Back in November 2013 my dear friend Norah taught me how to make the first two rows of a crocheted granny square. I'd tried for years to teach myself using YouTube but with no success whatsoever. Norah made it look so easy and all of a sudden it clicked! That was the one and only lesson I ever had. I came home that day and taught Angela what I'd learnt and we’ve barely put our hooks down since! We began meeting our friends every other Wednesday for Stitch & Bitch and that was the inspiration for what seriously.hooked.up has become. You can find Angela's blog HERE.
seriously.hooked.up began as an instagram page which I used to share my crochet makes. I decided on the name seriously.hooked.up because primarily I'm a crocheter and also because "hooking up" with our craft loving friends is what we were doing! Slowly but surely we gained a small following on instagram and also received many queries from local crafters asking if they could join our group! As you can see from the pictures above, my living room was already at capacity! So after two years of meeting in my living room Angela and I decided to give in and launch our first "public" yarn craft social group!
It took a little while to get our first social at Kirkham off the ground, but before long our group was pretty well established and we were looking at launching a second social in Lytham! After a few hiccups and a change to our strap line from "stitch & bitch" to "crochet & knitting socials" our Lytham group took off at the end of 2017! A few weeks later we launched a third social in Poulton and at the end of 2018 we launched our final social in Warton!
Since our first and only crochet lesson 6 years ago Angela and I have become acquainted with so many wonderful people, charities and businesses. We've had some amazing experiences and opportunities which have allowed us to facilitate day trips for people to events and places like Yarndale, Black Sheep Wools and our fabulous end of year gathering at Lorenzo’s restaurant. Suggestions from those who attend our social sessions have led to some amazing experiences, for me personally this includes being introduced to Alpacas which in turn led me to meeting the alpacas and sheep that would later become mine when I transitioned from volunteer to proprietor of Longridge Alpacas! In 2019 we teamed up with the Tranquil Otter and ran our first weekend residential events. And still we're connecting with people and businesses who inspire and amaze us with their kindness, generosity and talent. It is NEVER lost on us how lucky we are to have the support of so many wonderfully talented, generous and simply amazing friends.
In 2020 the Pandemic effectively closed our business and for over 12 months we had to switch to online meetings and a core group of people has remained in touch throughout. However it’s just not the same as meeting up and admiring another’s work up close. So we’re excited to return to all our venues in the summer and can’t wait to welcome friends new and established to our social sessions.
Our socials are open to anyone who has a love of crochet, knitting (or any other yarn craft) and also those wishing to learn! All abilities welcome. To see the dates of our upcoming socials click HERE to be redirected to our socials page.
It's important to understand that our social sessions are not LESSONS. We are very happy to teach crochet at all levels from basic to advanced and BASIC knitting, but we do this INFORMALLY and currently at no extra cost. If you wish to undertake a lesson or tutorial it is best to let us know in advance so we can prepare, but do bear in mind that we will be running our social session at the same time, so it’s best to bring something else with you to work on in case we can't free up our time. That said, there are many very experienced knitters and crocheters at all of our sessions who would be willing to assist with any knitting or crochet queries if we're otherwise occupied.
Entry to our sessions costs £4. This fee is to help cover the cost of the venue hire and includes, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits. seriously.hooked.up is a non profit organisation, so any money left over goes back into making our sessions and workshops better.
Our Community Crochet, Knitting & Yarn Craft Socials are now well established in Kirkham, Lytham, Poulton And Warton. New members are made welcome by a friendly group of people of all ages with varied backgrounds and from many walks of life. During 2022 we are planning a number of events in addition to our social sessions.
We have contacts who run needle felting, yarn dyeing and sock knitting workshops. In addition we have all the tools and experience to run our own events such as macrame workshops and pom pom parties. We are open to any suggestions for workshops, so if there is something you’d like to see, please get in touch and we’ll look into the practicalities of it!
Thanks for reading!
