Day in the Life: Darcy Johnson

Children ran from one end of the East Union cafeteria to the other while Darcy Johnson, waiting for her daughter to finish basketball practice, sat in a metal chair, clinking sounds and bursts of color coming from her whirring hands as she started the rounded beginnings of a stocking hat.

Johnson’s crochet story began with a cigarette.

“I learned how to crochet when I was probably 8 or 9 years old in Girl Scouts,” Johnson said, smiling as she made the rounds to the light blue hat. “As I got older, that kind of went to the wayside. You know, teenagers don’t do that sort of thing. And then, five years ago I quit smoking.”

When she quit smoking, Johnson, 35, needed something to do with her hands.

“I had a hook and some yarn at home, and I taught myself how to read (crochet) patterns off things I found on (the creative app) Pinterest, and it just kind of grew from there,” Johnson said.

Lifesaver

Johnson created Darcy’s Crochet Creations. Her website, Etsy store and Facebook page allow her to promote her work and grow her business.

Through her work promoting other crocheters’ patterns, creating her own and submitting them online for different crochet challenges, Johnson said crochet saved her life.

“I really like to refer to it as my lifesaver because I honestly feel that if I had not re-found crochet, I would have gone back to smoking,” Johnson said. “I didn’t want my kids to be around it. I wanted to improve my life.”

Johnson, who lives in Arispe, works her lifesaver in every day, wherever she is and whenever she has the time. She takes her hook and yarn to doctor’s appointments, basketball practices, trips to Des Moines, you name it. It’s no longer a smoking prevention for her. It’s a passion.

Her crochet takes her everywhere.

There are no specific demographics Johnson focuses on, but she does like to create men’s and boy’s items to show it’s not just a woman’s crochet world.

Crochet

When she started five years ago, Johnson knew very little about crochet.

“The first things I started out making were little coasters. Just little flower coasters. They were the easiest things I could figure out,” Johnson said. “And now, it’s grown to things from penguin sweaters — yes, I’ve made a penguin sweater — to hats, scarves, slippers, oh my gosh, dresses skirts, doll clothes, everything.”

After her initial flower coaster projects, Johnson began expanding her knowledge by teaching herself to read crochet patterns stitch by stitch. And then, someone saw something she made on Facebook and asked her to create an original item.

Since the beginning, Darcy’s Crochet Creations, Johnson’s business name, has expanded to include homemade crochet patterns and a variety of typical items, as well as totally unique creations.

For example, Johnson created a hat that looked like a fish, with a camouflage body and blaze orange fins, with the fish mouth going over the head. She’s also created hats with cat ears, leg warmers with a skull pattern and even a stuffed dinosaur. Country rap star Big Smo has several of Johnson’s hats, as do movie stars Johnny Depp and Jared Leto.

She also had a hat pattern featured on the cover of a crochet magazine.

“In the spring I had written a hat pattern, and the one I submitted it to is Happily Hooked, and they featured it,” Johnson said. “It ended up on the cover of an additional magazine that they had done, like, the best of the best. That was pretty exciting.

Donna’s Hope

To create your own crochet pattern, you have to do research to see if the pattern you’re picturing has been done before. After finding out her idea was completely unique, Johnson started writing the pattern stitch by stitch in her little composition notebook, explaining in detailed steps how to make a hat by her own original pattern, which eventually became her favorite project.

“My favorite project was writing a pattern in memory of my grandma,” Johnson said. “It’s called ‘Donna’s Hope.’ My grandma, she passed away from cancer when I was pregnant with Connor, and she also crocheted. I found a certain stitch and it just kind of came to me.”

Johnson released the pattern as part of a promotion another designer had online and therefore was able to get her pattern out to the public for purchase. She then followed up with a matching scarf pattern she created in honor of her uncle, Jim, who passed away from cancer as well.

“It can be a very daunting process at times,” Johnson said. “I’ve got some patterns that are really simple, and then I have other patterns that end up looking like a nightmare.”

But, despite the work involved and the amount of time put into it, crocheting is part of Johnson’s life.

“It has become my passion,” Johnson said. “I never thought a hook and yarn would do that.”

Family

Johnson grew up in New York. She attended Graceland University in Lamoni, where she met Chris Johnson, formerly of Leon.

“The rest is the love story,” Johnson said with a smile. “We moved over to Arispe. Next month will be eight years ago.”

Johnson is a full-time home- and community-based services coordinator with Pursuit of Independence out of Lenox. Her job, which requires her to travel to Lenox and occasionally Clarinda, is to help people with disabilities maintain their lives with as much independence as possible.

“(I love) working with the people, being able to help people become more independent, helping them learn skills to overcome disabilities,” Johnson said. “The big thing of becoming independent: everybody needs to have that right. Everybody needs to be able to direct their own lives.”

Johnson photographs her son’s football games and the kids’ other events, and she’s on the Arispe City Council.

Together they have two children, son Connor, 11, and daughter Lily, 8, who are both active in school sports and dance. They also model Johnson’s creations for her Etsy page.

For more information about her crochet business, check out Johnson's website at darcyscrochetcreations.weebly.com, Etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/DJCrochetCreations and Facebook page at Darcy's Crochet Creations.