When I started my embroidery instagram account there was a voice in the back of my head telling me 'this is a mistake.'

It was the same annoying know-it-all voice, that tells you when another gin will be a mistake.

I've never known that voice to be wrong before but in this case, it was.

But I won't hold that against it. I do understand where it was coming from.

Hi I'm Fred/Stephie and I'm a serial project starter. I collect hobbies like they're bags of pasta and there is some sort of global pandemic happening. And if I like that hobby/show any natural ability at it, I have no chill whatsoever and always end up declaring my love for it on the internet way earlier than I should. 

And not just in a totally-casual-I'm-joking-but-I'm-not-really-joking-LOL, status update. I'm talking setting up whole new social media accounts dedicated to my new love, and oh, look a blog...

Because it isn't like I already spend too much time on social media, or have another blog or anything.

That is what happened with stitching.

It was just meant to be a casual fling. Something to keep me occupied during the lockdown, and take my mind off the world when none of my usual creative outlets just didn't seem to do the trick.

Oh, it started off easy-breezy enough. A decorated t-shirt here, a hoop or two there. And then one night I couldn't sleep, I'd become all consumed by it, and when I woke up in the morning, I'd done hobby the equivalent of send a very drunk text.

I'd set up an Instagram account.

Luckily, it had been left on unread, so I could have just deleted it there and then and deny it ever existed, or laugh it off if anyone ever mentioned it like "oh yeah that, I was joking... obviously."

But like I said. No chill.

I spent the next morning searching for the perfect, not already taken handle.

And so @hoopandfred was born (hoopandthread was already taken, and I thought, 'Fred' was a bit cool).  

And that really is the story behind Fred.

It's been less than a month since I started the Instagram account, and only a little longer since I started stitching, but both have honestly kept me not only sane, but actively happy, during the lockdown.

You see, when I'm not stitching, I'm a creative producer, working with community groups to organise art events that encourage them to embrace their own creativity and think 'hey, art is for me.' I love my job, I'm truly passionate about it, and while I am still working, the core of what I do, just can't happen at the moment. 

I'm also a writer, not necessarily by profession, but in my heart, but trying to make sense of the world through words feels like an impossible task right now. It involves spending quite a lot of time in your own head, and I don't know about you, but that can be quite an anxious place at the moment.

But stitching, not only takes my mind off the world, encourages me to learn new things and takes up whole days like no other social distancing activity, but it is something I can share with people. Since starting my account I've had messages from friends and strangers asking how they could do something similar, and I've been able to encourage them to embrace their own creativity.

I've spoken to other stitchers about techniques and patterns and shared stories about what life is like in their part of the world.

And after a hoop I made of the street on which I live, was shared by a local business account, suddenly I could speak to all these other people who live nearby. I now feel part of my own local community in a way, that not just a lockdown prevents you from doing, but that sometimes living in a city centre neighbourhood does.

In some ways, being Fred means I can carry on being me.

And so now there is also a blog. I know blogs aren't what they used to be, and as I mentioned I already have one, I don't write on as much as I would like, but I thought it would be nice to have a place I could share some longer-form thoughts about stitching.

You know the ones that just don't fit in an Instagram caption.

Love, Fred x