My JourneyCrochet

By Andrew Halverson, Resident since 2010

It all started on a rainy Saturday in December 2021. I was in 5th grade at Walnut Acres Elementary. My friend and I decided to head over to the Northgate High School Winter Craft Fair to look for Christmas presents for our families. As we browsed, I noticed a few vendors selling little crochet creations - things like donuts, apples, cupcakes, all made out of yarn. At the time I didn’t really know what crochet was. I have always been a very creative kid and like making things, so I was curious. I asked the vendor what she was selling and she answered with, “ I’m selling crochet.” Instantly I wanted to learn all about crochet, but it took a long time to get to where I am today.

At the beginning, I had no knowledge of what I was doing. I had to borrow a crochet hook from a neighbor and another friend of my mom’s gave me a lot of hat yarn. This was a problem because the crochet hook I borrowed was way smaller than the yarn size, so trying to practice was very difficult. Fortunately, Christmas was coming and the main present I wanted was this crochet starter kit I found online. On Christmas day I was so happy to unwrap this crochet kit. With all of my essentials, I was ready; I made my first crochet creation: a pink glazed donut with sprinkles.

That first creation took me a while. Like anything, the first time you try something new, it was a little tricky. I found a tutorial on YouTube and followed along with the instructions. I would press pause and rewind to make sure that I got it right. I made some mistakes, but once I finished it I felt so good! I never knew that this donut would be followed up with so many other crochet masterpieces!

Soon I was making frequent trips to the store to buy more yarn and other essentials. I started brainstorming ideas for what else I could make. I was inspired by videos on YouTube and crochet books I borrowed from the library. I followed up with more crochet creations. In a few months I had gotten the hang of it and had made enough inventory to start selling my creations. I sold some to friends at school, and set up a stand on the side of the road near my house, with lemonade and cookies. Finally I landed on an amazing idea: What if I sold my crochet on my mom’s Instagram account!? My mom and I made a new account on her phone and there the true business started.

My first big sale was during Easter. I made these super cute Easter baskets filled with a bunny, Easter eggs and a baby chick.

This was very big for me, I sold 9 of these baskets which I sold for $15 each. That meant that I made $135 just that Easter. This gave me a huge boost of confidence, so I kept with it. I made new projects like crocheted succulents and fruit. I also made new seasonal themes for my crochet like a back-to-school line, a Halloween line, and a Christmas collection. I got so many orders, and my business kept soaring. People started sending me requests for things to make like Mandalorian characters and crochet cats that looked like their real pets. These requests are fun challenges because I get new ideas and I have to discover a way to make them. Sometimes I’ll come up with the pattern myself, and other times I’ll search online for a pattern.

To this day I still am excited to crochet. There is still so much to learn! I love getting special orders. This hobby changed my life in so many ways.

If any of you are interested you can find me on Instagram at @ andrewsoffthehookcrochet.