About the Author

Hi, I’m Nora Hartley. I write and test everything you’ll find on Crochet Crafty.

I didn’t start out a natural at any of this. I learned to crochet slowly, sitting beside a patient relative who showed me the same slip knot about a dozen times before it finally stuck. After that came years of what crocheters call “frogging” — pulling out rows, starting over, and slowly figuring out why my tension kept sliding or why my rounds refused to lie flat. I remember exactly how discouraging that felt, and exactly which explanations finally made it click. Most of them weren’t clever tricks; they were just someone finally slowing down enough to explain the part I’d been quietly stuck on for weeks.

How I teach

That experience is the whole reason Crochet Crafty exists. I’ve worked with a lot of absolute beginners since then, and the pattern is always the same: the instructions that finally land are the ones that explain why a stitch works the way it does, not just what to do with your hands — and the ones that don’t skip the step everyone assumes is obvious, because for a beginner, nothing is obvious yet. I still catch myself narrating steps out loud while I test, the same way that patient relative once did for me.

My testing promise

Before anything goes up on this site, I work the pattern myself, start to finish, using an ordinary hook and everyday yarn — nothing special-ordered, nothing that only behaves for a photo. If a step confuses me during testing, it gets rewritten until it doesn’t. My goal for every beginner reading Crochet Crafty is the one I wish someone had handed me years ago: a clear, honest path from your first chain stitch to a finished project you’re genuinely proud of. Wherever you are on that path today, I’m glad you’re here.