Cheery Loops Crochet brings appealing designs to Madison Street Festival

MADISON – Give it a try. Look at Michelle Hazlewood’s designs for Cheery Loops Crochet at Madison Street Festival and resist a smile. It’s next to impossible.

Hazlewood first sold her outstanding crochet designs in 2023 at Madison Street Festival’s Crafters Cove. This year, her merchandise will include plushies, or small, cuddly stuffed animals made with the softest yarn and stuffing; key chains; car mirror charms and irresistible figures, like a nativity scene. For animals, she created pot-bellied dinosaurs, pigs, bears, cows, bunny rabbits and huggable elephants.

In July 2020, Hazlewood started to crochet to have a worthwhile hobby during the down times with COVID-19’s outbreak. “I learned how to crochet by watching YouTube videos of crochet tutorials. To improve on my work at the beginning, I sometimes got help from Facebook crochet groups,” she said.

“I had to use the correct hook for whatever yarn I was working with and have the right tension for stitches to come out consistent and neat,” Hazlewood said. “I just practiced until I was able to make plushies good enough to sell.”

Her work’s focus is “pretty much only crochet plushies. The majority are animals. I enjoy making plushies because they are not repetitive, like making a blanket or scarf,” Hazlewood said.

Her most challenging design for crocheting is a floppy-eared bunny rabbit and a nativity set with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in Mary’s arms.

She enjoys her crocheting hobby-turned-enterprise, because she “gets a sense of satisfaction when yarn gets transformed into a beautiful plushie. It’s also relaxing for me,” Hazlewood said.

She has not joined a crochet group. “I prefer to crochet alone. I can watch TV shows at the same time.”

“Before I started crocheting, I never paid attention to anything related to crochet. But in recent years, I have noticed crochet plushies becoming very popular and many people are doing it,” Hazlewood said.

Madison Street Festival on Oct. 5 opens at 9 a.m. with the community parade. Hazlewood’s booth for Cheery Loops Crochet will be set up in Crafters Cove, which will be located across from Madison Methodist Church at the intersection of Church Street and Maple Street.

For more information, visit madisonstreetfestival.org or Facebook/Cheery Loops Crochet.