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
Interested in Hand Embroidery?
Don't these look wonderful? Learn goldwork from Hand & Lock and make shoes like this. Hand & Lock launch their festival of embroidery in July and they’ve got a fantastic offer for Mastered students. You can get any of their courses for a special concessionary price and if you leave a comment on this blog post you’ll be in with the chance of winning the course of your choice.
More from Karen Nicol
Karen has had a piece of her exquisite textile work accepted for the Royal Academy Summer exhibition 2014! Her name if Crystal and here she is: Well done Karen; and if you would like to see more of the Singerie we maade a delightful video of them when we visited Karen at her home. Karen also has an exhibition coming up on the other side of the Atlantic in New York - It will be at the Rebecca Hossack gallery 262 Mott Street, New York,
Between Houston and Prince Street
NY 10012, USA
+1 (212) 925 3500 running from 15th October to 5th November 2014 and has the working title of 'On the Edge of the Woods' Here is a sample piece to tempt you:
6th June 2014
Lace Skirts with Karen Nicol Originally a fashion designer, Karen [...]