Hello!

I am Saraphir Qaa-Rishi. Danish, but have lived in the UK for over 16 years and am happily settled here. I am very passionate about crochet and all the possibilities for being creative it offers and also a keen photographer, writer and a performance artist/movement (eurythmy) teacher.

I am very interested in most kinds of crafts and in ‘the arts’ in general. I feel very strongly that it is of great importance to encourage as many people as possible to use their hands creatively as this supports and develops creative thinking processes.

I taught myself to crochet in the beginning of 2013. I had by then successfully made two hats following the pictures of how to start crocheting in a round from a Japanese book and winging the rest and I decided it was time to actually know what I was doing. I got Erika Knight’s ‘Crochet workshop’, practised each stitch till I knew exactly what was what and the rest is history as they say. I love designing and coming up with new ideas – and the process of something developing from what I am doing that wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but it somehow works better than my original plan. I learned how to knit as a child, but never knitted much until I wanted to make hats for my nieces and nephews in 2015 and that was the start of my hat patterns, monsters and whatever else that will follow in time.

I try to be as environmentally friendly as I can in all my craft activities. I only use natural fibres as I don’t like to wear synthetics myself and find natural fibres nicer to handle and believe they are kinder to the earth – most synthetic fibres are derived from oil. I try to support small and local yarn companies as much as possible, but financially this is not always viable. When I make something for sale the cost of the material is a determining factor in the end price, and if the yarn is too expensive it will make the product too expensive. And some big companies simply make yarns that are good quality and that I love – I suppose there is a reason they got so big! Most of my packaging is from recycled materials – from jewellery boxes, tissue paper and ribbon to the chance of you getting your order sent in a reused envelope. Why not, I say!

My blog continually changing and growing… I plan to make it a source for new and ‘seasoned’ crocheters alike with information on yarn, basic stitches, and hook sizes still to come. Always a work in progress! I have decided to keep my blog ad-free (apart from a few affiliate links) as I’m not that keen on ads myself and don’t particularly want to buy into the money-driven, capitalist culture we live in… however, it is not free to run and I spend a lot of time designing and writing out patterns that I post for free. If you like the patterns and ethos and would like to support you can make a donation:

Please remember that all the designs on this blog are my copyright and while I am very happy to share them (that’s why I do it after all!) I would appreciate it if you respect my work and do not publish them as yours. I would also appreciate if you could credit me as the designer if you post pictures of what you have made with my patterns. I know that most crafters would probably know this and take it for granted, but unfortunately I have heard from so many other designers that there are many people out there who copy patterns and post them as their own…. Sinister, I know, but an unfortunate reality! Please see my Terms of Use for more information.

I hope you find my site useful – questions and comments are welcome!

You can see more about my eurythmy/movement workshops on my site Moving Presence.

If you’re interested you can see some of my writing on my blog Living Lightly, Breathing Deeply and I have an Instagram account for my photos of Edinburgh and beyond….

Saraphir on Instagram

© SARAPHIR QAA-RISHI