Shear talent
How a sweet little sheep reignited Teri Hamilton’s love of hooking
my gran taught me how to knit and crochet as a very small child, and with her encouragement I started to make toys and clothing out of any old bits of wool or cloth that she kept in an old chest in her bedroom. It was from her that I learnt my love of all things crafting. When she died a few years ago, I lost heart and for a long time didn’t have it in me to pick up my needles.
Fast forward to 2014 and I was recovering from a long-term illness, and looking for ways to motivate myself to get out of the house. I decided to join a local knit and crochet group – which turned out to be the best decision I could have made. It was there that I was encouraged to pick up my crochet hook again and rediscover my love of all things crochet. Using some of my gran’s old hooks I started to make items of clothing for family and friends and also helped make several blankets that were donated to charity.
Then came the day I discovered amigurumi – a true passion was born! One of the first animals I made for myself was a sheep, which I created in order to put together some of the first techniques
I learnt via YouTube. I was still not able to follow crochet patterns at that point so I had to make up my own design to bring him to life.
My friend gave me some Hayfield Bonus DK and it was a match made in heaven. I loved the way it felt when made up and it washed really well. She fell in love with the little sheep I made and requests to make more started trickling in.
As I got more and more into crochet, a few of my friends from the group started coming to my house on a regular basis, where we had fun learning new techniques from each other. Before I knew it, crochet at Teri’s became a ‘thing’! It was through the support of these friends that I finally gained the confidence to publish my designs.
To this day, and always the sheep will have a place in my heart, as it is where I began.
Because of its significance my sheep was also the very first pattern I published on Crochet at Teri’s, my Ravelry shop.
Find Teri’s rhino on page 31. All her patterns, including the sheep, are available from www.ravelry.com/designers/crochet-at-teris. Teri’s hooky group is: Crochet at Teri’s Creations