HULKA CROCHET

Meet Nick from Hulka Crochet

Here you'll find the patterns from Nick, who shares his designs under the name Hulka Crochet. A few years ago, he probably would have laughed hard if someone had told him that crochet would come to play such a big role in his life. Nowadays, he can barely imagine his life without a crochet hook.

How it began

Hello everyone, my name is Nick, and about two years ago I started crocheting. Crochet?! Yes, if you'd told me three years ago that I'd end up crocheting, I probably would have laughed hard. But sometimes something comes your way that you never saw coming. About two and a half years ago, I became chronically ill, and my illness forced me to spend entire days lying down. And when you have to lie down all day, at some point you get pretty bored. I got the tip to do something creative instead of staring at a screen all day. So I thought: why not give crochet a try? That turned out to be easier said than done. After a lot of cursing and fumbling, I finally managed to make my first stitches. And then I discovered something fun: crochet felt to me a bit like building with LEGO. Stitch by stitch, you build something up, until eventually something beautiful takes shape. Since then, I've become a kind of healthy addict to it. Crochet gives me relaxation and a sense of satisfaction. And the great thing is: you're making something that someone else can enjoy too. My little sons also make sure I get plenty of requests. So I'm definitely not done crocheting anytime soon.

From crocheting to designing

Over time, I started working out more and more of my own ideas. I regularly made my own designs, but I never actually worked them out into full patterns. That changed when I started a creative online WhatsApp group for fellow sufferers, just for the fun of it, to be creative together and share experiences. In this group, I got to know Jolanda. Together with others, she ended up testing and crocheting one of my designs. That was a great push for me to finally start working out my designs into actual patterns. Jolanda invited me to share some of my patterns on her website Haaksels en breisels. That got me really excited, of course. What started with boredom, a crochet hook, and a lot of cursing has now grown into a hobby that brings me a huge amount of joy. And now I get to share my own designs with others too. A super exciting start to a new adventure.