Tales of a Techno-Hooker Crochet Blog by Amie Hirtes

It’s crazy to think a year has gone by since I got married. A year ago on this nearly 90 degree day, I was running around like crazy taking care of all the last minute details of our do-it-yourself wedding, right down to the flowers with live succulents, the booze, the invites, the music, the [...]

It’s a good day when a box of yarn arrives, especially when it’s packed with 6 skeins of Tilli Tomas yarn. I bought: 3 skeins of Voile de la Mer in Moroccan Blue 3 Skeins of Plie Silk in Gloxinia, Atmosphere, and Midnight Borealis At the moment, the Voile will be used to finish the [...]

Wouldn’t you like to know what this is??? Actually, it’s a shawl. And I’m only showing this lil’ bit. It’s a work-in-progress right now. It’s taking awhile to design because it’s fairly complicated. It’s a challenge. A fun challenge. Speaking of complicated, I had asked both my Facebook group and the folks at CLF on [...]

Love the execution. Hate the style. In a nutshell, that’s how I feel about this tunisian shawl. I just spent a half hour the other day going through all my crochet stuff trying to organize the items into three piles: sell, donate, and needs pictures for pattern updates (that’s what I’ve been doing ad naseum [...]

I’m stoked that the Midsummer’s Dream Camisole (published in the Summer 2008 edition of Interweave Crochet) copyright came back to me awhile ago. This was a popular pattern in terms of “love” on Ravelry (453 hearts isn’t so bad, is it?). I edited the pattern and bought yarn back in March, but I’ve slacked on [...]

Green. Something about the color green triggers certain memories for me. Actually, colors in general do that for me. It’s how my brain is wired: a crazy juxtaposition of spoken words –  both from pop culture and my own experiences – and colors along with a heavy helping of loaded feelings. That’s how I remember [...]

Twins! I had twins folks! Two patterns in one day. What a busy day. First up is the Rhiannon Tote, which I’m pretty stoked about because the graphics on this pattern are just fabulous (if I do say so myself). There are two stitch diagrams,  slew of step-by-step photos, and one additional illustration to accompany [...]

Birthing. That’s what I call it. I don’t make patterns. I don’t write patterns. I birth them. When I’m done, I’m exhausted, wishing I had opted for that epidural, and happy the screaming is over. It’s the closest thing to real live birth I’ll ever experience. No, really. Yes, self-publishing patterns – the way I [...]

I wrote a pattern this week. Yep, you heard that correctly. I. Wrote. A. Pattern. I know, you’re wondering why did it take so long (for the record, me too). Well to be accurate, it took about a week and a half to write the thing (but that’s not really the topic, is it?). To [...]

The Meaning of Creativity I find it fascinating to talk with other designers and ask them what makes them tick, what drives their internal engines to create and keep creating even in the face of self-doubt and frustration. The answers I get always lean towards an insatiable desire to put to real form what they’re [...]