Hello fellow book nerds! (And friends and family who don’t actually care about the books I love and just like me and are here to support me.) Welcome to my first installment of my new crochet blog, Will Hook For Books. 

If you don’t know, I love both YA novels, and yarn craft. A lot.

I recently made some crochet dolls for my favorite YA fantasy book series, The Folk of the Air, by Holly Black, (The Cruel Prince, The Wicked King) and I fell in love with both the dolls I made, and the fact that I have begun designing! And I knew I wanted to get my work out into the world. So my friend, Iva-Marie Palmer, who happens to be the author of some delightful YA and Middle grade books, (The End Of The World As We Know It, Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook) suggested I start a blog where I could showcase my dolls and share my designs.

I have been thinking about designing for several years now. But I haven’t been ready. Over the years, I have been building an extensive understanding of the intricate details of yarn craft. I am not a master yet, by any means. But I finally have enough of a foundation to begin my journey of designing. And I am fired up to start designing my favorite book characters!

When I was a little girl, probably seven, my aunt and my grandma used to crochet. They taught me the basics: How to make a chain, and how to crochet into that chain to create fabric, both single crochet and double crochet (for you non-crocheters, those are the most basic stitches.) That was it. Basically, I could make things that were rectangles. 

I don’t know when I stopped, but it fell by the wayside. Years later, in my 20s, I picked it up again briefly. I still didn’t have much skill, which frustrated and bored me. So I dropped it again. But for some reason, I kept the crochet hooks. 1 size 8H, and 1 size 10K. Those hooks moved with me from New York City apartment to New York City apartment, even when I threw everything else away, including my cookware and my comic book collection. I truly have no idea what possessed me to keep them. But I did, and still have and use them.

And then on October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit New York City and flooded much of the subway system, including the L train, which was my way into Manhattan from Brooklyn; my way to my jobs, my markets, my haunts and hangouts, and just generally, where I spent most of my time. 

But while I was sitting in my room, unable to go wander Manhattan like I usually did, I found my crochet hooks. And when I searched on line, I found that within walking distance from my Bushwick apartment, there was a craft store. So I wandered over there and bought some yarn.

And there was something else that I found that had not been there a decade earlier when I had picked up crochet in my 20s. Internet tutorials! (Bless you, YouTube and all of the yarn craft teachers on your platform!)

So I picked crochet back up. Again. But this time, when I reached a plateau in my skill level, I found a tutorial to take me to the next level. And instead of  my interest petering out, it grew. The better I got, the more I wanted to learn. The more I learned, the better I got. I went from scarves to afghans, to hats, to sweaters. And eventually, dolls (also known as softies, or amigurumi, which is Japanese for “crocheted or knitted stuffed doll,” so, you know…accurate.)

But there is a difference between following a pattern that someone else wrote, and creating something from your own imagination and being able to execute it. 

I wanted to design immediately! And I am not very good at recognizing when I have bitten off more than I can chew. So I started to attempt designing when I didn’t even know what stitches in what order would create what shapes. Seriously, at first I didn’t even understand how to *read* a pattern, but I thought I was going to make myself a cute little sweater dress?!?!

So I backed off. Way way off. And I took little baby steps. For example, I managed to acquire the skill of pattern reading. And I used patterns to make things that someone else designed. Simple things at first, but increasingly complicated. And I started to understand what I was looking at. I started to see the stitches as what they were, building blocks, pieces of a whole. I started to see what those pieces built when put together in a specific order. And I started to be able to wrap my mind around how to build something from my own imagination.

So here I am,  figuring out how to make dolls that are clever, that I love, and that others love too. 

My goal is to post once a month. To bring you new character designs, and to give you the free patterns so you can try to make them yourselves! (If you’re into that sort of thing…no pressure)

Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the pattern for Cardan, High King of Elfhame and all around snarky drunk.

I am, however, in the process of finishing a second, better version of him. I still need to weave in his hair, which is the worst part. (Though, I don’t know if I love the red breeches. Does it make him look like Santa?)

This one is better because I learned how to decrease without getting gaps in my work (decrease in the front loops only.) I figured out how to keep his neck from flopping (pipe cleaners) and how to make his tail sturdy and bendable (also pipe cleaners.) Also, did you know they don’t call them pipe cleaners anymore? They call them fuzzy sticks, or chenille stems.

Perhaps in a later blog, I will go back and type up his pattern and put it up. Especially if I get the urge to make a 3rd version of him. He *is* my favorite, so it’s entirely possible. But for next month, I would like to start from scratch and give you a step by step, with pictures, along with a written pattern for a different character. (No, I haven’t actually decided which one yet.)

So thank you for stopping by! I hope you come back and read again! And maybe try to make a doll. Or not. Seriously. No Pressure.

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