Welcome to Frog & Fasten!

Congratulations, ya found me! Frog and Fasten is all about making mistakes and learning from them. As a crocheter, I’ve stumbled through patterns and learned what to do and what not to do from failed projects. I hope to share some of those learning experiences with you guys here, as well as some successful projects and patterns with you. I hope you enjoy your stay and stick around!

The name comes from two popular words among the crochet community. To “frog” your work is to undo stitches that you’ve crocheted. To “fasten” your work is to essentially tie a knot at the end of your work, suggesting that you’ve finished a piece of your work. I think these two words encapsulate the experience of many crocheters (though I identify most with the former, haha).

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HOW I GOT INTO CROCHET

Are you ready to hear my grand crochet origin story... because there isn't one! Whomp, whomp. Actually, what had initially drawn me to start crocheting was this book by Twinkie Chan: Crochet Abode à la Mode. Two summers ago, I was browsing through shops in Downtown Toronto and I happened across the book in a local print shop. As someone who definitely judges books by their covers, I was drawn to the cover by the playful pastel-y colour scheme. Flipping through the pages and seeing all of the cute home decor that Twinkie had designed got me feeling inspired. Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if I could make my own decor? How neat would it be to actually create something? And so it was. That same day, I went to my local Michael’s and picked up a big skein of dark grey yarn (terrible colour choice for a beginner), a cheap set of crochet hooks and headed on home to start my new hobby!

Besides the fact that it was a yarn craft, I knew nothing about crochet. Now, maybe 10 years ago, that would’ve been a problem and I would’ve needed head back out to Michael’s to buy a how-to book. But these were the 2010’s baby, and YouTube was here to save the day! From the goodness of people’s hearts and their passion for crochet, I learned how to chain, single crochet, turn, and fasten off my work. I even completed my first amigurumi project following a tutorial on YouTube. As I began to find confidence in my abilities to follow patterns, I started following a number of crochet blogs too. The amount of time and effort that each and every one of these YouTubers and bloggers put into their work is immeasurable. Everything I had learned on the internet, I had learned for free. Many of these talented artists didn’t ask for a dime in return either. I wasn’t really sure how to repay all of these people back, so I thought of a way to give back to the yarn community instead: creating and sharing free patterns on this blog. Creating patterns, as I’ve learned, can also be a pretty frustrating process (Kudos to all you pattern makers out there, you da MVPs). I also want use this blog to share my successes and struggles with pattern making, as well as some tips that I learn as I stumble through the creative process.

*exhale* In short, I want to be able to help people create awesome things—as others have helped me—for free.

Oh yeah, I bought Crochet Abode à la Mode some time later, too!

Cindy.