Say hello to Ellie @MadebyEllie - our new Ribblr of the Week and designer behind MadebyEllie! ![]()
Tell us a little about yourself:
Hiaaa my name is Ellie!! Some things you might not know about me is I’m a homeschooled teen, a Christian, and I obviously spend most of my free time crafting
Other than fiber arts, I love baking, making art, and spending time with my family and cousins (Fun fact: I have a really big family with about ~30 cousins, most of which live in my area, so we are all really good friends, which as a very shy homeschooler, it helps to have friends built into your family
)
When did you start crafting and how?
For pretty much as long as I can remember I have had a deep love for crafting. My crocheting journey all started with my mom trying to teach me. The *first* time she tried sitting me down and teaching me was probably when I was about 7 or 9, but I only got as far as learning to chain until my brain couldn’t comprehend it anymore. Later when I was a bit older, I got gifted some yarn for christmas and my mom said she would try teaching me to crochet again. So on January of 2023, my mom helped me to crochet a beanie, you might be surprised to hear that I actually didn’t crochet for months after this, it wasn’t until best friend (who is my cousin, of course lol) learned to crochet, this gave me the motivation to pick up a hook again. By then I had forgotten basically all of what my mom taught me so resorted to youtube videos to relearn crochet, and managed to freehand a little bag that was probably just as scrappy and bad looking as my first project, but unlike the first beanie I had made months before, this little bag got me excited to make more, so I watched a whole lot more youtube videos, discovered the most magical place called the
yarn isle​
, and continued using most of my free time to crochet, I’m happy to say I haven’t stopped ever since ![]()
And how did you start designing?
After I passed the beginner phase of being a crocheter and started understanding written patterns more, I began to sometimes right down things I freehanded for my own use. Publishing my own patterns never crossed my mind, much less even seemed possible, until I found Ribblr. I was immediately intrigued by the ePatterns and was amazed by how accessible Ribblr made it to write, test, and publish your own patterns. So I began transferring some of the “patterns” I already had written in my notebook (my bee, and bunny pattern) to Ribblr, and then started designing new patterns on here and have had a lot of fun doing so ![]()
Do you have a favorite craft type?
I would have to say crochet is my favorite, it’s where my love of fiber arts began and I have always put the most time into this awesome hobby, *but* I have been getting a lot more into knitting so that is definitely creeping up there as a second favorite!!
What was the most memorable project you worked on?
Hmmm, I honestly don’t know if I have worked on a specific project that stood out above the rest in terms of being memorable, but I did knit my first sweater last year which definitely made me more confident in my knitting. For crochet though, I ~~kinda~~ recently freehanded a mossy nessie and used needfelting to add the moss and details, so that was for sure one of the funner and more interesting projects I’ve worked on ![]()
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What are you currently working on? Be honest - how many WIP do you have right now?
Okieee let me see… at the moment I have two patterns in the works (which will hopefully be close to done or in testing by the time this is out, *hint hint*![]()
), one pattern test I’m working on, a knitted frog I have started, a bag that I’m crocheting, a knitted sweater that I haven’t worked on in a longgg while, a temperature snake, anddd probably plenty more that I have either abandoned or forgotten altogether ![]()
Which of your makes/designs are you most proud of?
Ahhhh no it’s too hard to choose
I do love my Flower Frog pattern, although it’s a simple design, I think it turned out really cute. I also am super happy with my frog that I knitted, it was my first attempt at knitting amigurumi, and I have to say that I am very proud of the result, I still made plenty of mistakes but he just turned out so precious and he always brings me a smile when I look at him ![]()
What inspires you to create/design?
My inspiration can come from anything really!! Sometimes I see something in my everyday life that will strike inspiration, sometimes one of you guys on the Ribblr community create an adorable pattern that I just have to make, and sometimes I’m simply bored and start creating to give myself something to do with my hands that will bring me joy ^^
What is your usual process of designing?:
It normally starts with drawing out my idea, most of the time I just make a rough sketch to get the idea of the shape I want, and then I go straight to my yarn and hook and try my best to shape it right, writing down the basic form of the pattern as I go. If I need to make a difficult shape I sometimes even cut out a stencil from paper and lay my work next to it every row/rnd and make whatever decreases, increases, or different techniques I need to do to get the shape and size just right. All of this obviously comes with a lot of trial and error, *and* frogging. Once I come up with a design I’m happy with, I start converting my notes and rough pattern into the Ribblr ePattern format, sometimes crocheting multiple of the design so that I can take extra pictures, proofread the pattern, and then put it into testing!!
Any favorite song, book or movie you would like to recommend?:
Some of my favorite movies that I’d recommend are- Napoleon Dynamite, UHF, Princess Bride, and Nacho Libre. If you can’t tell, I like less serious and more silly movies, I guess these all fit with my sense of humor ![]()
What is your favorite feature on Ribblr?
Like I mentioned a bit before, I really love how Ribblr makes it so easy to create, test, and share your own patterns!! I also love how Ribblr has built a wonderful community full of fellow crafters <3
What socials can folks find you on?
You can find me @something.made.by.ellie on Instagram!
Which 3 - 5 designers/patterns on Ribblr are your favorite? (We will share them :
Some of my favorite designers are: @PickledSweet @xhunni @Scarletskies @ArielC @Bobacat123 And so so many more!!!
Thanks for being here this week Ellie, it was a pleasure to read about you!
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