SHARE THE JOY

Designer Louisa Sheward shares how her love of crochet is often used to help and teach others, whether on the road or online…

- Lucy Evans

Louisa Sheward’s Instagram profile perfectly sums up her crafting passions: ‘Crochet tutor. Yarn enthusiast. Mental health advocate. Sustainability crusader’. Her enthusiasm for these things and a love for sharing her passion can be clearly seen in her career path to date, which includes times spent running The Fibre Lounge shop, plans for taking her crochet knowledge on the road and even a crochet festival in the pipeline for when the world gets back to normal after time spent apart.

Louisa enjoyed her time running The Fibre Lounge as it was a period when she got to meet fellow crocheters and crafters – which has remained its lasting legacy. “The Fibre Lounge was initially just me teaching crochet from my living room.” she recalls. “I had just had my daughter and knew the mental health benefits of crochet would help people, so wanted to use my skills to share the craft with others. This grew to us stocking yarn and attending shows, and eventually opening the shop in March 2017. Unfortunately, high rent and other personal circumstances left us unable to keep the shop open, and in August 2018 we closed our doors. It was heartwrenching, but the time we were open allowed us to build up the community we love so much, and gave us hope for new opportunities. One of the things we missed about the shop was getting out to shows and meeting new people.

“I’ve been so lucky to learn so many amazing stories, meet so many people and make so many new friends through crochet. Watching someone fall in love with crochet is so rewarding and gives me the drive to carry on.”

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS