Welcome to Inside the Crochet Designer’s Mind with Tracee of Fromm Me to You

Tracee Fromm is a self taught crocheter of more than 30 years. She made gifts for friends and family whenever she could. In 2011 she decided to look into making crochet a career by making custom orders for people and since then has also started a blog and designing her own patterns. She is now a contributing designer for Cre8tion Crochet and Community Manager for Happily Hooked Magazine. She and her husband farm in southern Minnesota where they raised 3 boys and now have 6 grandchildren.

Want to stay up to date on what’s going over at Fromm Me To You? Be sure to follow Tracee on her social media platforms. Tracee is such a beautiful lady with a wonderful personality and soul. You’ll definitely enjoy visiting her page from time to time.

Interview

Same DiNamics Crochet: Tell us a little bit about your crochet experience such as when did you start to crochet and how long you’ve been crocheting?
Tracee: I taught myself to crochet (and a little bit of knitting) from books 30 years ago when I was pregnant with my first child. I loved making things for friends and family when I had time and always dreamed about how nice it would be to crochet for a living… then laugh at myself and say “that’s just silly, nobody does that”. Well about 5 years ago I decided it was time to do just that and started selling the things I made. This last year I found that I made-up more items than used patterns for and thought I might as well start writing them down. I found I really like this designing stuff! So now I design and blog and I still make a few things to sell as well.

SDC: Who has influenced you either as a crocheter or designer?
Tracee: All my new hooker friends have been super wonderful and helpful. But I would have to say that seeing Tamara Kelly of Moogly and all she is doing was very inspiring. Then there is my friend Kathy Lashley of ELK Studio. She is my mentor and unofficial coach. She is always willing to answer my questions, give me advice and help me whenever I ask. And I have to mention Leah Field, Kelli Wohlgemuth, and you, Dianne. All of you are new crochet friends and have been so very helpful and supportive of this newbie.

SDC: What inspires your crochet designs?
Tracee: That’s a hard one haha. Sometimes I look at my grandkids and think “I should make them such & such” or I’ll be doing dishes and a picture of something just pops in my head and I quick write it down before I forget. I think it’s just life in general. There are beautiful things to inspire all around us if we just pay attention to them.

SDC: As a designer, it’s pretty hard to chose what your favorite design is, but, is there one or two that you really enjoyed creating? Tell us little about it and leave links to where they can be found.
Tracee: As a newbie I don’t have a huge Library of patterns yet (a lot of them are still in my head) But I had a LOT of fun making the Fire & Ice Beanie http://www.frommmetoyou.com/the-fire-and-ice-beanie-free-pattern/

And I’m really proud of my Winter Bound Slouch Hat

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/winter-bound-slouch-hat

My local yarn store even offered my Winter Bound Hat as a winter crochet class this year. I felt very honored.

SDC: What are your favorite fiber types you like to work with?
Tracee: Acrylic yarns are great because they are usually so easy and light to work with, but I love cotton and cotton blends for their soft yet very sturdy texture. Natural fibers are always nice.

SDC: Are there any sage advice you can give to a new crocheter, and a new crochet designer?
Tracee: HAVE FUN!! Don’t worry so much about “doing it right”. When I was teaching myself out of books because I didn’t know anyone who could crochet, I was crocheting in the clinic waiting room. A lady and her daughter sitting across from me started commenting on how dumb I held the hook and how I held my yarn… etc. I was so embarrassed I didn’t crochet in public for 20 years. DUMB!! As I get to know more crocheters there aren’t 2 of us who do it exactly alike. We are all snowflakes each one completely different and each one completely beautiful. Crochet is to be enjoyed and leave us feeling better than when we started. Let it do that for you!

SDC: This is something most crocheters are curious about, what’s the size of your yarn and hook stash?
Tracee: Oh this is a good one haha!! Let’s just say I could open my own yarn shop and I would probably have enough hooks for a full inventory of those as well.