Tales of a Techno-Hooker Crochet Blog by Amie Hirtes

I have a habit of disappearing. I’m no Houdini, I promise you that. I might exist on a social media blitz high – posting on my Facebook group, Ravelry, Twitter, yada –  for a couple weeks and then disappear for awhile. That’s the nature of my existence, for now anyways, due by in large to [...]

Six years of doing business selling online crochet patterns. SIX. I love what I do, but I don’t love dealing with PayPal. Matter of fact, I dislike them with a passion. In the last six years, I’ve had to make several phone calls to PayPal to work out claims and disputes. Every time it’s involved [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

It’s been in my head for awhile now to update and revamp the layout for all the NexStitch patterns. With the last published patterns (Rhiannon Tote and Dandelion Neck Cuff), I had done some updating to the layout to eliminate the “intro” page and rework the materials page to include more product pictures and edit [...]

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 [...]