mumbles mummy photo

Interview with a Crocheter: Mumbles Mummy

Beth of Mumbles Mummy has been crocheting for about three years. She loves the idea of wrapping those she loves up in something warm. She now also makes custom items on request. Today she shares her experiences with us in an interview about her work and crafting life.

Q: I guess we should start with this basics, right? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Mumbles Mummy: I’m a 30 year old WAHM of two. I love the fact that I’m a “hooker”. It’s definitely an ice breaker when meeting new people! I’m finally using my creativity to make me happy and enable me to spend time with my kids. I never want to return to a 9 to 5 job knowing that this other life is possible.

Q: I know you have been crocheting for about three years. How did you learn to crochet? What inspired you to start?

Mumbles Mummy: Yes, I learned to crochet on the 15th January, 2010. It was the day my daughter was due to be born; (she arrived late!) The first thing I made was a granny square blanket for her cot. I literally picked up a hook and some yarn and tried to copy the shapes of the stitches on a granny blanket I owned at the time.

granny square blanket

My mum tried several times before to show me but I just couldn’t do it. I crochet very differently to the way she does. Amusingly, I didn’t find tutorials until I’d taught myself various different stitches from a book I bought in a charity shop. Bobwilson123 is EPIC for those who want to learn. Her tutorials are clear and easy to follow.

Initially, I just wanted to make something for my daughter. This being my first child, I was excited, bored of waiting, anxious to meet her, and determined to be one of those wonderful mums who makes things for their kids and cooked everything from scratch. I had made a knitted blanket for her early in the pregnancy but found it slow, frustrating and very, very dull. I just wanted to have something that would distract me from how long my daughter was making me wait for a cuddle. LOL.

As time passed, I made a few items for my daughter, including a fab dress that I designed myself, but just here and there, not an obsession. It was only during the later pregnancy with my son that things really took off for Mumbles Mummy.

Q: Where did the name Mumbles Mummy come from?

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fiber farm

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Wool Yarn

Wool is one of the most popular fibers for the yarn that knitters and crocheters use in your work. It is great for many reasons, but it is not without its controversy. This article explores wool from many different angles. We’ll look at types of wool and wool yarns, different phrases used in reference to wool, pros and cons of crocheting with wool, wool events and more.

What is Wool?

Wool is actually a more confusing term that you might think. In the United States it is generally accepted that when you talk about wool, you are talking about the fiber made from the fur of sheep. However, wool around the world sometimes includes the fur fiber of other animals including cashmere from goats, angora from rabbits, and qiviut from the muskox.

Types of Wool

sheep

Even when you limit the term wool just to sheep’s wool, there are still many, many types of wool to choose from. Each different type of sheep produces different wool. Just listen in on yarn spinners chatting for a short period and you’ll hear about Merino Wool, Blue Faced Leicester, Finn, Jacob, Cormo, Flakland, Shetland, Corriedale, Romney, Polwarth, Icelandic Leadersheep, Gotland, Wensleydale, Friessian, Cheviot, Clun Forest, and Coopworth sheep wool. Wow!

Each of the wool’s has different thickness or coarseness, which relates (at least in part) to the crimp of the fiber. The crimp refers to the fineness of the wool so a wool like merino, which is very fine, may have 100 crimps per inch and a really coarse wool may have only 5 crimps per inch. The fibers also vary in length and this affects the feel of the yarn, too. You aren’t likely to need to know this as a crocheter, but it’s helpful to know as a spinner!

Types of Wool Yarns

Things get even more detailed when you talk about wool yarns, because these yarns may be any of those sheep wool fibers but they can also be blends. The blend can be a mixture of different wools or the blend can be any of those wools mixed with another fiber such as silk. Each wool yarn is going to have a different feel, a different drape and possibly a different purpose in your crochet work.

Some of the wool yarns / wool blend yarns I’ve worked with include:

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