We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tia Dandridge. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tia below.
Hi Tia, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I’m a self taught crochet artist. I learned crocheting from watching Youtube videos and trial and error. There isn’t anything specifically that would have sped the process up, in my opinion. Crocheting is a craft that takes time to master and I still wouldn’t say I’ve mastered the craft. I’m just proficient at what I enjoy making. The most essential skills are the foundation of it all. Learning to keep consistent tension and the fundamental stitches is HUGE is the crocheting field. The biggest obstacle is time. Crocheting is a time consuming craft, therefore, when learning you truly have to carve out the time to keep working at it over and over again until you can get it right.
Tia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Tia, but I go by Smurf. I’m a self taught crochet artist. I first began crocheting as a form of decompression, but fell in love with the craft. It’s now something that I do almost daily. After picking up the hook in 2023, I quickly found the plushie style of crocheting, also known as amigurumi. That’s what I now specialize in. I make handmade unique and custom items to help bring joy to both children and adults. As well, in 2025 I began crochet pattern designing. My most popular designs are my “buddy” style patterns. You can find my physical crochet items at local markets that I attend. You can find my patterns in my etsy shop. I’m on socials such as instagram, tiktok, and facebook as @CrochetBySmurf
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
A goal for me in this creative journey is to build a platform that allows me to create space for likeminded individuals to gather and exchange knowledge/ideas in the creative realm. I hope one day to curate an in person crafters meet up.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I built my audience on social media by just being myself. I don’t pay too much attention to the analytics outside of the basics. Of course, knowing your peek posting windows is definitely key for interaction. A big thing for me though is just posting what you love and naturally do. I don’t make content that doesn’t make me happy. A big thing as well is knowing your target audience. If you are looking to gain a following of buyers, your posts should be marketing and information forward. My following is mainly community based. It’s other people who enjoy doing the same thing as me. This allows me to just create and post what I created because we’re all enjoying the same creative processes. My biggest tip when it comes to content and gaining a following is that everything is content. Content can be raw, it doesn’t have to be perfect and aesthetic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://crochetbysmurf.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crochetbysmurf
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Crochet-By-Smurf-61554573938593/
Image Credits
CrochetBySmurf