Hello and welcome to Scarlet Dash my new online shop for crochet, knit, yarn and craft lovers everywhere.

I decided to open Scarlet Dash a brand new company formed because of my passion for all things crochet and yarn. It’s an online shop and blog. I try to keep my prices reasonable and I’m always looking for products old and new to expand my range. If there’s anything you want to see on my blog, or any product you want to see on my virtual shelves, let me know and I’ll do my best to feature it on my website.

I started crocheting when I was at university; my housemates thought I’d gone crazy!  I don’t know why I started but I purchased a few hooks and some gorgeous mercerized lilac cotton and followed a filet crochet pattern from the Harmony Guide to Crocheting, Techniques and Stitches (edited by Debra Mountford, ISBN-10: 0517880741).

I found it easy fun and relaxing, but there was a problem. My finger hurt, I mean really hurt. You see I hold my hook unlike any way I’ve seen described in the many crochet books I’ve flicked through. This wonderful grey tool was hurting my hand. I tried holding the hook different ways but nothing was as comfortably uncomfortable as holding the hook my way. I tried to endure the pain (see how brave and courageous I am!!!) but I had to stop. I stopped for over 10 years but crochet was always at the back of my mind.

Hurrah the internet came and crochet became my porn! In 2007 I was a seasoned surfer and was always looking at yarn online. I typed in crochet hooks and boy meets girl, Burton meets Taylor, Angelina meets Brad, toast meets butter, I met Clover. More specifically Clover Soft Touch hooks.

I had at last found a tool that did not hurt my finger. From then on I couldn’t stop crocheting. I now have two sets of the Clover Soft Touch hooks, two sets of the Crochet Lite hooks, two sets of the Etimo hooks, basically if the hook has a flat or flatish handle I’m on it like cat on a ball of yarn!

I can’t stop, if I’m not crocheting, I’m reading about crochet, looking at crochet related tweets, dreaming about crochet, you get the picture, crochet is my Crack.

Very (VERY!) basically crochet is the art of making fabric out of yarn using a hook. The yarn can be a beautiful 4 ply cashmere, or plarn (yard made from strips of plastic bags), or recycled garments. The hook can be your finger or the finest tool carved from the horn of a unicorn.

To see how versatile crochet is just check out all the resources on my Crochet Links pages.

Or if you’re interested in the history of crochet let me direct you to some wonderful websites.