Hello fellow maker! My name is Tina Marie. Thanks for stopping by to learn more about me. I’m a special education teacher, maker, and crochet pattern designer. My favorite thing to design is crochet garments. I’d absolutely love to help you create your own handmade wardrobe.
I grew up in New England where I spent many of my early years with my Memere (my grandma). Together we’d cook, bake, and sew. She’d crochet me hats, and these cute little slippers that she called “pea-shoes”. I’ve actually never heard anyone else use that term before…have you? She didn’t teach me to crochet– though if I could go back in time, I’d have asked her to teach me.
When I was young, I LOVED to read, write, and draw. When I was about 6 or 7, I found an old typewriter that, for some reason, wrote in red ink. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I would type lists about my career goals, which included: “writer, actor, dancer, artist”. I also remember writing this book about cats that loved to dance. I made a fancy cardboard cover, and illustrated every page with pictures of cats wearing tutus and dancing. I still have that book today!
When I was in school, my favorite class was always art. So naturally, I planned to pursue a career in art. I thought that I “needed” to go to college to have a good career. I ended up going to Hartford Art School at University of Hartford (and taking out an ungodly amount of student loans) where I majored in illustration and ceramics. I struggled in college… I mean, my grades were good, but my art wasn’t so great. I never really found my artistic voice. I liked practical and purposeful things, but there seemed to be this battle about function vs. concept, where anything that was “useful” wasn’t really considered as art. I hated it. When I graduated I was feeling artistically lost and buried by student loan debt.
After graduating, I’d planned to reach out to art directors to show them my portfolio, but I didn’t ever try, not even once. I wasn’t proud of my work. I was more concerned with having a stable job that would allow me to pay down my student loan debt and provide me with security. This is when I began working with adults with special needs. It mattered, and that was everything to me. I needed work that I felt passionate about, and this was it. After a move across the country to California, I began working as a teaching assistant at a school. That led to the pursuit of my teaching credential in Special Ed, and becoming a teacher. I loved how teaching challenged me and allowed for some creativity, but something was still missing. I hadn’t “made” anything in forever.
Finally… a spark! One day, on a long plane ride home after visiting my family in New England, I saw a woman a few seats ahead of me knitting. She made the yarn dance so methodically as she knit stitch after stitch. I watched her hands, captivated by their movements. I knew then that I NEEDED to learn how to knit. I found a beginning knitting kit which included a book, yarn, and knitting needles. Slowly but surely, through lots and LOTS of trial and error, I picked up knitting. YouTube tutorials helped me refine my skills even more. I was in love.
Not long after, I came up on some crochet tutorials and gave it a shot. I loved how easy it was to go back and fix mistakes. (I am STILL pretty terrified of fixing knit mistakes!) It turns out that I was awful at following crochet patterns. I understood them well enough, but couldn’t help but take them as an outline rather than a play by play. I liked to adjust and adapt them, always experimenting– with gauge, and yarn, and shaping– I knew there was something there. With crochet, I felt a freedom in creation that had been missing for a long time. It was not long before I started free handing my own items: scarves, hats, an ugly sweater or two… and eventually after a lot of practice and refining my skills, I began creating my own crochet garment patterns.
So that’s where we are today. Still working full time as a teacher, designing crochet garments, cautiously knitting, and now BLOGGING! In a way things have come full circle. I am actually doing some of my childhood aspirations from that old typewritten list!! Going forward, my big goals are to create a thriving handmade business that allows me to be creative, and to continue learning and sharing knowledge with others.
If you hang around, you’ll find crochet (and maybe soon knit) patterns– both free and paid, as well as helpful information and resources for makers.
Happy Making!
