Welcome to our blog tour! Here at Crochetville, we celebrate National Crochet Month with our NatCroMo Blog Tour. This year, we’re interviewing crochet designers, teachers, and hobbyists throughout March and our theme is crochet memories. You can browse all of this year’s blog tour content on our page NatCroMo Blog Tour 2020.
About Michele Maks
Please allow me to introduce our featured designer of the day, Michele Maks of Crips & Crafts. Michele says, “I have had a long and wonderful career in crochet!” About designing, she says, “I design anything crochet that strikes my fancy. I also knit and craft!” You can find her patterns on her blog in her Facebook group, Crips & Crafts. Today Michele will share some of her crochet memories with us and we’ll showcase three of her crochet designs.

Michele’s Special for Our Readers
Michele says, “My blog has free patterns, some by me, and on Tuesdays (Suesdays!) by good crochet friend Sue Solakian. Today, her fabulous Spring Chickens Afghan design is featured.” (See a photo of this design in our showcase below.)
Michele’s Crochet Memories
Would you share with us an early memory of crochet?
“As a teenager, I always envied those who could make granny squares. I learned to knit much earlier than I learned to crochet. My mother-in-law taught me when I was expecting my first child.”
Would you share with us a memory of becoming a crochet designer?
I submitted a crocheted boa scarf and a knit hat to Woman’s World (at that time they featured patterns every week). The boa was in fact crocheted – VERY simple! – but the editor wanted the hat I’d submitted to be crochet too. I learned QUICKLY!
Would you share with us one of your most memorable moments as a crochet designer?
My most memorable experience was morphing many years of being a free-lance designer into becoming the editor of Crochet World magazine. MS (multiple sclerosis) made it impossible to continue there. I published Mainly Crochet until recently. Now I blog Crips & Crafts, in order to best design, showcase my friend Sue’s work, and write about the challenges of being a creative person with MS.
Showcase: Crochet Designs by Michele Maks

Eclectic Woodsman Scarf
Get the pattern: Eclectic Woodsman Scarf (on Crips & Crafts)
About the pattern: I LOVE projects that require little or no thinking!

Spring Chickens Afghan
Get the pattern: Spring Chickens Afghan (on Crips & Crafts)
About the pattern: This was designed by crochet friend Sue Solakian. We have worked together for a very long time, proof that crochet friends are the best!

Totally Tipsy Clutch
Get the pattern: Totally Tipsy Clutch (on Crips & Crafts)
About the pattern: I love this yarn and I love these colors! Creating a small hand held purse seemed like just the right thing to do!
Follow Michele Online
Here’s where you can connect with Michele online to be sure you don’t miss any of her new designs!
- Website/Blog: Crips & Crafts
- Facebook: Crips & Crafts Group
Great scarf–love the stitches and the yarn colors.