For the love of a child. As a parent we all want what is best for our children. We all want to give them everything to make them happy. We all want to be their hero.

I’ve always been an advocate for clean, natural and sustainable living. I admit I am one of those moms who obsesses over all the things related to kid health and wellness. What products touch my child’s skin (Parabens? – gasp!). What foods go into their bodies – only organic, not too much sugar! What cleaning products am I using? He’ll be poisoned the moment his perfect, unpolluted nose inhales a whiff of bleach!

Geez, how are any of us kids from the 80’s even alive!? I was sustained by snow white bread, Cream of Wheat, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese (still my guilty pleasure!).

I jest.

My son, Benjamin – not unlike many 4 years olds I’m sure – LOVES stories. Almost every night as we tuck him in, he gets a fresh story with our usual characters going off on some fantastic new adventure. He looks forward to these stories with the most intensity and is always disappointed when we announce that tonight will be a “song night”. God knows it takes a great effort to invent a new, exciting adventure on the spot every night – those song nights are always a welcome reprieve to the brain.

I introduced story time to our morning routine as well. I thought about how fun it would be to have walk-on characters join in our morning story time, just like they do in our bedtime stories. So a love of stories on his part, combined with a drive towards natural and sustainable toys on my part, I began to MAKE the characters for him.

Enter: CROCHET. I made one toy and was hooked.

I’ve always been a huge fan of making things with my hands. I scrapbook, build, cook, craft, etc. So, I wasn’t necessarily surprised that I became hooked on crochet. It’s challenging and it gives my hands something to do during an otherwise idle moment. Also, there’s always something new to learn and the results are ALMOST always rewarding. But after a while I found myself changing a pattern or tweaking it to achieve some preferred result in my head.

Enter: crochet pattern design.

That’s when I started writing my own patterns. My crochet Elephant pattern: Kiwi the Elephant was my very first one!

I realized that I enjoy the creative process of designing a new and never-thought-of-before crochet pattern. Also, there was this building frustration I had with how terrible so many of the patterns out there are! So many are busy, ugly, confusing, too-small-of-font, no pictures, trying-to-cram-it-all-onto-one-page, mess! CAN I GET AN AMEN!?

Introducing: Off the Beaten Hook.

I’m committed to making fresh, inviting patterns that are easy to approach and fun to follow. I’m all about making practical crochet items for your home. You won’t find any knick-knacks or things that will just end up in a box somewhere. Everything I design has a purpose and use for your home and family.

And that’s how it all began.

Since the original writing of this article, we’ve welcomed a little girl to the crew who is finally at a stage where she, too, can enjoy all the crochet characters, fruits, vegetables and toys we have in our playroom! It is the greatest joy of my life to be a mama bear to these cubs. I have updated the original article photo to include her in the fun as well!