Being stuck inside knot a problem for crafters

26 Mar 2020 10:40
Published by: Daniel Almond

ONE creative crafter is using her online presence to help people stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Sherrie Maycroft, 36, opened a studio in Westhoughton town centre in January to teach people to crochet. The mum-of-one has had to change the way she runs her business, Get Hooked With Sherrie, to keep her customer's safe from the virus, and is hoping to help people through social distancing.

Sherrie said: "The craziness of the virus all started coming out last Monday and I thought 'do I shut?' because other businesses weren't.

"It was a really hard choice so I decided to take money out of the equation and focus on the people and their health and I decided to cancel all my face-to-face classes.

"Some of the women wanted to come to sessions but some of them are vulnerable or they have husbands who are vulnerably and it just wasn't worth the risk."

Sherrie now offers a variety of free resources, with social meetings hosted online, a social group on WhatsApp, and online tutorials for people interested in learning to crochet.

This isn't the first kind display from her, as Sherrie hosted a drop-in-session in January for people to knit nests and blankets for animals affected by the Australian wildfires. She's also made nests for the Every Feather & Wild Life rescue in Bolton, and hopes to help other local charities with her work.

The new ideas will keep Sherrie's loyal followers connected with their new friends.

She added: "It's only been going a few months but I have a big community of people who come along and have made friends and I was worried about them being in isolation.

"I had a bit of a wobble myself this weekend, everyone seems to be reacting very differently and a lot of people are quite frightened so I want to keep my space a positive space as crochet is a bit of an escape and now I can just get back on and be positive.

"We've all got to keep going and it's not easy but if I can help just one or two people then it's worth it."

In addition to her virtual meetings, Sherrie will be also be publishing tutorials for beginners to follow.

She will then follow up these tutorials with a virtual call, allowing people to ask her any questions or have her help clarifying where they've gone wrong.

Sherrie's mum is helping to educate her seven-year-old daughter so she can continue her work whilst schools are closed.

The Westhoughton-based woman is still keen to promote as many charitable causes as possible while people are encouraged to stay at home.

She also has plans to create videos instructing people how to turn old t-shirts into yarn, or how to crochet without any hooks so those without materials, and are unable to venture out to buy them, can still take part in the fun.

None of these services will be charged for, as Sherrie wants to use her time to help out the people in her community.

To take part, visit the Get Hooked with Sherrie Facebook page.

Her online tutorials can also be found on YouTube by searching Get Hooked with Sherrie.

You may be interested in