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.
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About Valerie Bracegirdle
Please allow me to introduce our featured designer of the day, Valerie Bracegirdle of Agrarian Artisan Designs. Valerie enjoys designing accessories, home decor, blankets, and some garments. You can find her patterns in her Ravelry, LoveCrafts, and Etsy shops. Today Valerie will share some of her crochet memories with us and we’ll showcase three of her crochet designs.
Valerie’s Special for Our Readers
As a special treat for the NatCroMo Blog Tour, Valerie is offering her Kitty Shawl pattern FREE (with coupon code) today through Tuesday (through midnight GMT March 31, 2020). Get the coupon code on Valerie’s blog post.
Valerie’s Crochet Memories
Would you share with us one of your earliest memories of crochet?
“My aunt taught me to crochet and my earliest memory is sitting with her in her living room grappling with a crochet hook and getting so frustrated that it wouldn’t do what I wanted! I went back to knitting but eventually won the crochet battle!”
Would you share with us one of your memories of becoming a crochet designer?
“My first big break was when I queried a pattern in a magazine and was asked to write the errata, this was followed by a request to tech edit for them and then a request to design for them!”
Would you share with us one of your most memorable experiences as a crochet designer?
“When I was a child I dreamed of writing a book, I imagined it would be a fictional crime novel but it wasn’t! It was Cowling Around, my book of nine crochet cowl designs and I am super proud of that.”
Showcase: Crochet Designs by Valerie Bracegirdle
Breeze
Get the pattern: Breeze (on Ravelry) in the book Cowling Around, available as an eBook on Ravelry and a paperback book on Etsy.
About the pattern: “Breeze – my favourite design from Cowling Around – is a lovely snood-type cowl with a lacy pattern. It was a pleasure to make as the pattern has a gentle rhythm and proved very relaxing.”
Honeycomb Web Blanket
Get the pattern: Honeycomb Web Blanket (on Ravelry)
About the pattern: “Honeycomb Web was designed for my 2020 blanket CAL. It combines my favourite colours and my favourite shape (hexagon), and it has proved to be very popular.”
Sandlebridge Stripes Blabket
Get the pattern: Sandlebridge Stripes Blanket (on Ravelry)
About the pattern: “Sandlebridge Stripes was designed for a workshop on the pros and cons of stripe blankets and motif blankets. A key design feature is that the loose ends are on both edges of the blanket which gives the blanket good balance when they are sewn in – one of the cons of stripe blankets is that these ends are often on one edge only!”
Follow Valerie Online
Here’s where you can connect with Valerie online to be sure you don’t miss any of her new designs!
- Website/Blog: agrarianartisan.com
- Ravelry: Agrarian Artisan Designer Portfolio
- Etsy: Agrarian Artisan
- Facebook Page: Agrarian Artisan
- LoveCrafts: Agrarian Artisan