About Gaynor
Gaynor is a crochet-obsessed teacher and pattern designer from Wokingham in Berkshire.
She learned to knit and crochet as a child, trained and worked as a French teacher for over 10 years, and then picked up her hook again 10 years ago. Gaynor jokes that she is “lucky enough to call myself a full-time hooker…”
In 2012, Gaynor set up The Barkham Hookers crochet group with a few friends in her living room. They now run 4 group sessions a week as well as many regular private lessons with over 600 members on Facebook alone. You can find them on Facbook via The Barkham Hookers’ Charity Group, where many of their charity projects can be seen.
She is very proud of the fact that The Barkham Hookers raised over £60,000 for various national and international charities, £52,000 of that for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. Click here to watch Gaynor share a quick and easy method for crocheting a poppy.
Gaynor loves designing and making blankets, many of which can be found as free CALs (crochet-a-longs) on her blog: Confessions of a Barkham Hooker. During the pandemic, she designed the Coronavirus CAL, posting a new section daily then weekly with colourful pictures and detailed notes.
Signature Technique
Crochet Blankets incorporating a variety of patterns and colours
Top Tips
- Crochet is very forgiving. Don’t be afraid to adjust or change the pattern to suit your needs or likes. And remember, if in doubt pull it out!
- Use a larger hook to work a long foundation chain to avoid it curling up.
- If you work quite loosely choose a slightly smaller hook than advised and a larger hook if you work tightly.
- When working in rows do not forget to work into the last stitch – – which is probably the chain 2/3 made at the start of the previous row.
- Use military buttons as the centre in poppies to add something special.
- If you are working with several balls of yarn, chuck them on the floor and let gravity help you keep them untangled.
Videos
Patterns
Posts
7th November 2014
Out & About We continue our visit to the exhibition [...]
Retreat in Bridlington
I mentioned on facebook that I was off to Bridlington on Sunday 26th Oct having been invited by Fiona Garth to head up a 3 day patchwork retreat at the Royal Hotel; 250 miles each way but what a great time I had and my lovely room had a sea view! 3 different workshops - Thangles; Take 9 and Crazy and while some of the students were brave enough to stick with me all three days ( - leap into the unknown as we hadn't met before!) others changed places for each of the days.
Buy a quilt for Christmas and support Alzheimer Scotland
Ann Hill arranged that the Hampden Park stadium would be covered in quilts to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer Scotlandand what an even that was; now the quilts are looking for new homes; if you originally made a quilt for the project you can buy it back or you can just select another quilt and give it a new loving home.