Category: Life

  • Learning Crochet: A Journey of Patience and Perseverance

    I decided to create this blog after spending a couple days defining my brand and thinking about my goals. I realized something important, my mission (that sounds so heroic) isn’t just about sell patterns. It’s about spreading the message that slow fashion is a better choice. For us and for the planet.

    When deciding on the values I had in mind. I kept going back to “how nice it is to wear something you made”. The joy of wearing something you made yourself. I hope you have felt that before. It doesn’t matter if it is a hand knit sweater or a home-cooked meal. There’s something very special about creating things with your own hands.

    That’s when I made my mission to empower others through crochet. People think you need advanced skills to start having fun. But the truth is, the most important skill is patience. With practice you will get the hang of it, and soon have the coordination and confidence to create something beautiful.

    Yes. I will also throw pretty locations at you.

    If crochet interests you. I promise you can do it. It might not be perfect at the first try. But after a while you will be able to make something you can wear, and to be proud of.

    I remember my first-ever project. A hot pink Barbie scarf. about 3 or 4 stitches wide, in garter stitch. I was maybe 7. Fast foward 17 years, I picked up knitting again with another scarf. I had to restart it three times. Stitches multiplied or vanished from row to row. It took a while, but I finally got it right.

    But there I was, frogging everything and redoing it.

    I’ve never made a project without having to start over at least once

    And to be honest, I kinda like that. After a while that doesn’t bother you anymore. It’s a reminder that mistakes are part of the process—both in crochet and in life. For example, I sat down to write about my favorite fibers, but here I am, digressing again. That post will happen at some point.

    This post started as encouragement, a “feel the power of handmade”. now it’s turned into a reflection on perseverance. In my mind they are totally connected. Crochet does teach you to enjoy the process, not just the finished object.

    Only a couple years later I was gonna be wearing a full sweater made by me.

    So if you want to stay around and spend time with the voices inside my head too. You are more than welcome.

    It’s a fun place to be.

  • Thrift Store Finds: Lessons on Quality in Fashion

    Thrift Store Finds: Lessons on Quality in Fashion

    Do you also notice the decline in quality on clothes? Actually in everything, but this is a blog about fashion so we are keeping the niche.

    My Thrift Store Treasure

    I’ve been a Thrift store enthusiast since I was a teenager. I have two skirts I paid R$1 each, equivalent a 0.17 US Dollars, 12 years ago. There’s a chance those skirts are older than me. They still look great. Can you imagine buying anything today, and that piece of clothing lasting you 5 years? Can you imagine 30?

    I can’t. And it bothers me. A lot.

    A person is standing outdoors in front of a tree and some greenery. The person is wearing a white knitted crop top, a cardigan with pastel-colored sleeves (blue, pink, purple and green), and a blue skirt.

    The Impact of Fast Fashion

    If you have a spare 20 min I recommend this video.

    It explains why even companies known for good quality in the past are switching to lower quality materials. And we should all know the answer for that. Late capitalism. Where the only thing that really matter is:

    Profit

    You can argue that Fast fashion is a good thing for poorer people. It made fashion and style affordable. And yes, that’s true. But I would counter-argue with a James Baldwin quote:

    “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”

    Or with the Boots theory. Where Terry Pratchett in his novel explains how someone rich spends less money buying a more expensive pair of boots. While someone who can’t afford the expensive pair will spend more money on boots throughout their life. And still have their feet wet all the time.

    But this is a crochet blog isn’t it? Yes. But I swear they are related. Cause this was one of the things that motivated me to start creating my own pieces. The best way to ensure high-quality items is to DIY the heck out of it. Then you know for sure that the materials used are good quality. And only one person was exploited in the making. You.

    I had this post ready for a couple days when Bernadette Banner posted this video

    So I’m back here to add it to this because it reflects exactly how I feel. It also has valuable information on how to spot high-quality clothes. I could just rewrite all the information on these two videos and pretend it was all me. However, I prefer to redirect you to a good content creator. This way, I can give them credit.

    With all of that, I would like to know, or maybe just make you think:

    Why not spend more time and money shopping at thrifting stores? Even though fast fashion got there too. Or invest in a higher quality item? Keeping in mind that higher price is not equal higher quality. Why not support a local maker instead?

    Even better, why not create your own garments? It only requires patience really, skills we acquire during the process. I will always encourage the DIY fashion. But that is another blog post.

    Why are we buying fast fashion? (feel free to leave an answer in the comments, if you have one.)

  • Creating Crochet Patterns: My 2023 Resolution

    Yes, I’m late on my resolution.


    This year I decided to accomplish a 2023 resolution I had. To write a crochet pattern for a top I made the year before. And I did. By the second week of the year the pattern was done. And now somehow I also have a blog.

    A quick note. My life changed quite a lot in the last two years. From a full-time ballet dancer/part-time server to very likely going from Mexico to Argentina with my boyfriend on a motorbike. It was a good time to change another thing. Do things even though I don’t feel ready for it. They say you just need to be 70% ready anyway.

    So why this turned into a blog again you ask?

    I can’t half-ass stuff I do. I try, but I can’t help myself. Is this a promise of great work? That’s a very personal decision. So, no. I won’t promise that.

    But that’s the short version of that question. The long simplified one? I wrote the pattern, I’m getting it tested right now. Then I would have to start promoting it in some way. Pinterest sounded good. Therefore here we are, somehow creating content. Being something I never thought I would be, a blogger. (I REFUSE to be an “influencer“, maybe one day we get to that)

    I was never a big user on Instagram, I created one a bit ago for my brand, the very own you see in this blog. But never really did much with it. And to be honest, even now I’m disassociating a little bit to write this blog. It’s not natural to me to say “This is my brand!”, it sounds weird. And somehow creating this character is helpful to get it moving. This blog format also helps. You probably won’t see me sharing this page on my personal account.

    But I’m rambling. Back to the point!

    I created this blog to share my creations with people. With people that are willing to read a couple paragraphs and not just watch a 15s reel. I want to talk about slow fashion anyway, it makes more sense in my mind. And since the plan is to be on the road for the next year or so, this is a job I can still do.

    So in the future, you will see more handmade projects, random thoughts on fashion, crochet patterns and my weird humor.

    I hope you enjoy and stick around!

    This is the top I mention.

    Ooh, and I’m Angela. Hi.

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    Ange