Oh my gosh! I am in awe of anyone who can design Amigurumi (what a strange word). All those tiny pieces, sewing together, small crochet hooks.... simply amazing! I had so much fun looking through Sarah's stores :). She has the cutest animals. I think the sheep might be my favorite.
You can find out all about Sarah and her designs below. Click on the photos to go to the listings where the patterns can be purchased. Don't forget to have a look at all the rest of her cute patterns! Please follow Sarah where you can and give her patterns some love by adding them to your favorites :)
All of her links are at the bottom of the feature.
What is your name, business name & where do you live?
Sarah Barratt, Cute Crochet by Sarah B, Aldershot in Hampshire UK
When/How did you learn to crochet?
I could knit from the age of three or four but crochet was always like a dark art! I decided about 6 years ago that I would teach myself to crochet and picked up a partworks called the art of crochet, free on a group for people giving stuff away that they no longer wanted. I studied it hard and couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Off to the attic it went along with my desire to learn. I tried another couple of half hearted attempts to learn, each time leaving it too long between attempts to remember what I had got the hang of the time before. Then in November 2019 I went to a very dear friends funeral. It was snowing and I was really sad and I came home and thought “right, Ill do it for Noreen’ By then end of the week I had made the one and only blanket I have ever made…. a very long, thin baby blanket that would have only suited a snake….. but I was proud and gave it to my friend. I was hooked after that and it all suddenly made sense. It would be such fun to say that Noreen guided me from her final resting place, but I don’t think she even knew how to crochet! Ha ha
Lockdown gave me all the time I needed to learn properly. Bella Coco on youtube was also a great help.
What made you decide to start designing patterns?
I made the heidi bears hippo as my first attempt at a pattern, cried and cried coz I didn’t understand it and then thought maybe I could make a chicken. I breed chickens as a hobby so it kind of made sense. I now love making different birds and animals out of the african flower designs.
How would you say that your crochet designing has changed from when you started?
It hasn’t really. My first patterns were truly awful and I republished them all at the start of 2024. But they are all still on the same theme.
What’s your go-to yarn and crochet hook? Any particular reason why you prefer them?
Scheepjes Catone is my guilty pleasure, so shiny and the colours so bright. It really helps me to showcase the bird colours.
I have a whole posh set of Tulip Etimo hooks but I prefer the feel of Clover Amour. Both hooks glide like a hot knife through butter but the grip of the clover seems to suit me better.
What are some of your favorite crochet techniques/stitches/ patterns?
African flower designs all the way……
Are you a one-project-at-a-time person, or do you have a lot of WIPs on the go?
I have a book of ideas and struggle to start anything as suffer from task paralysis :D but once I get going I usually get it done pretty fast. The one exception is Wilber the Wombat who sat looking at me from a shelf for around 6 months as a grotesque, pinned together skin surrounding Clara the capybaras body. I just couldn’t love him for some reason.
What’s the process like when you design a crochet pattern? What are some words you would use to describe your patterns?
I see a bird and think whether I could make a pattern look like the actual bird. Sometimes anatomically correct and sometimes they just look a bit like the shape but the colours do the rest. I think my patterns appeal to different people from different countries. I have done a fair few australian birds (my dad was a Aussie) and lots of uk and USA birds.
Tell us about your favorite make or biggest crochet triumph?
My first chicken is still my best seller, only knocked off her pedestal by Blossom the Opossum in 2024. I love them both and have made them into a few variations, such as a egg laying chicken, and roadkill doorstop opossums.
Paying it forward, who are some of your favorite crochet designers/ bloggers?
Heidi Bears obviously, Lalylala (I made a few of her bugs and learned a lot about pattern writing from reading hers), I am impressed by Squibberly Rose as she designs stuff like me but way bigger (she is so fast) and Bea King of Cottontail and Whiskers as she is truly gifted and inspired with her work.
Where can we find you online?
Ravelry: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/cutecrochetbysarahb/patterns IG: https://www.instagram.com/cutecrochetbysarahb
Thank you Sarah for a wonderful interview.
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