Hello, readers! Susan Karsten here. Following is my interview of Hannah Kooiman, one of the most talented ladies it is my privilege to know these days. She farms, gardens, cooks, cans, mothers, teaches, crochets, and so on. Read on to find her bio at the end. Thanks!

So Hannah, what’s a typical day like for you? Busy! I am usually up early and after checking emails/messages I go out to care for my chickens. Depending on the time of year, and how many birds I have, this can take up to an hour with hauling feed, water, bedding, etc. After I get back in the house, I package up any orders I completed the night before and run them out to the mailbox. We eat breakfast and afterward we spend some time on schoolwork. I work with the youngest 3 kids and the older ones do most of their work…

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Come celebrate with us!!! The owners of Bowtykes, Forever Stitchin, VIP Handmade Creations, Kaleidoscope Art&Gifts, Creative Hats and More, Smalltown Dreamz, AllieCat’s Hats and Crafts, Hannahs Homestead, Knotted Notions, Gramma Bean’s Homemade Gifts, and BrandyLynn Creations are all celebrating Facebook milestones. We will all be giving away free crochet patterns and other crafts along with many of our other friends who wanted to join in the fun! Look around and find creative new pages to follow and fun crafts to work on. Thank you so much for making this possible for us!

The Milestone Madness and More Giveaway runs from July 7 to July 13 at midnight PST.Winner will be chosen July 14.

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Waves of Color Dishcloth Pattern, A Free {Hannahs Homestead} Crochet Pattern

Meet the owner of Hannahs Homestead

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I have always loved doing things with my hands. When I was about 6 or 7 my mother taught me how to knit a washcloth and I remember making some pea-green dishcloths for my grandmother’s birthday. Both of my grandmas knitted, crocheted and did other forms of handwork. I remember making small cross-stitch projects when I was about 10. I learned to crochet when my second daughter was a born and someone gave me a baby gift of yarn and a crochet pattern for a baby blanket.

Many years later, I am still creating things. I have done many types of needlework: knitting, sewing, crocheting, tatting, hardanger, hairpin lace, broomstick lace, cross stitch and more.

My husband and I have 8 children, ages 5-18, who are also learning many of these crafts. Several of my daughters help me in my Hannahs Homestead business. We live on a small family farm in Wisconsin, where we have dairy cows, chickens and too many cats. We try to grow as much of our food as possible with a very large garden, orchard, berry patch and vineyard. I love to be outdoors especially in my gardens as much as possible. Photography is also one of my hobbies and it’s been very helpful in the development of Hannahs Homestead.

Hannahs Homestead started in Oct 2012 when a friend asked me to crochet a pair of baby booties for her grand-daughter. As we were going through some very difficult financial times, I wondered if I might be able to earn some extra money by making and selling more booties. They were a huge success!!Soon I started selling other items and taking custom orders. At a friend’s prompting I started a Facebook Fan page ( http://www.facebook.com/dancingcow2 ) and in Jan 2013 I opened an Etsy shop ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/HannahsHomestead2 ).

I started developing my own patterns many years ago, but I never wrote them out until about
a year ago.

Recently a few friends prompted me to start on the pattern designing/writing/selling adventure. I love it!!! I have designed and released several patterns now and have many, many more ideas in my head!