Dominique Ulino’s grandmother taught her how to knit, but she taught herself to crochet. With the help of YouTube, she put her two-hour train ride between her home on Long Island and school in the city on the weekends to good use.

Now, she owns an online knit and crochet boutique that she runs in her spare time on Etsy. Ulino described her crocheting journey and her love for her work in an interview, transcribed below.

Do you want to tell me how you got into it?

I’m the maker behind Dominique’s Creations, and I knit and crochet, mostly crochet. I got started with my grandmother when I was a kid. She taught me how to knit, and then I didn’t really think anything of it – I’d do it in my free time. In college I started crocheting a lot; I went to school in the city and I came home on the weekends, so I’d have a two-hour train ride, and what else do you do, you just sit there, so I taught myself on YouTube how to crochet. I went from a beginner, and now I can crochet pretty much anything: sweaters, blankets, baby clothes, hats, anything. I would wear my items and I would get a lot of compliments so I was told, oh you should sell, you should sell, so I opened up an Etsy, not really thinking anything of it, and it’s been going good! I’ve shipped to, I think, over eleven countries, and all within the United States as well. I’ve shipped to Alaska, so it’s pretty cool. I shipped a sweater to Hawaii recently, which is pretty cool. I don’t ship internationally, but I create patterns as well, so I’ll sell a finished product, but if you want to make something that I made, I will sell you the patterns and you can make it yourself and that’s what I ship out internationally, it’s just like pdfs. And yeah, that’s how I got started and I love it.

I used Instagram, and I reached out to people and I’ve found my own little knitting, crocheting community, and there’s a group of us, I think there’s going to be like ten of us, and we meet usually once a month. I think one girl is still in college and I think the oldest is a grandma, so we’re of all ages and we get together, and we all have Instagrams and Etsys and we all make the most of it. It’s a lot of fun, it keeps me busy. I mean, I’m always crocheting. If I’m in a car, if I’m watching T.V., no matter what it is, I have a crochet hook in my hand.
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The Avery Baby Blanket

How did you get into making your own patterns?

I would see stuff on other people, and I would think, oh I can totally make that, let me look for a pattern, and I couldn’t find it, so I was like, I think I’m just going to have to do it myself. So I learned how to read patterns, to make finished products, and then I was like, it can’t be that hard. I just started writing it, and then I sent it off to testers, and I have people critique it, and they tell me if it was easy if I missed something, or whatever it may be, and they send it back, and then I publish it. My patterns are the most accessible thing that I sell because I can sell them internationally. And they’re fun because then I can see someone else make my item. It’s like the gift that keeps giving.

So what’s your favorite part about all of this?

My favorite part… Obviously, I love it all. I love making the item because it’s so relaxing. You know, if you had a stressful day, it’s what I do to unwind. I wake up in the morning, drink my cup of coffee, crochet a little bit, go to work, go home, crochet a little bit. But then gifting my items to people is the best. I’m doing a lot of baby items, so if I go to a baby shower or something and I see them open it, or if I sell it to somebody and they send me pictures of their guests opening it, it’s great.

It’s a really great feeling, having someone appreciate something so much that you made out of love. I choose to do it, I don’t have to do it, and I just absolutely love it.

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Addilyn scarf pattern, written by @tcwlboutique on Instagram

Would you consider making it a full-time business?

I would absolutely love to. Right now, I’m not at that place yet, but if I keep pursuing it, you never know. I get yarn at big box stores, like Michaels or Joanne’s, but I’ve also found a lot of local makers on the island that dye their own yarn. And obviously it’s more expensive, but I love working with that yarn even more because I’m supporting another local maker, and it’s a friendship. You know, you meet people and it’s great. Last weekend was the Fleece and Fiber Festival, so it’s out at the Hallockville Museum, which is like across from Martha Clara [Vineyards] out east, and it’s just a giant festival for fleece and fiber. So they have yarn, they have patterns, they have finished products, and all makers go, and we can watch them shear sheep and then make the wool into yarn, and it’s pretty cool, it’s pretty fun. I go every year.

Do you have a favorite pattern in particular?

My favorite pattern would probably be my Carson City Triangle. It’s a triangle scarf – I actually have it with me – and it’s great, because you can wrap it around your neck, or you can wear it on your back like a shawl, so if you’re cold, like in church or something, you can just wrap it around. It’s great and it’s lightweight, folds up in your bag, but you can wrap it around so for the winter it is nice and warm. This is my favorite pattern, it has like a little design in it, this one is so old, but it has like little holes and a little, almost like a pom-pom effect at the end, and just like, a giant triangle.

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Carson City triangle

I noticed that you take really awesome pictures, do you have a good camera?

I take everything from my phone, so I really appreciate that. Yeah, I take everything and I see photos of people who have hundreds of thousands of followers in the knit and crochet community, and I’m like wow, I wish my photos could be like that. I mean, behind the scenes, it’s not anything nice. I mean, most of the time I lay a white sheet of paper, like computer paper, and then just zoom in on it with my camera, like my phone. My sister, she went to school for graphic design, and she’s into photography and everything, but she’s been away at school. So she came and photographed my items. So it’s just my phone.

Is the yarn too expensive?

No, I don’t think so. I mean at box stores like Michaels and what not, it’s always on sale, but like I said, when you go and get the hand-dyed yarn, it is more expensive. Like a normal skein of yarn at Michaels would be like $4.99, and the hand-made would be like $26. It’s a big difference, but it’s a lot of work that they’re putting into making this yarn beautiful. For example, like this is from another big box store, and then this yarn is hand-dyed – big difference. Like it’s super soft, and the colors are amazing. You would never get colors like this at a store.

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A bear cardigan tagged as one of the #cutestthingivemade

And you learned everything from YouTube?

Yeah! I mean, crocheting is just like you have to know a few stitches, and then you can make everything out of those few stitches. Depends on how many stitches you put in one. All simple stitches, it’s like all in one to make a shell if want. If anyone wants to learn, it’s YouTube.

How would you say this has changed your life?

I mean, I’ve met so many people. I’ve met my group of crocheters, and I’ve met people all over the world. Just from Instagram, I’m promoting my business.

Crocheting itself has made me have more patience because you have to be very patient to crochet, but I love it. Everyone’s always saying, you need to do what makes you happy. You have to do something that you wake up and look forward to, and for me, it’s crocheting. It really is my happy place.

Is there something that you’ve sold that stand out to you a lot?

I love selling baby stuff because it’s so small, and I love making it and it’s just so cute, but I also sell hooded unicorn blankets. It’s just like a giant blanket, and the hood has like a horn and ears, and a big rainbow mane, and then the mane goes down like the two sides of the blanket, so when you wrap it up you look like a unicorn. And it keeps you warm. I get a lot of photos of my clients wearing them. It’s adorable. I make them for adults and I make them for children. I feel like unicorns are very trendy right now and they’re really cute. That’s one thing that makes me happy to make because I can see that people get a lot of use out of it.

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Unicorn Blanket

Do you still wear your own creations?

Oh yeah, I made a few sweaters, I wear my sweaters all the time. If I have a scarf on, it’s one of my scarves. I mean, do I buy scarves anymore? Not really, because when I see them, I’m like, I can make that. But yeah, I wear them all the time. All the blankets in my house are all mine. If I can make it, I’ll have it on.

Can you tell me a bit more about the process of learning to crochet? Did you experience any setbacks at all?

I knew how to knit. My grandmother taught me how to knit young. It’s kind of like riding a bike. I didn’t knit for years, and then I picked it up and I was like oh, I’m not sure, so I looked up how to do something, and your hands just automatically do it. Crocheting is completely different because knitting you have two needles, and crocheting, you have a hook. So it’s completely different. Just because you know one, you can’t learn the other, and it’s frustrating in the beginning. There were times when I first started off where I would start and go to make a hat and it was this big, or I’d make a hat and it was this big (gestures different sizes) and it’s frustrating, like what am I doing wrong? Because I’m learning from YouTube, so I can’t ask anyone. I can’t be like, hey YouTube, what am I doing wrong? It’s not going to answer. But once you get the hang of it, like I said, everything is just a few stitches and then you can do everything. And I’ve taught people how to crochet as well, which is a really rewarding feeling. And I can feel myself through them because they get upset and they get frustrated, and I said, I was there – years ago – but I was there, and you will get better. Even now, if I tried to do a stitch that I can’t do, it’s frustrating. But you have to have patience and you know, this project that I’m working on particularly, I started, and I got halfway through, and I said something’s not right, it’s not what I envisioned, so I took the entire thing out and started over. And it was hours of my time to crochet what I had crocheted, but you live and you learn.

Do you give lessons to people?

Yeah, I have. My mother knits, and I taught her to crochet – a little bit, she’s more into knitting – but she had asked me if I’d be interested in teaching her friends. I think it’s once every three weeks, and I teach them, and we’ve made scarves, that’s what you usually learn, it’s just a rectangle, and now I’m onto hats, so. They seem to like it, and I mean it takes them a while, but it took me a long time to make my first scarf, and you know, it’s not rectangle, it’s some weird shape, but that’s how you learn, you know. You just keep practicing, and you get there eventually.

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Hubby beanie. Pattern by @ladyjaycrochet

Do you have any advice for people who are trying to start to learn, or who want to even make their own business like you?

I mean, if you want to learn to knit or crochet, I say do it. It’s fun, and you make stuff for yourself and you make stuff for others.

It will be frustrating, but you can do it. Starting your own business, I say do it too. These days with Etsy, there’s not much risk. I do have inventory because I go to fairs and festivals, but most of my items are made to order, so if you don’t sell, it’s not like you put all this time into something, you know, but you never know until you do it. So if you have that itch, do it. Because you’ll meet people and you’ll change as a person, in a positive way of course. You have to fail to succeed, so just keep trying.

What kind of fairs and festivals do you sell your stuff at?

So I do like farmer’s markets; they have a few at Benner’s Farm. Most of them are over the summer. It’s hard to sell over the summer because people kind of look at you like… I mean I went to one fair last year at Benner’s Farm, and it was the end of October, but it was really warm. People were like, oh we don’t need scarves, we’ll buy them come winter. Next week, it snowed. So you never know. But I do a few things like that. They’re usually outside. I do a few in Nassau. If I can find them in the winter and get in, they do buck up pretty quickly, but you meet a lot of resources that way. I was in a few stores last year with my scarves. I met one store owner through Instagram, and the other I met through Instagram as well but then she saw me at a festival, and she took some of my hats and my scarves and sold them in her store, which is awesome, because then you walk into a store, and you’re like oh my gosh, I made that! And somebody’s going to buy it!

What store is it?

It is called Wildflower. They are in Glen Cove. And then, Thred, in Patchogue. So those were pretty awesome parts of my career because it’s like somebody else sees the beauty in what I see, in what I made.

Crocheting Crochet Knit Art Textiles Fashion
Baby Mermaid Outfit
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