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There are two kinds of crocheters, according to Lisa Ha, author of Snarky Crochet: Irreverent Patterns, Jokes & Puns for Silly Stitchers. Those who learned at someone’s knee—an aunt, a grandmother, a parent—and those who picked up a hook during the long, strange isolation of the pandemic. Right now, she says, those two worlds are colliding—messily, creatively, and very publicly—across social media.
Ha belongs to the first camp. She’s been crocheting since she was eight years old. But Snarky Crochet began not only with a love of yarn, but with a question. One that feels distinctly post-pandemic. She sat down with Blogcritics for an interview in advance of the release of the new book.
“How do people build community now?” she asks. “How do we engage with each other coming out of the pandemic?”
Her answer wasn’t polished tutorials or aspirational aesthetics. It was humor. Sharp, self-aware, occasionally biting humor.
“The funnier I was, the more people engaged.”
At the time, crochet content online leaned heavily toward the pristine: beautifully styled, carefully curated, almost removed from the person making it. Ha went the other way entirely—bringing personality, commentary, and a very human sense of absurdity into the frame.
And then she hit on the idea that would define her voice.
“I started thinking about gifts you can crochet for someone you don’t like. But you don’t want them to know you don’t like them.”
The premise sounds like a joke—and it is. But it’s also the foundation of something more interesting. Snarky Crochet uses fiber art as a kind of coded language: playful on the surface, a little subversive underneath.
Because, as Ha points out, it’s always been that way.
“Fiber arts have always been political. People used to knit codes into garments during wartime. There’s a long history of using this kind of work to communicate things that can’t be said outright.”
Not Just Craft—Commentary
Snarky Crochet is fundamentally a crochet pattern book. The projects are accessible, not terribly difficult, and whimsical.
But it’s the book’s tone that distinguishes it from the typical crochet book.
“There’s this idea that crochet is ‘twee,’ or just women’s work,” Ha says. “But women are also the ones maintaining the social fabric—buying gifts, managing relationships, doing emotional labor. And so often, that work is invisible or unappreciated,” notes Ha.
In that context, the book becomes something else entirely: a release valve. “It’s an outlet—for me, and for the people engaging with it.”
That outlet takes the form of jokes, puns, and patterns that can be interpreted in multiple ways. Many designs are deliberately flexible—innocent if you want them to be, pointed if you don’t.
“You can take it as far as you want to go.”
How Far Is Too Far?
That flexibility isn’t accidental—it’s strategic. Like many debut authors navigating traditional publishing, Ha had to balance her instinct for irreverence with the realities of the marketplace.
“How commercially viable do you want the book to be, versus how far out there do you want to go?”
Some of her more provocative ideas didn’t make the final cut—not because they didn’t land, but because of distribution realities. “There are certain booksellers who won’t carry your book if you include specific kinds of content,” she says. “So you’re constantly making choices.”
The irony isn’t lost on her. “It’s kind of a metaphor for the line women have to walk. You can do this—but you don’t have to.”
That tension—between expression and expectation—is baked into the DNA of Snarky Crochet. It’s part of what gives the book its edge.
Building a Following, Stitch by Stitch
Ha’s rise wasn’t overnight; it was deliberate.
She started on TikTok (ironically, now her least impactful platform), then expanded to Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Each platform, she notes, has its own ecosystem—its own tone, its own audience.
Over three years, she built a following of more than 280,000 people—not by chasing trends, but by leaning into voice.
“The bigger the audience gets, the more you edit yourself,” she says. “You want people to feel like they can engage without accidentally tripping over something they find offensive.”
That instinct—to widen the door without losing identity—shapes both her content and her book.
The First Book Reality Check
Publishing Snarky Crochet has been, in Ha’s words, “good and overwhelming.”
It’s also deeply personal. “This is a lifelong dream,” she says. “And I was able to include parts of my family story—there’s a photo of my grandmother crocheting in the introduction. That means everything to me.”
But like any maker looking back at a finished piece, she sees what she would change. “You see every flaw. Every mistake. Every place you wish you’d done something differently.”
Still, the work is done. The stitches are set. “There’s nothing you can do about it now.”
More Than a Pattern Book
So what is Snarky Crochet, really? Ha doesn’t hesitate. “This is a writer’s first book. Patterns second. Humor first.”
That framing makes all the difference. While the projects themselves are solid and accessible, the real appeal lies in the voice—wry, observant, and deeply attuned to the social dynamics behind the act of making. “It’s a great gift book,” she adds. “Even for someone who’s only tangentially interested in crochet.”
Which may be the point.
Because in Ha’s world, a handmade gift is never just a handmade gift. It’s a message. And sometimes, if you look closely enough, it’s saying exactly what the maker couldn’t say out loud.
Ready to stitch a little snark into your next project? Snarky Crochet by Lisa Ha is available now on Amazon.
