Agnes Koch: “I don’t make it look easy; it is easy!"
The crochet designer Agnes Koch strives to create simple and approachable crochet pieces for crafters of all levels. Her love of fashion shows in her fun and trendy designs.
In her very first Instagram photo, in 2019, Agnes Koch looks straight to the camera with a somewhat shy smile, wearing an orange-and-black halterneck top. The text says: My first crochet piece.
Little did she know then that this new hobby of hers (which would soon turn into almost an obsession) would lead to a new career — designing crochet pieces, making highly popular YouTube tutorials, gathering more than 339,000 followers for her @accrochets Instagram account, and inspiring young people in particular to try their hands at the craft.
Agnes, 34, comes originally from Uganda but has been living in Germany for almost three years. She is based in a small town called Olpe in western Germany with her German husband and ten-year-old son.
Agnes belongs to a young generation of crochet designers who have combined traditional techniques with modern trends. She can turn granny squares into a fitted floor-length skirt with a thigh-high slit, create jaw-dropping dresses that you could imagine on the red carpet, or simply craft chunky, simple cardigans that immediately make you think: “Hey, I could do that.”
Personally, Agnes has loved seeing how crochet has modernised in recent years, and how new designers have expanded the perception of what the craft can be.
“I think you can make anything with crochet if you put your mind to it.”
A crafty childhood
Agnes describes her childhood as “fun and interesting”. Handcrafts were a big part of it, including crochet: Agnes still remembers how every Christmas, you had to have a new set of crocheted tablecloths to cover the couches and tables. Agnes’ mum was an avid crafter, especially good at embroidery. She worked as a nurse, and when she got a job in a dispensary in a remote village near the border with Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), the family moved there. When Agnes was nine, she was sent to a boarding school in another small village.
“On weekends, we always did crafts. We’d go into the swamp and look for materials, weaving baskets and so on. Those were my favourite days of the week. But things changed when I went to secondary school, which was only about academics.”
Agnes ended up studying economics at university, and after that, she worked in customer service. She gave up crochet for many years, and when she picked up the craft again, she had forgotten most of it.
“I just knew how to hold the hook and the basic stitches, nothing more.”
In 2019, Agnes was going through a stressful time in her life and needed something to take her mind off things. Crochet was booming, and Agnes would see countless inspiring designs on Instagram. She decided to give it a try, so she borrowed a hook and some yarn from her sister. The result was a halterneck top — the one in her first Instagram photo — which, according to her, “didn’t turn out bad”. Soon, Agnes was crocheting beachwear for friends when they were going on a vacation.
“At that time, I was working, so I was just making little tops here and there. I didn’t know you could crochet from YouTube — I just tried to recreate things I saw and liked. Then I discovered video tutorials, learning new stitches and techniques.”
Room to be creative
As for many makers, the Covid pandemic unexpectedly boosted Agnes’ career: suddenly, she had a lot of time on her hands. Her following on Instagram had started to grow, and people were asking for tutorials for her patterns. At first, Agnes was reluctant.
“I thought, ‘That’s not for me.’ What if people don’t like my accent, or I can’t explain things in the way that they want? But then I decided just to start, thinking I might be able to do something different.”
The tutorials Agnes was used to watching were always based on the exact number of stitches and using certain kinds of yarns. But in Kenya, where she was living at that time, it was hard to find the same yarns or even the exact same hook sizes. All yarns were acrylic, not cotton or the other natural materials that US and European crocheters were using.
“In Kenya, there was no such thing as yarn sizes, it was just chunky yarn or thin yarn,” Agnes recalls. “The tutorials I was watching didn’t give me room to be creative and adjust things my own way.”
Agnes created a unique style for her tutorials, based on taking your own measurements and following them rather than fixed sizes and stitch counts. Instead of saying, “Crochet 20 stitches”, she would instruct people to “Crochet for 10 centimetres”. That way, making the garment with any yarn available was easier.
“I started my YouTube channel based on that style and didn’t expect too much. I just wanted people to be able to recreate my designs.”
Free tutorials are still the core of Agnes’ work, generating income from YouTube advertisements and collaborations. Last year, Agnes added some written patterns to her selection, even though pattern writing is still hard for her. Agnes loves learning new stitches, but her main focus is to keep things simple and the threshold low. She believes that this is also the thing that makes her designs stand out.
“It’s just a few panels that are put together, and you get a sweater. People always comment on my Instagram reels saying things like ‘You make it look easy.’ But that’s because it is! I don’t make it look easy; it is easy!”
Going with the flow
Agnes’ design style derives from the kind of clothes she wants to wear herself. As a petite person (she is 155 centimetres / 5 feet 1 inches tall), it has always been hard for Agnes to find clothes that fit. She loves fashion and seeing people dress up, and most of her inspiration comes from things she sees on the streets and the internet, be it celebrities’ style or fashion pages.
“I will see something that I like: a skirt, a ruffle, the back of a top… It doesn’t have to be crochet, it can be anything,” Agnes explains. “I don’t know how to sketch, and I don’t write notes either. So I just try to build an outfit in my head and start to crochet. Sometimes, it doesn’t end up like my original idea, but I just go with the flow.”
Agnes’ Ugandan roots influence her choice of colours: those bright yellows, oranges and reds that Agnes is known for.
“In Uganda, bright colours are everywhere — they are a vibrant part of everyday life. It’s something I’ve always loved, and it naturally shows up in my crochet.”
Agnes sees that the use of colour is probably the biggest difference between the European style and that of her previous home countries.
“In Uganda and Kenya, people embrace vibrant, eye-catching outfits. In Europe, I’ve noticed a more muted, minimalist approach with a lot of neutral tones. The styles here tend to be more understated and functional, focusing on subtle elegance. I love both styles in their own way.
Making things accessible
On an average day, Agnes will crochet for about 5 to 6 hours. Crochet is Agnes’ primary work, but she also has a side job at a restaurant: this makes her leave the house and helps her practise her German. On a day at home, she’ll do a bit of housework here and there, and in between, she’ll sit down with her yarn and hook. Her favourite time to crochet, however, is during the night when the house is quiet and everyone else is asleep.
The process of crocheting helps Agnes calm her mind, but it is the outcome that gives her the most joy — the finished garment, and seeing other people’s versions of it.
“I just like to see what I can make out of whatever is in my head. If I start a new pattern that I like, I don’t want to put it down because I can’t wait to see the result.”
Inclusivity and accessibility are important values to Agnes. She strives to make her tutorials as easy and approachable as possible — so that everyone will be able to recreate the garment, no matter their size and skill level. The same simplicity applies to shooting the videos: Agnes uses just her phone and her work table, and adds the voiceover afterwards.
Her audience (or “my people”, as Agnes charmingly addresses them in her videos) is global, but the majority comes from the US, followed by Europe and Africa. The biggest age group is 18–25, and most are beginner crocheters. She estimates that 98 per cent of the feedback she gets is positive, and she always tries to focus on that.
“People will say, ‘Oh you inspire me,’ or ‘I managed to create my first sweater,’ or ‘It’s helping me with my depression.’ To be able to know that you contributed to someone else’s creativity makes you want to do more.”
The most rewarding comments come from the youngest crafters, 10 to 15 years old.
“When I know that I’m inspiring a young generation, that brings me the most joy — knowing there is some kid out there still trying to be creative in these kinds of crafts.”
Turning a hobby into a career hasn’t always been easy: being creative and productive is harder when you have to think about your audience and their needs, not just what you’d like to make. That’s why Agnes’ main hope is just to be able to keep crocheting.
“My biggest dream is to be happy because when I’m happy, I’m able to create, and when I’m able to create, then I can share my creativity with other people.”
TEXT: MAIJA KANGASLUOMA
PHOTOS: MIRA UNKELBACH
This feature was first published in our Let’s Crochet! special issue.