Home is where the heart is…and I love my home! I enjoy sitting in the conservatory with a cuppa, and my hook, watching the birds feeding outside and enjoying the seasons, whichever one that might be. When I was teaching in school full time, free time could be difficult to find, but when I wasn’t in school, and not in the conservatory or crocheting, then you’d usually find me catching up with friends.
I can count my really close friends on one hand and I feel very lucky to have those people in my life. I think it’s safe to say I’m a little bit quirky in some ways and thankfully they understand those little bits of individuality that make me, me. God knows where I’d be if they didn’t!
So when someone suggested that I started teaching others to crochet, I was a little nervous at first. One of my ‘quirks’ is that I’m not particularly sociable. I love an awkward silence and I’m very comfortable in my own company (maybe a little too comfortable). I worried that even though I can relate to children in the classroom really well, teaching adults to crochet at home would be something that put me out of my comfort zone quite a bit. What if I forgot to speak to them and they couldn’t cope with my awkward silences?!
I decided to give it a go and luckily the first few people who wanted to learn were people that I already knew. Then someone booked in that I didn’t know…this was the real test! I won’t lie – I was really nervous the first time I taught someone that I didn’t know. It did put me out of my comfort zone, but guess what? I bloody loved it! What really surprised me was how much I enjoyed passing on the skills of crocheting to another person. Something that I love and something that is so important to me, I’d been able to share with another person who is also going to get enjoyment out of it. It was an amazing feeling, particularly when that first person kept in contact afterwards and regularly shares pictures of their makes with me.
So, two years on and I’ve taught close to 100 people to crochet! I have met so many lovely people in this time, and have been privileged to hear so many stories of why people want to learn to crochet. Luckily for me, these lovely people have enjoyed crocheting so much that they come along to my other crochet workshops and are helping to make my dreams come true.