Say hello to Lin (@Prettyknotty) - our new Ribblr of the Week and the designer behind [Pretty Knotty]
Hi! Happy to have you here, tell us a little about yourself.
Hello!! My name is Lin and I’m a 24 years old fibre artist from Malaysia! Crochet is a huge part of my life now and I have been running my small crochet business, Pretty Knotty for 3+ years which I am so proud of. I used to be a competitive figure skater and ballerina when I was younger but nowadays I also enjoy roller skating for fun. I REALLY love cats and I have 9 pets in total (8 cats, 1 turtle) and they’re basically my babies!
When did you start crafting and how?
I’ve always loved arts and crafts ever since I was very young and I tried a lot of things but I didn’t have a craft that I was really good at or really loved. Not until I started properly learning how to crochet during the pandemic, back in 2021. I actually tried crochet back in 2017 because I had a group project in university where we had to create a business and my idea was to sell pom pom keychains.
My friend gave me a bunch of yarn and also included a crochet hook but I didn’t know what to do with it and there were barely any tutorials for cute plushies back then so I only tried crocheting a headband for my baby niece. I never touched the crochet hook again after that, not until 2021 where I saw a tiktok of someone crocheting a cute crop top and I wanted to make one for myself since I already had a hook and lots of yarn.
And how did you start designing?
I was actually a slow learner with crochet, like it took me so so long to understand how to create my own designs and patterns. I started designing after about 6 months of learning crochet and gradually over the years as my skills started to improve I started getting better at designing but mainly for amigurumi. I’m not that good at designing clothing items with intricate designs and stitches, something I admire a lot of other crochet designers for!
Do you have a favorite craft type and if so - why?
Crochet is definitely my favourite craft because it’s so versatile and it allows me to express my creativity in any way that I want and I also love that I can bring some yarn, my hook and a pair of scissors and I can literally crochet anywhere I want! But I’m also slowly learning how to sew and I hope to get good at it someday too!
What has been the most memorable project you worked on?
My Lil Enchanted Meadow! An art piece I made for an art exhibition and it’s my biggest project so far! It’s a whimsical piece featuring cute animals, mushroom houses, flowers and it even has lights built into it so it is extra magical in the dark. It’s my favourite piece of artwork and I’m planning to design a smaller version and possibly write a pattern for it so more people can make it!
What are you currently working on? Be honest - how many WIP do you have right now?
I’m mainly working on some orders and one of them is my biggest cake order yet! But besides that, I’m also working on a few personal projects for myself that I have temporarily abandoned but hopefully I finish them soon! I lost track of how many WIP I have currently but probably more than 10.
Which of your makes/designs are you most proud of?
My Ducky Pond Cake is my most popular pattern so far and I’m really glad a lot of people love it too. I recently made the BIGGEST version of Ducky Pond Cake and I’m quite obsessed with it!
What is your usual process of designing?
I always need to sketch out my designs on my ipad first. Usually when I get inspired and think of a design in my mind, I immediately start sketching so that I can visualise it better and see whether the colour scheme I thought of would actually look good together. However, the end product usually is not identical to the initial sketch because in my opinion, the fun part of designing is experimenting with your creativity as you go along.
What inspires you to create/design?
I get a lot of inspiration from nature. I really love creating pieces revolving around nature themes like forests and ponds and a lot of my works like my Ducky Pond Cake, Lil Enchanted Meadow and a few other Everlasting Cakes I’ve made reflect this.
Any favorite song, book or movie you would like to recommend?
I’m a big fan of horror movies but when I crochet, I actually enjoy re-watching animations like the Studio Ghibli films or I also enjoy re-watching the Shrek movies because it’s funny HAHA. The reason why I like to rewatch animations while I crochet is because I prefer not to watch anything that requires me to focus to understand the story because I tend to not pay attention to the movie anyway. I recently watched The Boy and the Heron by Studio Ghibli and it’s such a beautiful masterpiece that I recommend everyone to watch!!
Share a funny story that happened to you recently!
I hate cockroaches and they scare/disgust me a lot and my cats love chasing them. I saw my cat Jiji catch one and I started running away in case it starts flying but he literally chased me with it and proceeded to leave it on my bed!! And here I thought having cats would help me a lot when unwanted bugs show up urgh.
What is your favorite feature on Ribblr?
I love how interactive the patterns are on Ribblr! But as a designer, I really love how easy it is to copy and paste my existing patterns into Ribbuild and it saves me a lot of time!
Pay it forward - your shoutout to a fellow Ribblr
Here are some designers and patterns I love I love seeing on Ribblr!
@tinybearstitches
@CMArtDesignShop
@anon1648497
Thanks so much for being here this week Lin, it’s a pleasure reading about you!
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