I'm Doreen

How nice! I can take you on a monthly basis on ”my crochet cloud”, but not before I have introduced myself to you, of course.

I am Dorine, mother of 3 children, grandmother of 1 grandchild and I live near Rotterdam. I work in education and am happy with the many vacation days because for me that means… extra crochet time. In addition, I like to go to the cinema or theater and I enjoy a high tea very much and regularly.

You might know me from the HaakSTER 2020 or from my instagram account @opdehaakwolk or you may have come across one of my designs somewhere.

Hook start

I started crocheting in 2012. I used to be more into knitting needles and embroidery, but, looking for a regular moment of rest, crocheting “something” seemed fun to me. Had I ever crocheted? Mmm, no, I don't think so. I don't remember learning it from anyone. My first crochet project was a package to crochet a basket. Thick t-shirt yarn with a wooden crochet hook. At work, all the girls in the department had bought this package. And during the break we all got to work together. I don't know if everyone has (h) finished the basket, but this was the beginning. For me this tasted like more.

On the internet I found somewhere how to crochet a granny and I started with that. I remember….104 squares in the colors white, pink, light and dark grey. And to my surprise, I crocheted these squares into a blanket fairly quickly. I wanted to crochet a blanket for all my children, so I crocheted 2 more. And it didn't stop there. I crochet 3 more blankets after this and I couldn't stop. Crochet became part of my daily activities. Oh yes, and it didn't stop at 5 blankets haha.

Social media

Because I participated in the HaakSTER I ended up on instagram and wow, that's a whole world full of ideas! If you're not careful you can sit here for hours watching, reading and getting new inspiration. Sometimes I think the time it takes is a waste, because that is actually lost crochet time. At least that's how it feels to me. And I feel like I'm still missing posts from people all the time. I don't post anything on Facebook, but I do on Instagram. It's nice to show others what you've made and I like it even more when people have made a design of mine. So I try to limit myself to an hour of insta every day. But to be honest, that hour goes by quickly.

At first my name was @pien_haakt on instagram, but that name often asked for an explanation. And because I design more and more often, I enjoyed coming up with a new name and having a logo made. And that has become @opdehaakwolk. Because when I'm crocheting, I'm actually in my own little world, or in other words, sitting on my crochet cloud. Especially when crocheting repeating rows. I can then dream away and think about everything I still want to make. And believe me, that's a lot. I still have so many ideas in my head. Only that time hey, I have a chronic shortage of this. If only you could buy it…

To design

I am now designing (almost) every day. I really like doing that. Converting my ideas that I have in my head into a crochet project is a very nice process. And I also like to crochet. Okay, amigurumi is a bit in the minority, because I still like the blankets, scarves and pillows the best to crochet. But now I'm doing something fun again. And from now on I will also take you to my “hook cloud” in my blogs. Thank you very much for reading this blog and I hope to see you next month!

Dear greetings,

Dorine