Meet the Designer: Elimee Designs

I have been following Nichola for quite a while now. She has a wide variety of designs with lots of different stitches & textures, obviously she loves variety :) Don't we all?

As usual, the photos link to the pattern. Please follow Nichola 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?

Hi I’m Nichola, the UK designer behind Elimee Designs.

When/How did you learn to crochet?

I feel like I’m a late bloomer when it come’s to crochet lol. Crochet didn’t appear on my radar until after my eldest daughter was born. My grandmother lovingly crocheted her a stack of blankets and presented them to me. I was so in awe that I asked her where I could learn… I’ve haven’t stopped since!

What made you decide to start designing patterns?

The vast majority of projects that I crochet are to gift to friends and family. When my best friend announced her pregnancy, being a confident crocheter by that stage, I told her I would make anything that she wanted. Not being a crafter herself and therefore not aware of patterns, she sent me some inspirational photos of things that she liked and asked if I could make her a blanket… and so the Caitlin Zigzag Blanket was born.

Once I’d designed the Caitlin I couldn’t go back. Whenever I couldn’t find a pattern to match what I imagined in my head I would design something. A few patterns later I thought ‘huh, maybe other people would enjoy these too’. That was the moment I decided to launch Elimee Designs.

How would you say that your crochet designing has changed from when you started?

I think that my style has stayed fairly consistent over time, although I have included a few more techniques e.g. mosaic crochet, more recently. I love anything involving filet and/or colourwork… sometimes I even use both within the same design.

The type of item I design has varied at times, mostly whilst I was on maternity leave and struggling to crochet large blankets with a baby sleeping on my chest. Now that she is bigger, I’m leaning more and more back into blankets – they are my favourite .

What’s your go-to yarn and crochet hook? Any particular reason why you prefer them?

I’ve tried a few different crochet hooks over the years. My wooden Furls hook is by far the prettiest, but my favourite everyday workhorse is my Tulip Etimo Rose – I love the chunkier grip, lack of friction whilst crocheting, and slightly longer handle.

My go-to yarn is usually Stylecraft. Given that many of my projects are gifted to babies/children it is important to me that the yarn be easily washed and dried. No new mum (or at least me when I was a new mum) has the time and energy for frequent handwashing – I had a very vomity baby, so my blankets were washed A LOT. I also love that it is affordable for those who want to use the same yarn as my me, and comes in a wide range of colours.

What are some of your favorite crochet techniques/stitches/patterns?

I love pretty much anything filet or colourwork, e.g. intarsia, stranded/fair isle, tapestry, and mosaic, in a variety of stitches. I do use specific stitches here and there, but my focus is usually more on the technique used.

Are you a one-project-at-a-time person, or do you have a lot of WIPs on the go?

Definitely lots of WIPs lol. My WIP habit got so bad that earlier in the year I set myself a challenge to reduce my WIP count by one per month (I needed the space back!). I’m doing well so far, having gone from sixteen down to eight. I think that it will probably hover around here for a while though.

The main reasons I usually have so many are, firstly that I often have to wait for yarn to come back into stock (aka stashbusting fails), and because I like to have different projects for different locations e.g. a small project for my handbag, something easy and portable for work meetings, something more complex for at home, and something big enough to snuggle up under during the colder months.

What’s the process like when you design a crochet pattern? What are some words you would use to describe your patterns?

I would probably pick ‘hygge’ or ‘cosy’ as the word that best describes my patterns. I aim to design items that make you feel warm both physically and mentally.

My design process is fairly straightforward – inspiration hits, or if it’s for a particular commission/event I do brainstorm, and I then sketch out a design. After this I write out the whole pattern before crocheting the sample. I update the written pattern as I go with any adjustments that I make, and finish by sending it out for testing. If I made my sample first and then tried to write it up from the finished item/notes I would get completely muddled.

Tell us about your favorite make or biggest crochet triumph?

I think that my biggest triumph so far was hosting my first collaborative crochet along in January 2024 – the Beautiful Bugs Blanket. It was so much fun to run that it is now an annual event. Bring on January 2025 so that I can show you the new collaborative design!

Paying it forward, who are some of your favorite crochet designers/bloggers?

Hookanory is one of my favourite small designers. Whilst I am truly terrible at crocheting amigurumi, I love her retro designs, the sense of fun that she naturally brings to her designs/social media content, and how beautiful her PDFs are – you can so tell that she is an ex-art teacher.

I also love the originality of the designs from Made with Love and Fibres – often I’m saying to myself ‘wow, I’ve never seen anything like that!’ when I see her photos on Instagram.