The Crochet Crowd's only book came out in September 2021 after a year of development. Featuring Michael Sellick, Daniel Zondervan and a list of other friends to make some patterns for the book. Those people included Jeanne Steinhilber, Anita Grover, Megan McHugh and Kathleen Nolen.
You can pick it up at your favourite bookstore and/or order it online. Our book identification is:
ISBN: 978-1-77276-160-3
Known Mistakes in Book
Please Visit Errors for The Crochet Crowd Book article here for the errors that were found after printing and what the fixes are. Future editions of our book will have these fixed.
Free Tutorials Now Available
You can follow the instructions in the book to follow along if you wish.
Our book is a summation of what brought us to Nova Scotia, Canada, with a brief history of the journey it's taken to get here. In the yarn arts, unless you have a book, people behind the scenes don't really give you the time of day. To us, it's old-school thinking as today's crocheter is most likely digital-driven.
The Backstory
Over the years, as early as 2011, I have been approached by several publishers to write a book. I took a workshop in 2011 about writing a book and low and behold, it's an eye-opening experience. I left the conference at the end of the day and immediately told Daniel, we have to be crazy to write a book.
It's a minimum of a year process, and the hours of dedication to planning and writing it are astounding. So, over the years, when a publisher reaches out. I decline without much thought. I have a unique situation on my shoulders. I have to run a significant digital footprint in crochet in between doing the bookwork. Content always has to flow, so my time cannot stand still on anything for long without being noticed.
Interestingly enough, another publisher happened to contact me while this was going on. John MacIntyre from MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc. here in Nova Scotia. He just wants to talk to me on the phone and because Jonah's writer had been talking to me, I was open to a discussion with John.
Long story short, we have an opportunity to write a book about any topic we wish. An associate of John had been watching us since our move to Nova Scotia.
So I figured, I'll try to write our story. But there is a problem.
- I am too detailed.
- I get into the minor details that have little significance in the grand scheme of the story.
- The book has a negative perspective as I am writing about things that upset me. Not about the focus of the joys as well to keep a good story balance.
My story isn't a straight line. While I may be having success in the public eye, my life behind the scenes can be falling apart. How do you write a story with multiple sub-plots at the same time? It's confusing and is it necessary?
I gave it a couple of months. I contacted John to tell him I cannot do a book. I cannot balance my time and I am not a great writer. So that's that. Done. Opportunity on the table then slid off the table and I am back to that opinion of a book is too hard to do.
We wrote the book during the time of Covid-19 and it was challenging with interviews and photography without the risk of making someone else ill.
We decided that if we have a factual storybook, we need to pair it with patterns. Why would you buy the book of a crochet host without patterns? I know I wouldn't. So, that kick-started the journey for coming up with patterns.
The first pattern right out of the gate would be another signature textured afghan. I sat for a weekend at the dining room table trying to get the first 2 feet of it done. One section of just 5 rounds took me honest to gawd 8 hours to figure out the math so it would sit flat. Four months on and off designing. How many roadblocks I don't really know. Three blankets later, the testing team with another 4 blankets. It was completed in a 4-month time frame. Picking it up, putting it down. Doing the Summer SAL for JOANN and other content to keep the ball rolling. It was never a straight shot at trying to get this done.
In one of the projects I did, the yarn got discontinued and so it had to be redone but I had the original already written but tweaked it going through it again a second time.
Jeanne originally had 2 patterns in the book but she did this incredible version called Into the Light Afghan that was extremely personal. The attention to detail and texture are second to none. Soon as Daniel saw it, get that ready for the book. I think you are going to love this afghan, truly.
Kathleen has an amazing hat pattern and she specializes in craft show. Anita worked out two unique patterns with so much yarn play, I think her hands may have been raw with so much play! haha. Megan worked with Daniel on a combination series together. Daniel has a beautiful scarf he actually crocheted all by himself. haha.
A week before the deadline, Daniel booked us a resort for a few days here locally. Have you been to a resort where there is no one there? Creepy! The Quarterdeck allowed us to use their conference space at no charge. Honestly, we all by ourselves in the complex building where our room was. We sprawled out over 3 days and went through all of the content, yet again.
In the end, we had a working dinner with our publisher to discuss the name of the book.
I was set on the idea of the book being called The Journey. However, John thought that our company name is highly searched that the book should be called exactly what it's meant to be, The Crochet Crowd. However, we needed a second byline. Daniel created the name of The Crochet Crowd back in 2010, two years after I had started this journey but it was me that did the byline. Inspire, Create & Celebrate. It's the crocheter's journey from the inspirational process of online and friend recommendations to creating the idea and then taking a few moments in time to celebrate it. I shared with John our slogan and he was immediately said, "That's it... that's the right addition". He was pretty excited by it. We had been racking our brain for weeks trying to think of the byline and yet it's been our slogan all along! Who knew!?
What You Can Expect
You will see real-life situations play themselves out. I think people want to see what the seat looks like from my perspective. The book isn't a coming-out story, though it's part of it, you will learn how naive I really can be. It's a story of finding myself through a community connection of the yarn arts. Flailing in the wind trying to find life's balance. Realizing, nothing in life is ever perfect, nor is perfection should ever be the goal.
Being in an industry where I didn't initially fit in and cried in a restaurant over a beer after a trade show that I was completely rejected. I still don't fit in today but I have come to embrace that. What makes me unique is what works but you couldn't have told me that in the beginning.
Christine Audsley says
Hi Mikey,
I am recently new at the Crochet Crowd, accidently discovered this while browsing. I'm also an avid book reader. I know some simple crochet. Mixing all these together, I can't wait for your book and just be yourself, don't sweat the small stuff, do what comes natural, and let the experts condense what you want in the book. I've already pre-ordered the book! Can't wait to see it. As for crocheting, I'm discovering a whole new world of this due to your tutorials.... and omg!!! there are so many to choose from. It's wonderful! I have many crochet books and I'm sure anyone who crochets has their favourites as well. I luv your truthfulness. It's what you believe in that attracts people. I'm personally from Ontario, but been to east coast many times, just love the charm of it, not to mention friends who live there.
You asked for opinions, and these are a few of mine... keep doing what you do, the rest will fall in naturally 🙂
Dorothy says
I’m 72 and just started crocheting seriously a couple of years ago. I bought some learn to crochet books and fumbled around for a while trying to learn some basic stitches. I was at a craft fair a couple of years ago and there was a young woman there selling hats and scarves that she had made and I just fell in love with them. I told her how talented she was and how I had dreamed of being able to create something so beautiful myself. She said if I wanted to learn I might want to try YouTube. I had no idea this even existed. I came home and logged on and voila!, there you were. Crochet has opened up a whole new world for me. I started off making hats and scarves and everyone I knew got a set for Christmas. Then I graduated to simple blankets and I’ve made all nine of my grandchildren a blanket, thinking it was something to remember me by when I’m no longer here. You have been my inspiration and I can’t thank you enough for what you do. I am now trying to read a chart for the first time and am having difficulty, but I know if I keep at it, it will click. I can finally sort of read a pattern and it usually only takes me about two or three times of frogging it to finally get it right, ha ha. I learn the best by watching someone so the tutorials are so important to me. That being said, I think if that wonderful young woman at the craft fair had not told me about the tutorials, I might have just given up the idea of ever creating something bigger than a swatch.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Carroll says
I am heartbroken. Amazon Canada will not ship to the US. I guess I wait to see if Amazon US will be selling it.
I love your work!!
Wendy Maruna says
Please bring Amazon up in a browser window (not using the link in our article). You can search The Crochet Crowd and you will be able to find it on the American Amazon. We have found that it is not working in the Amazon App for many Americans, so that is why we suggest the use of a browser window.
Hope that helps