I come from a long line of creatives. Nearly everyone in my family pursued a life that allowed them to express their creativity and make a living doing it. Although my passion for creativity was strong, so was my desire to help people.  This desire led me to pursue a career in healthcare. 

In my second year of college on the Pre-med track, I met my husband, Michael. His charm and outlook on life drew me in! We fell deeply in love and the rest, as they say, is history. (As he often does), he opened up a whole new world to me – the field of Physician Assisting. As luck would have it, my University was one of few with this program. It was rather small and competitive but figured I had little to lose.

Long story short, I didn’t make the cut.

So why am I sharing this failure with you? Because from this failure blossomed a brand new life.

Even though I didn’t make it in the program, I attempted to make up for this failure by doing everything right. I landed my first real job, with a real salary and a real retirement plan. I should have been happy, but I wasn’t.

I was missing a creative outlet.

I jokingly told my husband one evening “I’m going to Hobby Lobby and I’m coming home with a hobby!” He thought it was funny but I was serious! I spent hours in the store that evening, taking in all the possible options. Woodworking, doll houses, scrapbooking – all serious considerations. But when I made my way to the yarn isle, I felt a new wave of nostalgia come over me. Perhaps it was lost childhood memories of my grandmother enjoying her crochet time.

My sister was pregnant at the time and it seemed perfectly fitting that I make her a blanket. Although my mom and grandma both crocheted, I thought it must be easier to knit – you have two tools and not one. Oh, the naivety! I purchased my first set of knitting needles and one (yes only one) skein of yarn to make my new nephew a blanket.

You should have seen the look on Michael’s face when he walked in and saw me fighting with a tangled mess of yarn and needles. It didn’t take me long to realize that I should have listened to my mother in the first place. Knitting wasn’t for me (then) but thought perhaps I should give crochet a try. After all, I bought a crochet hook to help fix infinite dropped stitches and it would be a shame for it to go to waste.

Despite a rough start, crochet quickly became my jam.

Crochet consumed my every thought from that moment on. My dreams were made of granny squares, double crochets and chevrons. Like so many others, I am a self-taught YouTube crafter. I consumed an infinite number of tutorials in those early days and although I learned a ton in this time, it didn’t take me long to realize that my particular style of learning wasn’t covered in the endless supply of tutorials online. I had a new perspective and I felt compelled to share it. 

In 2013, I uploaded my first crochet tutorial. Although it’s completely embarrassing for me to share, I love how it illustrates that you don’t have to be perfect to take action on your dream – something I passionately teach today.

In those early days, B.hooked was know as B.hooked Crochet and consisted of free patterns and tutorials. I shared on a rather inconsistent basis but it was enough for me to realize I wanted more. B.hooked Crochet breathed the life into me that my 9-5 sucked out.

I needed a change.

In 2015 I discovered the wonderful world of podcasts. I consumed more podcasts in those days than anything else. You see, I learned that there were people, real people, making a living with their online business that taught, inspired or helped people. 

I wanted to teach, inspire and help people and make a living doing it. Several podcasts taught me how to do just that. Leaving the comfort of financial stability, retirement plans and healthcare, in January of 2017 I walked into my brand new full-time job with B.hooked Crochet, LLC and I haven’t looked back since.

You could say that crochet has changed my life in so many ways. I found true happieness when I let go of the societal norm and took control of my life.