I’ve been a crafter for as long as I remember-nothing brought me more joy as a child than being given a craft set for birthdays or Christmas. I learned to knit when I was 5 and began crocheting a few years later. I stopped in my teens, as other things became more important. But, when I became a teacher, papercraft was my relaxation tool. I handmade everything I could for my wedding! Then, when I had my children, I took up yarn crafts again and made a multitude of blankets, cardigans and teddies.

In 2019, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and was unable to work. Crochet kept me sane through 18 months of treatment and gave a real purpose to my days. When I went into hospital for a stem cell transplant in early 2021, half of my luggage was yarn as I knew I would be in isolation for a few weeks!

Later in 2021, I was made redundant from my teaching job. With the support of a fellow Hodgkin’s Lymphoma warrior who was training as a business coach, I built Hooked, Stitched and Glued up from the seed of an idea to an actual business. Originally, I planned to sell crocheted items and write a few patterns. That plan changed to doing more design work (you can find my patterns on Ravelry), and then I saw an advertisement for a crochet technical editing course and immediately signed up. You see, I LOVE both crochet and maths so it seemed worth a shot. The course was amazing, and I was delighted to have discovered another career path, as well as making some amazing yarny friends.

Since completing the course, I have worked with many crochet designers, tech editing a range of patterns from small decorations to an entire ebook. Supporting other crocheters is something I am really passionate about, a skill I bring with me from my teaching career. I get a real buzz every time I work with a designer to edit their pattern, knowing that I’m helping them to make sure their patterns are the best they can be before they are released into the world! You can find out more about tech editing here.

One of the things that matters most to me as a designer and editor is making crochet enjoyable. A huge part of that is having patterns that are well written, user-friendly and easy to follow. It is a principle I have adopted for my own patterns (which of course I have tech edited by someone else!) When editing your patterns, I tailor my suggestions to your individual goals as a designer – whether that is wanting to include every tiny detail or keeping it brief and simple with just the most essential details covered.