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
From little acorns……
We are always so pleased that our videos and workshops inspire others to join the happy band of textile addicts; here is a lovely letter from a beginner who seems to have done just that:
I didn't have a sewing machine or knew how to use one just 6 months ago but have fallen in love with patchwork in the meantime and have bought myself a very basic, very cheap sewing machine.
World Quilt Show USA Winner from the UK
Christine Porter is the British Coordinator for the World Quilt Show, which takes place in the USA every year, This year she had 28 entries and she is thrilled to say that a British quilter (from Bristol) called Stephanie Crawford won the Best of the World award for her fabulous quilt, ‘A Chinese Journey in Three Parts’ - see below: She won $2,000.
A wander round Festival of Quilts 2014
Over 800 quilts to see but helping on the Creative Quilting stand meant that time to enjoy this was limited: two of the winning entries that caught my eye was the Traditional Quilt category won by Philippa Naylor – stunning appliqué and free motion quilting. and the Quilt creations category won by an amazing grandfather clock - so much detail that you would need a whole day to look at this properly; this category was sponsored by Vivebooks who are the publishers of a new E-book by Chris Porter entitled Sensational Circle Quilts.