Back Story January featuring Annaboo’s House

03/01/2017

For the first Back Story feature of 2017 let me introduce you to my super talented, friend Sarah, aka Annaboo’s House…

‘you will all know her as Annaboo’s House a crochet rock-star’

I began my Back story feature last year. I wanted to highlight talented creatives, makers and designers. Artisans that I particularly respect. Sometimes all I want to know about someone I admire, is ‘how do they do it?’ or ‘why is is called that?’ So with this in mind, I began The Back Story in which I ask 5 simple questions…

For January’s Back story I interviewed Sarah Shrimpton, you will all know her as ‘Annaboo’s House’ a crochet rock-star and author of three superb crochet books. Sarah generously agreed to answer my Five questions…

Hello Sarah!

Why the name Annaboo’s house?

1. Annaboo’s House is named after my daughter, Annabelle. When she was a baby it was the nickname we called her and it kind-of stuck. When I created my blog, I wanted a name that was personal, and sounded friendly, but gave me a little anonymity, too.

How did you learn to crochet?

2. I taught myself, about six years ago – I’d given up teaching to be a full-time mum and I desperately needed to put my brain to good use. I decided to teach myself to crochet, armed with a few books and the Internet!

Who or what inspires you?

3. I think I’m inspired by everything that comes my way, whether it be what I see whilst walking our dog across the beautiful South Downs, or something I’m watching on the TV! I love places like Pinterest for gathering visual ideas and researching new projects- it’s a great place for keeping track of everything, from current trends in fashion to craft and DIY ideas.

How do you juggle family life and your creativity?

4. Trying to work around a young family is always tricky, but I just about manage. I teach in a Primary School two days a week and spend every other spare minute crocheting, planning projects and working on my blog or social media. My husband and kids are so used to being surrounded by yarn, it doesn’t bother them!

What are your future plans for 2017?

5. I’ve got lots of projects coming up- lots of magazine commissions, which are always fun and varied and I’ve got some new patterns to add to my Etsy shop, but the most exciting is the publication of my third book, ‘Supersize Crochet: 20 quick crochet projects using super chunky yarn’ due for release in May. It was such a fun book to work on – I got to play with some of the biggest and chunkiest yarns available and made some really beautiful projects. My favourite piece is probably the wall hanging pictured on the front cover – it’s made with beautiful merino yarn and a stick I found in the local woods!