Hi there!

I'm Andrea Vu, the designer and founder of the brand Andrea In Wooldeland. 

 As you can tell, it is obvious that crocheting is my passion, but more than that, it has a deeper connection to me and my family that even I sometimes forget. Back in the old days, my maternal grandma, my mom and my aunt used to knit and crochet for clothing factories of The Soviet Union during the Vietnam war. I still remember my mom's story of how little they made (probably less than a dollar) for a whole sweater or big piece of table matt.

My grandma still kept it as a hobbies and decided to teach me to knit when I turned 8. She knew from the very beginning, a young and shy me, only got wild and creative while playing with art and craft. I would paint the eggs and dry gourds to decorate my room, sew my own skirt and knitted scarfs for friends. She taught me the basic purl stitch, the very first step for those of us who knit with the yarn around the neck - the scarf. I remember she was surprised I never missed any stitch or made any holes. Her kind words made me believe I have the talent in something.

I could only give a cliché excuse of "life is busy" when realising that it took me a hiatus of 20 years to holding knitting needles again during the pandemic in 2020. Over time, I started learning crocheting through internet, striving patterns to patterns, helping other designers to test their patterns and finally started to design my first garment in 2022. 

By learning and sharing crochetting skills on many online crocheting communities, my world has expanded more than I can ever imagine with so many wonderful crochet friends around the world. We may have different time-zones, cultures, languages, etc. but our endless passion for crocheting is always the same.

My young me could not appreciate enough the lessons my grandma taught me through knitting that tradition is a common ground where everything else is different; that community, like a sweater, is built stitch by stitch, step by step, by sitting together and sharing thoughts.

So here I am today, keeping this as a side hustle, but beyond this business outlook, I would love nothing more than learning, sharing and inspring you with my humble experience with crocheting and knitting. Like yourself, the joy and proud of making my own handmade pillow covers or winter jackets will never cease in me.

A smile with crotchet while,

Andrea.