Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Hager. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

As a fiber artist that specializes in crocheted goods, I am often lumped in with the amazing group of people that crochet solely as a hobby or to make meaningful gifts for their loved ones. I spent a lot of time resenting that association, but as I’ve grown older, I try to honor anyone that takes the time to learn the skill/craft/art of crochet. I create with crochet the same way a sculptor or clothing designer might, making my own designs and gathering inspiration from images and sketching, but that shouldn’t minimize the work of the people that use patterns.

I have done a lot of work on myself to come to this point, but it was really hard to accept. At craft fairs and art markets I had a variety of comments from the people that walked by. I think the one that bothers me the most usually comes from a certain type of parent when their children show interest in my work. “Your grandma can make that for you, honey. Let’s move on.” Or they would look at the price tag, make a disgusted face towards me, then walk away. And for a while I was very protective of the patterns I was creating for myself. I wanted my work to be unique, one-of-a-kind. Not mass produced in anyway.

I’ve since stopped taking commission work and focus more on teaching the skill and creating patterns that I someday hope to share in a big way.

Megan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up poor, living in a small town in the midwest without internet, cable, or air conditioning. I was also a very shy, quiet child that preferred my own company over spending time with others. Living without an abundance of entertainment leads us quiet and shy types to making our own entertainment. I did this by reading, watching my brother play videogames, but most importantly, making things. I am and always have been someone that needs to keep their hands busy, finding the extra stimulation soothing and therapeutic.

My grandma often got me fiber-related things for Christmas including tools for embroidery, latch hook, quilting, cross-stitching, etc. I learned the first steps of crochet when I was 6 but didn’t have the patience for it fully until I was about 8. I really dove in when I was in high school because my friends started asking me to make things for them and I found the challenge of figuring something out with no guidance quite thrilling.

So without the internet, without patterns, I began to explore, to PLAY with the craft and learned most of what I use today through trial and error. I think having access to patterns or Youtube tutorials at the time would have been detrimental to my understanding of the craft, though I am thankful to now have that as a tool to further my exploration.

By the time I got to college I was running a very small operation through my Facebook page, The Crochet Kid, and taking commissions from all over. At the time, that worked quite well for me. I don’t know if I was using my passion as a way to escape my responsibilities as a college student, but I had quite a lot of fun with it and gained a small but loyal following. My confidence was through the roof.

After I graduated with a degree in graphic design and life started becoming quite a bit more complicated, I found commission work to be quite stressful. Having a full-time job sapped all of my motivation and energy, and I was also finding it harder and harder to get people to pay what I really believed I was worth. I was making projects that took 5-6 hours and only getting $20 in return, and that’s not including material costs. I’ve struggled with perfectionism all my life, and having such pride in my work I felt I was being taken advantage of.

On top of all that, most of the commission work I was accepting was for well-known pop culture properties like Pokemon, Disney, Star Wars, etc. I was constantly worried that I was going to find myself in some sort of lawsuit, no matter how much I stylized and really made these characters my own. This “fan art” is very popular at conventions and it’s a great way to introduce people to your work, but I would like to limit myself on those types or projects and express myself more through original creations.

I have since stopped accepting commissions and have been focusing on my designs and working towards really falling in love with the art of it all over again. At this time, I don’t offer any finished products, but I hope to publish patterns soon and eventually have enough inventory to participate in craft shows again. I have also been giving occasional private lessons, and I hope to start creating a space for myself on social media with a special interest in live-streaming crochet content on Twitch, TikTok, or Instagram.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I think fiber arts have come a long way in terms of representation, even from when I first started at age 8 until now, but I want to spread the joy of these skills to as many people as possible. You often hear people say, “I wish I could do that.” and I want people to know that there’s a safe and accepting space for any skill level. Youtube tutorials are becoming higher and higher quality, there are local artists that are willing to take the time to teach, and it’s really an affordable field to get started in. If you can spend $10 at Walmart, you can start learning to crochet.

I love all the technology that is available to us, in fact, I watch more Netflix than most. But I want people to find the simple pleasure of creating something from your own hands again. It’s a form of magic to me. A magic that I think people would really benefit from in this complicated time that we live.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Continue to like, follow, subscribe, or whatever to your favorite creators on their social media platforms. Leave comments of encouragement. Even if you can’t financially support them, these words of validation mean more than you know to artists. We’re constantly critiquing our work and sometimes find it hard to share that work with others, so when you leave a sweet comment, it makes it easier to keep going and to keep creating.

As far as financially supporting artists, know that art takes an emotional toll on a person as well as many, many countless hours of learning and honing their skills. Yes. It does cost that much because that’s the value I have assigned to it based on MY experience and skill. Please stop balking at prices and making artists feel bad for charging what they’re worth. Most of us are making waaaaay less than minimum wage for our art. And if you’re curious, ask an artist to break it down. You may then begin to understand what it entails to create.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: thecrochetkid
• Facebook: The Crochet Kid
• Youtube: TheCrochetKid
• Other: Tiktok: thecrochetkid