Publisher

When you talk to Lisa Hamblin of Crochet N More, you come away knowing one thing, she is a woman with the courage of her convictions a woman who lives her life and runs her business with the clear purpose of one who knows exactly who she is and what she wants. "I love God, my family and crocheting in that order. When you put God first, everything else seems to fall into place." And Crochet 'N' More has definitely fallen into place! You might think of crocheting as a hobby, but for Lisa, it s been like watching her destiny unfold. She was only in the 7th grade when she started crocheting. "I remember when my Aunt Brenda was making a plain double crochet afghan and she let me work on it. I guess that gave me the fever. Mom and Dad would take me and my sister to the department store sometimes and let us pick one thing we wanted. I always picked two things: a skein of yarn and a hook." Over the years Lisa has come to love crocheting afghans most of all. "they take quite a while to complete I don't have to figure out what to do next for a while." But the true lover of her craft that she is, she also admits to having a special love of "take-a-long projects" too. Lately her take-a-long projects have been mostly "scrunchies" hair accessories... that pattern, among many others, is available free on her site now. While the love of crocheting led to designing her own patterns a few years back. Watching her husband, Tim, (who owns Blitz Promotions) work on his website, led Lisa to create a site focusing on her craft. "I think I bugged him a bit. He finally said, Why don t you do a site on crocheting? I said, Show me how. He did and here I am." Past employment with a local newspaper, doing ad layout and design, also helped Lisa understand how to design her web pages. The rest, as they say, is history. Close to 84,000 visitors have stopped by Crochet 'N' More since it went online just exactly one year ago. While looking through Lisa's site you get a real sense of the pride she takes in all that she does it's a site designed first to teach others her craft. But it also speaks volumes about this young mother's character and love of people. While not obsessive in its expression of faith, the message is clear that Lisa believes intensely that her life is directed by the hand of God. And with the same kind of positive no-nonsense attitude, she also shows her love of helping other people, whether it be by designing patterns for them to enjoy, teaching, or actively networking to help others get their businesses off the ground. The site provides an impressive number of links to other craft sites and small businesses, as well as resource links, a message board, and a newsletter. It was this fierce dedication to helpful, supportive giving in the small business community that led to her winning The Bizzy Award from the Yahoo! Home and Small Business Club, one of twelve awards displayed on her site. What's next at Crochet 'N' More? Lisa is planning to venture into new territory... the sale of her Crochet "N" More Pattern Collection, which will no doubt be as successful as the web site itself.