About Us

Hi there

I'm Janine, the owner of Embo Handmade. Our business started by accident, really, when I was faced with a professional challenge at work: crochet had an image problem.

The magazine I worked for featured crochet patterns regularly and while younger women enjoyed the rest of our magazine, they found crochet to be dated and dull and weren't tempted by many of the projects. We were trying to satisfy the thirst for patterns among our older readers, but we had to do it in a way that would be modern, fresh and appealing. I knew that granny squares and doilies weren't going to cut it.

When I couldn't find a contributor to help with this challenge, I taught myself to crochet and made a few T-shirt yarn baskets for our next Easter issue. A while later, a friend ordered some baskets for her pop-up, and by then I'd started having a lot of fun. I soon taught some interested women the skills they needed to work with T-shirt yarn (it's not for sissies!) and we're now united in a mission to keep crochet alive with quality pieces for people whose homes are unique statements in style.