Hooking With Made By Gootie
Welcome Back to Hooking With
In this week’s Hooking With, we interviewed Agat Rottman of Made By Gootie. Read on to get to know Agat!
Hi! My name is Agat (it’s the Hewbrew word for Agate, a precious stone). I live in Haifa, a city near the Mediterranean Sea in the north of Israel. However, I grew up in north-east Israel in a small village and after my mandatory service in the army I moved to Haifa to study food engineering. I met my husband at the university and stayed at the big city.
A Little Background…
My mother is a ceramics artist and her creativity has always been a source of inspiration for me. I’m also the kind of person who likes to keep her hands busy and so, naturally, my mother decided to teach me how to knit. She taught me the basics (knit and purl) when I was 12 and ever since, I’ve been developing my skills through the great help of the internet. Five years ago, I taught myself how to crochet–I wanted to expand my skills and fell in love with it.
I really love designing patterns, it’s a great creative outlet. I always start out with an idea, move to a sketch and from there, enthusiasm (and a good deal of iterations) make it into reality. My ideas usually start out as a project where I couldn’t find a pattern that I really like. A few years ago, I decided that I want to share my designs and so I started writing them down. Since then, I’ve been getting great feedback, which motivates me to keep going. Two of my patterns were even published in I Like Crochet magazine and another pattern is due to be published in Simply Crochet magazine.
Current Situation:
I’m currently a product development food engineer in a dairy alternatives company. While I really like my job, designing patterns is my greatest passion and I hope to make it my main business in the near future.
Hooking With Made By Gootie
Q: When did you start designing?
A: I published my first pattern in late 2017.
Q: Do you have a blog? If so, when did you start that up?
A: Yes! My blog is “Made By Gootie” (Gootie is my childhood nickname). I started my blog a few months ago.
Q: What was your initial plan with your blog and designs?
A: My initial plan was to design decorative and practical things, blankets, coasters, table centerpieces. For my blog, my plan is to post different tutorials (basics and advanced) and some of my patterns.
Q: How have your designs and designing process evolved?
A: I started with small things and when my close friends were having babies, I started designing blankets.
Q: What designs do you specialize in?
A: Blankets and decorative items.
Q: Do you have a favorite few stitches you like to use or do you always try to do new ones?
A: I usually love to try new ones and expand my stitches “library”, but my favorites are the moss stitch and puff stitch.
Q: When you come up with an idea, does it come first from yarn you have or do you find yarn to fit the idea?
A: I will find yarn that fits my idea.
Q: When did you start crocheting?
A: 5 years ago.
Q: What made you decide to become a designer?
A: I wanted to create something of my own, something new which will be exactly how I want it to be.
Q: Are there any patterns not your own that you just love?
A: I really love Tinna’s designs, they’re so unique and ambitious.
Q: Who/what inspired you? Does this still inspire you? Why?
A: My mom is my inspiration, she’s a ceramic artist. I love how she always has new ideas and everything she creates is different than the other.
Q: Of your patterns, which is your favorite and why?
A: My Christmas crochet ornament. It was inspired by Fibershare partner and I love that there’s a meaning and someone I was thinking of when I was designing it.
Q: Are there any crochet techniques/stitches you wish to learn this year?
A: Yes, Tunisian crochet.
Q: What are your biggest crochet challenges and how do you plan on overcoming that?
A: My biggest challenge at the moment is making time to crochet. Due to my full time job, I usually crochet only on the weekend. My plan is to make reasonable goals before every weekend so I will have a clear schedule.
Q: Have you ever lost your crojo and how did you overcome that?
A: Of course. I usually turn to my friend and ask if there is something they want for themselves or for their home and draw inspiration from their wishes.
Q: What three tips can you offer to anyone that crochets?
A: 1. Be patient–practice makes perfect. 2. Do what you love–crochet things that make you happy and creative, not the popular things on the media. 3. If you don’t find the pattern you’re looking for, try and create it on your own, you might surprise yourself!
Wrap Up
We enjoyed getting to know Agat and hope you enjoyed it, too. As a gift to our readers, Agat has provided a free crochet pattern! Agat also would like to provide 20% off of her Ravelry and Etsy stores with code SUNFLOWER.
Links provided below:
Joyful Mandala Free Crochet Pattern
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Happy Hooking!
