To start out the Humans Behind the Hook Series, I’d like to introduce you to Echo, who has been crocheting for nearly 30 years. Echo incorporates crochet into her full-time business as an artist, entrepreneur, and freelancer. Echo approached the interview with a remarkable degree of candor, and I hope you will appreciate it as much as I did.
My great grandma used to babysit me while my parents went to car auctions for their business. She was a functional alcoholic, and taught me to crochet to keep me out from under her feet while she drank her morning brandy and finished her crossword puzzles. I have Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but I wasn’t diagnosed until my early 30s. Crocheting was the only time I wasn’t bouncing off the walls.
I was raised by my grandparents, and for their generation, mental health disorders are to be hidden or ignored. I was always a weird kid, but I was high functioning enough to just ignore my weirdness. Because I was undiagnosed, my weirdness was just part of who I was. As an adult and after my diagnosis, a lot of things I did as a kid make more sense.
Learning crochet and being a bookworm made it easier for parents, though. They did car auctions, storage auctions, and estate sales. So when they didn’t have childcare, they would just have me bring a project and a book, and I could spend hours self contained in my special interests in the car. Because of my hyperfixations on specific books and my crochet, my parents could safely leave me home by age 8. My parents were supportive of the craft. We’d get the cheap stuff at Walmart, but sometimes when we’d go through estate sales and storage units for our business we’d find boxes and bags of yarn. Family friends would also pass along yarn.
In my elementary school, there was a special education instructor that held a crochet group for students that didn’t want to go outside during recess. I’d go there a few times a week. I crocheted regularly through elementary, and occasionally in middle school. I was in 7th grade when 9/11 happened, and I made an amigurumi rabbit to auction at a fundraiser. From that, I got nearly a dozen commissions for the following Spring from teachers and families that saw my fundraiser rabbit. My mom also operated a second-hand shop, and I still sell some of my creations there. In high school, it kinda got set aside, because it wasn’t “cool”. I picked it back up in college as a way to quietly and productively fidget for my focus.
Though I primarily crochet, I also know how to knit. Crochet stitches were not soft enough for my sister when going through chemotherapy for inoperable brain cancer, so I told her I’d learn to knit for her. I didn’t get to finish her hat before she passed at age 14, so every year I knit a super basic hat to donate to the children’s hospital in her name. I recently invested in a knitting machine, so I make several each year now.
In 2009, I was married, and in 2011, I found out I was pregnant. When I was 4 months pregnant, I was in a car wreck, and put on bed rest. During that time, I made SO MANY hats and stuffed animals. My husband’s best friend offered to help me set up for farmers markets to sell some of the stuff and make some money while I was out of work. Since then, I’ve sold my amigurumi every summer and every holiday season. I crochet 6-10 hours daily and, on average, crochet makes up 30-50% of my annual income.
My sons have been raised around yarn and have been going to farmers markets with me their whole life. I used to stuff their diaper bag with the things they needed and a few balls of yarn, just in case we had to wait in line, or they fell asleep in the car on the way home from an appointment. We used to go out to the park and do tummy time on a blanket while I sat and crocheted with them.
Usually they beg for me to make them whatever I’m working on. They also ask for my crochet toys for birthday party gifts for friends. I’m making 55 of these for their Valentine’s Day gifts for classmates and teachers:
I’ve got photos long back in my Facebook memories of my oldest when he was around 3 years old wearing an Elsa wig hat I made, and cuddling a giant unicorn I made for a market. He wouldn’t let it go, and acted like selling the unicorn would be the same as murdering a sibling. So I let him keep it.
I love to read, but my ADHD and dyslexia makes it hard to maintain concentration and I feel like sitting to read a physical book is wasteful of my time because my hands need to be moving. So I have hundreds of hours of audio books, podcasts, and YouTube videos that I’ll listen to while I work on the crochet. I love listening to other successful crochet artists. I listen to Refined Vibes, Crochet by Genna, AlyssaG, and Camryns Cute Creations on YouTube. If it’s a new pattern, I’ll put on a book that I’ve heard a billion times so that I’ve got the background noise, but can focus. I also regularly take my crochet to the museum, to walks at the park, hiking, to the river during the summer, to board game nights with friends, the movies, and concerts. I just choose simple memorized patterns for those events and my friends have learned to just expect it.
When crocheting wasn’t making enough, I’d get a part time job, or I’d work on building relationships. Since 2013, I’ve had a working relationship with my hometown toy store owner. She sells my hats and plushies whenever I can send them to her. If anyone is considering going into selling crochet as a business, I’d let them know that it’s going to be hard. Like any new venture, and any self employment venture, there will be a feast or famine cycle. Use your down time to prepare for your uptime.
When choosing what to make to sell, I mostly go with my gut, and when something does really well, I’ll make several. One of my best sellers is a T-Rex Dino, but I haven’t made them in a year because I burnt out. I’m bringing them back this summer now that I’ve had a break. I do make decisions of what to make based on how much time it takes to make compared to what I can typically sell it for, but I’ll still make things that just spark joy. When I get bored or burnt out with my crochet, I’ll take a day or two to play with other art forms. Crochet has become meditative. Digital art is something that engages my mind in a different way.
My business has grown over time. When I go to regular events, I get customers that come back, time and time again. They bring their friends. Last summer, I did a farmers market every other week, and the same kids would come by. There was a young boy who keeps in his grandma’s booth, and he’d buy his siblings a new small toy every time. I have an Etsy and I keep my things for made-to-order on Etsy.
I always knew I would make a business out of something. I didn’t want to work for others. I’d grown up working in a family business. I was good at math, and spent my school breaks helping the family. By 8, I could count back change without a calculator, and my parents had me watch the shop while they made deliveries. At times selling can feel like a chore, but I change up colors, and the places I work in, and watch movies and listen to audiobooks to break up the monotony. I try new patterns every few weeks. I do crochet challenges with my friends and I do live streams to chat with other creators. It’s a job, but it’s one that I have total creative control over.
If you’ve liked to take a look at Echo’s other artwork, I’d recommend taking a look at her Etsy. I ended up buying two of her notebooks before the interview was over.
