The Cute and Quirky Crochet Stylings of Lucy Ward.

I first met the quirky and talented Lucy Ward way back in 1997, when Mr.B and I had just moved to Melbourne. Lucy’s husband, Fred, and Mr.B, both architects, worked at the same practice, and these two young, pre-kid couples would often hit the town together and be found having cosy dinners and chats in Melbourne’s laneway restaurants.

Time has passed, we all had kids, and the Ward’s headed home to Hobart where Lucy now works for the ABC, and Fred is a founding member of award winning architectural practice 1+2 Architecture.

We had the pleasure of catching up with them on our recent trip to Tasmania at Easter, when we went round to their place for delicious dinner, family mayhem and getting up to speed on the intervening years.

I’ve been keeping my eye on Lucy’s increasing obsession with crochet, following her Facebook Page , and being constantly entertained and amazed by her fantastic projects. When we visited there were of course the expected gorgeous crocheted cushions and blankets around the house, but also the unexpectedly quirky crocheted kitchen clock.

It seems no idea is too reasonable or too bonkers for Lucy, taking commissions on all kinds of requests. It’s no surprise that the girl who made her own wedding dress from purple tartan, complete with purple veil, should be brimming with off-beat creativity.

A super-cute thing Lucy does is make children’s drawn characters into actual crocheted toys. Such a gorgeous idea, it was featured in Homespun magazine. I reckon that it would be the most exciting thing ever for kids to see their own imagination turned into something tangible.

One of her most memorable projects was Katy Perry’s New Dress, with it’s own FB page and fans, when in mid 2014 Lucy created an eye-catching dress worthy of the singing sensation. Fans followed the campaign frenzy to get the dress to KP until it’s delivery on 15th November 2014, when nothing was ever seen of the crocheted masterpiece again. We may never know if it reached KP, but if it did and she hasn’t worn it, then she is not as stylish as she thinks!

A recent and popular craze keeping Lucy busy is crochet leggings with cartoon characters on the tush. Unlikely though this may be as a fashion phenomenon, adults have started ordering larger versions of what was originally an amusing concept for kids. Who knows what’s going on with the Tasmanian fashion scene. Lucy’s youngest daughter proudly modelled the latest completed piece for us. Thank goodness Fred didn’t model the larger size!

My absolute favourite work by far though, and the one that’s kept me mildly giggling for months now, is the Fernando Alonso project. He is just so cute with his removable helmet and fully styled facial hair. I’m not alone in my admiration as Lucy was commissioned for another Alonso after this one went live, going all the way to Canada! Lucy has hinted that she may make a third doll for the man himself – I so hope she does.

As we chatted after dinner, while the kids played Twister and got to know each other, Lucy busily worked on her latest commission and regaled me with stories of The Shoreline Hookers, the crochet group that she hosts once in a while. If I lived in Hobart I’d definitely join this group of girls meeting up in a dodgy pub to chat and crochet on a school night. Sounds perfect!

If you want pretty much anything crocheted, Lucy is your girl. Contact her at lucywarddesign@gmail.com