Karin Roosendaal is crazy about crochet. Four years ago that’s exactly why she decided to turn her passion into her work. What started as a small community quickly grew into a warm crochet family with 14 regular designers and thousands of enthusiastic crocheters!
Together with grandma
“I’ve been crocheting since childhood. My grandmother did a lot of needlework and together we made all sorts of things, from crochet to embroidery. At some point I had a little book of animal plushies and I’d try to copy them. I came across that book again recently on a second-hand site. Of course I bought it straight away.”
Experimenting
“What I love most about crochet is the relaxation, the creativity and experimenting with color. Feeling wonderfully soft yarns, creating something that makes someone else happy. Being proud of something you made yourself. On top of that I meet so many lovely people through crochet. That makes it extra special for me!”
Favorite crochet spot
“I have a fixed spot on the couch where I love to crochet. My bag of WIPs sits next to the couch as standard. That way I can pick it up straight away and carry on. There’s also a lovely chair at the office I like to crochet in, although I rarely get round to it. I’m usually busy answering emails from members, laying out a crochet book or thinking up new plans for Gek op Haken.”
“I crochet all kinds of things, but my favorites are blankets, garments and scarves. I love big projects where I barely have to think and can really let my mind wander. My favorite project right now is a summer top.”
Sources of inspiration
“All the designers on my team make the most beautiful things. Outside of that I’m a big fan of Martin Up North, a designer from Sweden. He mostly designs home accessories with geographic patterns throughout. Truly gorgeous!”
Designed it herself
“I’m not a designer myself, but I do have enough crochet experience to put together a simple pattern. My Bobbiny Korrelkussen (in Dutch) is a free pattern of mine that still gets downloaded a lot on the website.
“A recent design is the Malaga bag. I designed it for the Dutch-language crochet course for beginners that we started offering recently. The course teaches you to crochet and by the end you’ve made a lovely bag. The pattern is of course available to our members too.”
Crochet frustration
“Every now and then I have a go at amigurumi, because they’re so incredibly cute. But assembling them is never going to become a hobby of mine. It’s such fiddly work!
A while back I started crocheting little plants. The first one turned out really lovely and now I’m making the second. Only my son thought the soil I’d crocheted would make a great stress ball. He squeezed it completely flat, which crushed the green oasis inside. So now I get to start over on opening it up and stuffing it. Aaah!”
WIPs (works in progress)
“Until a year ago I usually worked on just two projects at a time. One project to crochet mindlessly while watching a series or listening to a podcast, and one alongside it that actually needed my attention.
Lately it’s gone a bit off the rails. Too many lovely projects came my way and now there are at least five half-finished ones lying around. So my resolution is not to start anything new until something is finished. Whether that’ll actually work is another question…”
Next project
“My next project is going to be the Twinset Top, which is part of a set with a top and a cardigan. I’m going to make it in Comfy by Durable, a wonderfully soft yarn. It’s a pattern by one of our regular designers, Laura Pietersma, and I think the design is brilliant. I can’t wait to get started!”
Proud
“There are two projects I’m really proud of. One is the Rozeta blanket, from a CAL a few years back. What a challenge that was! The other is Kussen Fleur, a design by Doringe Brökling, one of our regular designers. A brilliant pattern with lots of different stitches and beautiful colors.
If you ask me what I’m most proud of at Gek op Haken, it’s the more than 2,300 members who sit down to crochet with so much joy every single day. Four years ago I started out, and now we have a wonderful team of designers, bloggers and ambassadors. And of course my husband Timo and the women who help us on a daily basis to make Gek op Haken the friendliest crochet club in the Netherlands and Belgium. That makes me happy and proud every day.”
Want to see, read or hear more from Gek op Haken?
Karin and Gek op Haken are active daily on Instagram. You can visit her website here (in Dutch).
