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
Textiles in Focus weekend
Filming last Sunday at the Textiles in Focus event in Cottenham, Cambs was a big success. We met up with lots of wonderful traders – including Myfanwy Hart, and Jamie from Colouricious – and we also filmed content from some wonderful demonstrators, including Lynda Monk using Lutradur; Fran Rose showing us a great idea for beading and bags (and a copy of her book is in the shopping pages - Fran's Little Bags) and Pauline Verrinder (the organiser) who was demonstrating how to make 3D leaves for us and will be teaching at Cottenham Village Summer School.
For all you knitters out there!
At the Textiles in Focus show there is a lady who is spinning yarn for use on jumbo needles Outward Images - and I mean jumbo: fancy a set myself to try knitting up maybe some of my scrap strips of fabric BUT check out Rachel John and her extreme knitting: on Youtube: Rachel John, Extreme Knitting, 1000 Strand Knit
February 2013
What’s new to see on the first Friday in February? [...]