—completely by chance, which is actually funny:

My boyfriend didn’t believe me when I said that Yoda in the “new” Star Wars movies was originally a puppet in the theatrical cut and was later replaced.
So I Googled “Yoda puppet.”
In the image search, I saw a crocheted Yoda, and I was hooked.
Until then, I hadn’t known that something like that was even possible with crochet.
It was a Sunday when stores were open, so I dashed out to buy yarn, a hook, stuffing… and off I went :)

To put it bluntly, my crocheted Yoda looks absolutely terrible, but he has a place of honor on the shelf.

...oh, sent by accident.
Anyway, that was the “beginning of the end”—I was hooked.

Only then did I learn that there’s more to crochet than just single crochet, and it just got worse and worse for me (or, in my eyes, better and better) ;)

@Ina

I also had a Grandma Lotte (actually Charlotte, but she’d been called Lotte since she was little)—born in 1921 :)

@Nina, my grandma’s real name was also “Charlotte,” but everyone called her Lotte or Lottchen :-)

I always wanted to have a daughter named Charlotte, but my husband didn’t like that.
That’s why we now have our Carlotta—also called Lotti or Lotta... it’s very similar, and we both really like it!

Yeah, Nina, I think that’s the modern version of the “Charlotte.” You made a good choice ;-)

Lovely stories from you all.
Well, we had a “needlework” class in school. But I never would have thought it would turn out this way. Actually, my “addiction” started in 2009, when I just wanted to knit some socks and, on a whim, visited my aunt—who was 85 at the time—and had her show me how to knit a heel. From then on, I couldn’t walk past a yarn shop without stopping, until I finally had one of my own :-)

I probably learned to knit from my grandmother, who lived with us. My mother also knitted, sewed, and embroidered a lot, and I caught the bug early on. My first “victims” were my dolls and my father’s feet (on rainy summer vacation days in the mountains, I eagerly knitted socks). Later, I learned to crochet and wore my outfit and summer dress with great joy. There’s even a picture of the dress—I just don’t know how to post it here! During our years abroad, I was a regular at the yarn shop—in addition to things for our girls, I even knitted a custom jacket for a friend once!

To me, crocheting was always such a GRANDMA thing :-) My grandma did a lot of needlework (filet crochet, embroidery, knitting...). As a child or teenager, I had absolutely no interest in it. I guess that crocheted dirndl (in North Rhine-Westphalia!!!) for my first day of school was a kind of trauma ;-) Everyone else was wearing normal clothes—only I had this crocheted dress!

But at some point about 8 or 9 years ago, I saw crocheted muffins. I don’t even remember if it was online or in a magazine. I absolutely had to have/make THEM too. And that’s how it all started… Sometimes I think that today I could really have great conversations with my grandma and learn a lot from her, and she’d probably be a little proud, too ♥

Here’s the picture I promised:

@ChristinaE, that’s already some serious knitting artistry! Knitting a dress like that, and one that fits, too — hats off! And you look great in the dress! Thank you so much for showing us the beautiful dress. (And by the way, now you can also upload pictures :-))

Dear Schnuckelina, yes, I’m happy about the pictures—I practiced for a long time! By the way: The dress is crocheted. (The photo is from 1975.) I knitted a lot for my daughter and, as the picture shows, I also sewed.

Dear @ChristinaE, I’m so glad you can post pictures now. That way, you can quickly add a picture to go with your words—it makes it much easier to imagine everything. I like pictures because I enjoy looking at them. Your dress looks great in any case, and so do you in it—a young, pretty woman and mother. Your daughter’s cute dress is also self-sewn; you have so many talents. And I also like that you can recognize the ’70s in it. Thanks again for sharing.

Best regards - Ina

I also think you can really see the ’70s vibe in the picture. A very pretty picture!

@ ChristinaE: Nice dress. I had a similar one back then too, though in “piglet pink.”

At school, I was absolutely against needlework, but I also had such a super-sweet grandma. She encouraged me to crochet or knit for the “whole stable full of sisters” that people seemed to think they had to saddle me with from the age of 12 onward. My youngest sister is even four months younger than my daughter.

Well, that’s how sweaters, little suspender skirts, little dresses, and christening gowns came to be. When I started crocheting for my daughter, “the little ones” always had to have the same thing. So for a while, there were five identical sweaters in different sizes running around.

I took a longer break from crocheting when I found a sweater I’d crocheted for my mom (size 52/54) in the dog’s basket. Given how torn up it already was, that didn’t square with the explanation, “Oh, the dog just got hold of it.” From then on, I only crocheted and knitted for my two kids and myself.

These days, knitting isn’t really my favorite pastime anymore. I’m better at crocheting, much to the delight of my sister-in-law, who has already received several curtains for her wooden house.

Best regards, Marlies

For me, it was my mom who got me hooked. She showed me my first stitches when I was still very little. That’s when I started knitting scarves or crocheting pot holders. All very simple, of course—using knit stitches or single crochet stitches.
Later, I started experimenting on my own and teaching myself different stitches and patterns. As a teenager, I knitted and crocheted dozens of sweaters.

I’ve been knitting and crocheting practically ever since. When doilies were “in,” I literally plastered my apartment with them. *laughs*

I haven’t really enjoyed knitting sweaters for a few years now. It’s just too time-consuming for me. 

These days, I prefer crocheting to knitting. That’s partly because crocheting is totally trendy right now, and partly because I really love working with yarn cakes, and it just works better with a crochet hook. ;-)

By the way, it’s gotten to the point where my mom asks me<\/em> how to knit or crochet this or that, and then I have to show her. ;-)

If your own mother asks you for advice, that’s probably a very nice compliment.