Blogtober 2024 : Day 27 – Meet Emma Varnam

Good morning to you!  I hope you’re having a lovely weekend!

Here’s another post to keep you company whilst you’re having your brew today – lots of people have told me that they like to read the blog over a morning brew, and I like that idea very much.  I am raising my orange mug to you!

Today’s post is all about my friend Emma Varnam.  You may already know of Emma, but if not, let me tell you a bit more about her!  Emma is a crochet designer like Lucy of Attic24 (I wrote about my friendship with her yesterday) and also knits like Lynne Rowe (I wrote about Lynne on Friday), but yet she is different to both of them – a perfect example of how we should never be put off doing something because we think that it’s all be done before.  Nobody can ever do anything in quite the same way as we can – and thank goodness, otherwise there would never be anything new!

Source: www.makingstitchespodcast.com

Although they both design blankets, Emma’s style is quite different to Lucy’s.  Her colour schemes are often in vintage shades and her love of patchwork shines through.  Emma’s real superpower (in my opinion), though, is her ability to create animals, plants and even food out of yarn, and with a simplicity that belies its skill, give them faces that are friendly and have bags of personality.  Emma says that she always wants to create “the pillow factor” (ie, create toys that a child would want to take to bed) – and I think she manages that every time!

I had heard about Emma before I met her for the first time at an Arne and Carlos workshop at Black Sheep Wools back in 2017.

Look, there’s Lynne Rowe, too!  We were making birds from Norwegian knitters Arne and Carlos’ then new book about knitted birds.  I can remember being amazed at how fast Emma was able to create her bird but now I realise that it’s just what she does.  She has one of those remarkable brains that can see something and translate it into yarn very quickly – and she has certainly put that to good effect over the years!

Emma has written an amazing number of books, from very basic learn to crochet books to stunners like these …

Source: www.emmavarnam.co.uk  

Where do you even start in creating a crocheted pineapple?!

Source: www.emmavarnam.co.uk

Emma has created books of houseplants, flowers, food, cacti and succulents as well as a book of 10,000 hats (yes, really!).  She’s also created books of animal patterns – woodland animals, wild animals, bunnies, foxes, bears …

Source: @emmavarnam

These are Emma’s latest cuddly creations – her dolls!  It took her a long time to get the hair right and Emma is someone who wants a pattern to be exactly right so that someone can recreate it properly before she will release it.  I admire that – I am sure that I am not the only person to have tried to make something whether cooking or creating in another way, only to find that whatever I have made bears no resemblance to the photos.  But look, she got the hair absolutely right …

Source: @emmavarnam

Aren’t they lovely?  You can either make them crocheted dresses or fabric ones; Emma is just as happy with fabric as she is with yarn and even mixes knitting with crochet sometimes to get the look that she wants, despite the extra work needed to get the tension right!

Honestly, I have no idea how she does it!

I don’t see Emma as often as I do Lucy and Lynne as she has a demanding day job (one more reason to be amazed at her creations!) but every time I do, it’s easy to drop back into conversation as if we had only seen each other yesterday.  She’s also settled her offspring at university this year so we’ve been giving each other lots of support through A levels, results days and then moving-in days – I’ve been glad to know that she’s been there!  Whenever I see Emma, she always has something new on the go, and it’s always something that makes her smile or fires her imagination in some way.  Sometimes, during a conversation with her and Lucy and she might say, “Oh, I’m thinking of writing a new book but I’m not sure …” – and then the next time we see her, she’s talking publication dates!  She is a very prolific creator!

Her latest book is called Vintage Granny Squares, and it’s full of great stash-busting projects.   Some of Emma’s designs are available as single PDFs, such as this beach bag …

Source: www.emmavarnam.co.uk

and of course, her blanket patterns …

Source: www.emmavarnam.co.uk

These are just two of them, the Hexi Flower Blanket and the Tutti Frutti blankets, but my favourite is this one – the Stargazer blanket …

Oh, I just love those colours together and if I ever finish my version of Lucy’s Moorland Blanket, I might just make one of these – but I will resist buying any yarn until I’ve actually got my current blanket off my hook!

Source: @emmavarnam

Emma’s cat, Stanley, always likes to be in on the crochet action and always gets lots of attention when he makes an appearance on Instagram!

Emma is also a keen gardener so our conversations can also include what’s colourful in the garden – and how to stop the snails eating the dahlias!  (No, Emma doesn’t have any magic ideas either, sadly.)   Aren’t I lucky to have such talented friends?  Friends that I can properly talk to, as well; Emma is very measured in her thoughts about things and I am often glad to have her opinion on something.  She was on the Making Stitches podcast earlier this year, and I loved listening to her interview – it was like having her in the room with me!

I do feel very fortunate to have such good yarny friends that I can spend time with, and we are all different enough to be able to bring something new to our conversations but still be connected by yarn.  I think yarn is a bit magic like that! 🙂