Jacki Donhou creates whimsical and unique amigurumi crocheted creatures. Her advice? Keep practicing and you’ll get better.
When did you first start crocheting? How did you start designing your own patterns?
When our youngest child was born, I decided to step back from my career and stay home to enjoy those younger years with her and our two other children. In doing so, I needed to keep my hands busy during the quiet parts of the day. Searching for a new hobby, I found a video on how to crochet a basic infinity scarf. Once finished, the scarf was not as pretty as I had hoped, and so I was determined to make one worth wearing. From there, I practiced many different stitches and kept on crocheting to get better.
After a few years of crocheting animals from other designers, I wanted to make unicorns for my girls but couldn’t find one that was unique in any way. To me they all looked the same, white with round feet and rainbow stringy hair. So, I free-handed a floppy, rainbow-speckled unicorn with bright orange hooves, a curly pastel mane, and a small sparkly horn. A unicorn that stood out not only by its bold colors but by its chunky hooves and floppy body, best for cuddling. It was one of the greatest moments for me at that time.
When was the first time that you remember realizing that you are a creative person?
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Ever since I was a kid, I have always been an artistic and creative person. I was the kid in the family that daydreamed, had stacks of sketchbooks, was constantly singing about what I was doing and I would rearrange my bedroom all the time. Which I believe helped me start my past career as a merchandise manager and window dresser in retail for years.
Do you feel that you chose your “passion,” or did it choose you?
It just happened. After a series of life-changing events, it’s just what became. I have always been a creator in some way, so parts of me were born this way, others are just what manifested into what I do now with crocheting amigurumi.
Tell us more about your new book, Crocheted Mythical Creatures. What do you expect readers to learn?
I’m so excited for this book! There are 15 patterns based on mythical and legendary creatures from all over the world. When doing my research, I tried to get a good balance between animals, monsters, and humans. That way, there would be something for everyone. Unlike my previous books, which focused on a single theme, this one has it all! From Medusa with her slithery snake hair to the Manticore, with its majestic lion’s mane and frightening scorpion’s tail, the patterns are incredibly fun to make.
The one thing that this book has a lot of is shaping techniques. If an amigurumi crocheter hasn’t gained experience shaping features like knees or ankles on a doll, or a slight curve at the tip of a horn, this is a great book for developing those skills. As a crafter or artist, you always want to grow your talents. I hope that by sharing what I have learned over the years, I can help others improve their skills as well!
Where do you find inspiration for your designs?
Inspiration can come from many different things like seeing a new color of yarn hanging in my local yarn shop or a new collection or theme I’d like to create. Sometimes it’s seeing a sweet little book cover in the children’s section of a bookstore on a weekend family outing. My ideas for new patterns come from everywhere. I even have a journal dedicated to my ever-growing lists of future designs. I’m not much for following the latest trend, because the community tends to get saturated with one particular idea. I always think about what I haven’t done and what excites me to create.
When it comes to creating, are you more of a planner or an improviser?
It all depends on what I am working on.
If at that moment I want to create a new monthly pattern, then everything is improvised. I sit and just work the yarn with whatever idea that I have.
Now, when I am starting a new book, all my designs start out as a list of ideas that are planned out, sometimes even with colors. It usually starts with a badly sketched idea, followed by matching up multiple-colored yarns to get a visually appealing color scheme.
Then it’s the designing portion that is a lot of trial and error. I crochet sections and rip them out to get the right form I want for each piece. Sometimes designing is only a day and other times it’s weeks for a specific design I’m doing.
Describe your creative space.
Let’s talk about when it is clean and organized because we all know an artist’s creative space is a disaster!
I have this little office in my home that is incredibly colorful. When you open the door, there is no mistake that this room is all about the making of plush toys. Besides the desk and computer set up, there is a cozy chair, and a coffee mug warmer to help keep me fueled and packed full of yarn! All the walls are decorated in bold colored polka dots and each shelf, corner, and extra little space is taken up by a plushy friend.
No matter where you look, there are crocheted animals and dolls everywhere! My office is like a quaint little toy shop.
How do you organize all of your creative supplies and yarn?
The one thing that is organized is my yarn. Each area is dedicated to the different yarns within their weight class and brands that I work with. A large white cube storage holds most of my go-to cotton and cotton blend yarn for testing, the merino wool hanks from local yarn shops hang on an adjacent wall and the chenille plush is separated as well.
I do like to have the yarn color-coded to make it easy to see what I currently have and what I need to replenish. As for my hooks and tools, what I use the most will be available on the desk while the others are stored in hanging buckets and drawers.
Yarn scraps. Saver? Or toss?
Yarn scraps are always used. I am really big on trying to help keep our planet as environmentally clean as only one person can, so they don’t get tossed.
Since the yarn scraps are usually pretty small and I am not much for a wearables designer or maker, each amigurumi’s belly gets packed with extra yarn clippings. I think of it like the little hearts that you can add to a stuffed bear when making it, but it’s a ball of colorful yarn ends!
How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time?
Since I tend to get inspired a lot, I am always crocheting something, if not, I am writing down ideas in my notes. It is hard to step away at times when I love to design. Usually, I design something once a month, if not multiple when I am working on a new collection. The only time I start a second design while I have one already in process, is if the first one is stumping me and something doesn’t feel right. I’ll have to put it down cleanse my pallet with something else and come back to it.
Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you?
Most people would highly disagree with me, but hand over all the sewing! Once all the pieces to my amigurumi are finished and laid out, the sewing is like the home stretch. I slowly see the whole project coming together and all my hard work paying off. It’s a beautiful ending to a loved project.
The most challenging part is photo-taking. Trying to get the same angles and the correct lighting as the design gets further, especially when I go from working during the day to the night hours. Even though I use a lightbox, the room light and daylight affect how the lighting with my camera and box works. Plus, when I get on a roll with crocheting, I sometimes forget to take photos. This pauses the project and I either have to rip it out or continue, then make another just to get those missing step-by-step photos.
Is there an overarching theme that connects all of your work?
Unless I am working a collection, no. Each project, book collection and monthly patterns are all their own individual unique piece.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?
Please don’t give up! We all start somewhere. All my first crochet makes are inside out, upside down, off center, and oddly, one of a kind! Just like anything you want to learn, it takes time to gain the skill that you want to have. Keep watching videos, buying books, and trying new stitches. It gets better. This is the advice I now give others.
How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working?
We all get better at what we do especially when we love what we are making. I went from second-guessing myself when creating and just doing the bare minimum to just going for it!
I am always trying ways to better my craft and evolve my art in any way possible. Whether it is incorporating more details or a new stitch to my amigurumi, to the new types of yarns coming out, or even a tool to make things faster. Finding ways to grow as the community gets bigger is always something that we all need to strive for.
What do you do to keep yourself motivated and interested in your work?
I love what I do. It’s hard when you get older to enjoy your job or what your career is, knowing that most of us never achieve our dreams. Sometimes it is not what I am working on, it’s what comes after it is finished and the pattern is out there. The customers and makers reaching out to tell me how the pattern I designed was the perfect gift for a child or friend that was given. Knowing that someone had such overwhelming joy from making and receiving that gift from my art, is worth everything!
Where can people see your work?
For anyone looking to purchase my patterns, they are available on Etsy, Ravelry, and Amigurumi.com under my shop name, DearJackiStitchery. To contact me, see the upcoming local events I’m engaged with and host, or just get inspiration, I am on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Tiktok and my website at DearJackiStitchery.com.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DearJackiStitchery
https://www.ravelry.com/stores/dearjackistitchery
https://www.amigurumi.com/shop/DearJackiStitchery
https://www.dearjackistitchery.com
https://www.instagram.com/dearjackistitchery
https://www.facebook.com/dearjackistitchery
https://www.threads.net/@dearjackistitchery
Interview posted February 2025
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