Crochet Entrepreneurs: Zoë Halstead
Date: 31st August 2018 | Category: News
Photography by King Cole Zoë Halstead lives in a village in
Leicestershire with her husband,
two teenage sons (13 and 16) and a
cute, but naughty, black cat! She’s a
freelance knit and crochet designer
and author. Most of her crochet and
knit design work is for King Cole but
she also contributes to magazines and
other publications, and designs for
other yarn companies.
She also assists one to two days a
week in a local yarn shop which, she
says, “is great fun advising and helping
customers and keeps me updated on
the latest yarns and trends.â€
Zoë taught herself to crochet “using a
Good Housekeeping book of my mum’s
(that I still have!) when I was in my
early twenties. However, having been
a knitter since the age of five, I really
struggled to get to grips with it and
it wasn’t until I was working for DMC
about eight years later, on some crochet
scarf kits, that I picked it up again
determined to crack it. Happily I did!â€
After a degree in constructed
textiles at Manchester Metropolitan
University, Zoë returned to
Leicestershire and worked
as a designer in the knitwear
manufacturing and yarn spinning
industries before moving to DMC Creative World to design needlework
and craft kits. She took voluntary
redundancy from there in May 2008 to
become freelance full time.
“When I first became freelance I
worked on a knitting partwork and
the publishers were starting a crochet
version. I was asked if I would design
for that too but was a little unsure
whether my crochet skills were good
enough! I’m so glad I accepted though
as I really honed my crochet design
skills working over the two to three
years it ran for.â€
Inspiration can come from
anywhere, says Zoë. “Sometimes
it comes from nature – a particular
texture or colour combination.
Sometimes a garment shape or detail
inspires me to recreate it in crochet.
Or I have a mental image of something
in particular and I just have to try and
create it! And sometimes the yarn is
the starting point and that will take me
down a particular path.â€
So how does Zoë juggle home life
and her business? “I’m not sure how
I fit it all in, especially as I crochet
everything I design myself! I try and
do any sort of paperwork or designing
in the mornings and then crochet (or
knit) in the afternoons and evenings.
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