Fiber Arts, the Future, y Más: A Conversation with Sofía Aguilar

interviewed by s.g. huerta

On a hot summer day, I sit down in front of my laptop to virtually meet with Sofía Aguilar, a fellow Latina writer and artist, to discuss her work and all the wonderful forms it takes: most recently, Sofíe’s Yarn and the accompanying Crochet Club. We get into community, BIPOC visibility, and our shared hatred of math and capitalism. 

I’m familiar with your work as a poet, writer, and editor—I love reading your interviews with other Latinx writers, so it’s personally very cool to be on the other end of that! I also love talking with writers who have other creative outlets. That said, how did you first get started with fiber arts?

It’s been a really long journey. I wrote an article about this last month for De Los of the L.A. Times but basically, it kicked off in elementary school. I had a friend named Juliet who was the catalyst for me learning to crochet. She actually reached out to me because I mentioned her in that article. The last time I saw her was in sixth grade, and we just had dinner last week! She was really fundamental to me learning how to crochet. My mom crochets and knits, but I wasn’t really interested until someone my age was doing it. I think in my head, it was only for adults. My first projects were little flowers and doilies, really small things. 

I lost interest in it after sixth grade. I was more into my writing, and I didn’t make other types of art a priority for me. Then during COVID, I had a lot of time on my hands outside of school and got back into it. It was something that brought comfort to me when I needed it.

It also helped me bond with my mom because at that point we were able to connect a lot through crochet. We’ve always been really close, like I would definitely call her my best friend. Throughout the years we’ve always had this connection over arts and crafts, but never really fiber arts necessarily. So during COVID, we were able to bond a lot. She taught me more things than I ever would have imagined I could learn, like how to read patterns and try different techniques. As horrible as the pandemic is, that time was a good way for me to get back into other kinds of creativity and to do something with my hands, too. A lot of the time, writing is all about our words and not so much hand motions, whereas crochet is more hands-on. I liked the physicality of crochet and being able to make a project with an endgoal in mind. I think sometimes, as much as I love writing, there’s always that feeling of, oh, I don’t know what’s going to become of this, I don’t know if this is ever going to be finished kind of thing. I like that crochet has a definitive beginning and end point. Different projects will take different time to complete, but to me, there’s something certain and definitive about it. In short, it has been a lifelong journey, I’d say. 

Since you spent more time writing in between starting crochet and your current projects, do you think the physicality of crochet has affected your writing practice? 

It’s helped me appreciate writing in a different way. Like I said, writing is so uncertain. But as opposed to resenting that, I’ve learned I need both practices to appreciate them for what they are. Because there are some moments with crochet where I get bored knowing I’m gonna finish it. So there are always different seasons. Sometimes I want more crochet than I want writing, or sometimes I want to write more than I want to crochet. 

They’re two different practices that I’ve grown with and grown into. I appreciate both for what they have taught me. 

I think that’s the worst thing about poetry—you don’t know what you’re writing ‘til it's done. And this is just a sidebar ‘cause I’m nosy. I hate math, but I love crafty stuff. Are you more of a math-minded person? 

Absolutely not. I was that person who my mom would try to tutor me in math at the kitchen table and I would be sobbing the entire time. For my mom, having that math background helps her, especially when it comes to reading patterns and keeping count of stitches. I think to my detriment, I’m not a math person. I only count stitches it if it’s necessary to the project. I don’t think you have to be a math person to appreciate arts and crafts or crochet even. Yeah, there’s numbers involved, but there are ways to work around it and do what I want. I’ve seen so many crocheters online who, when they’re making a pattern, will say “yeah, I kind of made it this long but you can do what you want.”

There’s a lot of crocheters who have a very cavalier attitude and I'm here for it.

I didn’t know that. That’s awesome. I knew how to crochet at one time, but the math… my scarves were like, *gestures to show unevenness.* I love that this is a thing that people are talking about.

So you were talking about the pandemic and how it’s been a weird, bittersweet time to do things you wouldn’t have otherwise done. And then you launched the Shop and Crochet Club this year [2023]. How did you decide to take it to that step? 

It’s been on my mind for a long time, way before I ever launched it. I was quite content to just post what I was making online and have that be the end of it. The first thing I made and posted was this giant granny square blanket. It took me months and it was the most fun I’ve ever had because it was just making squares and sewing them together. Then I was in a cardigan phase, so I was making a lot of cardigans. 

Every single time there was always at least one comment that would be like, oh my gosh, are you selling these? I love this, it’s so cute, would you ever accept a commission? My instinct was always to ignore those comments and just be like, no, not really, this is just for fun. It wasn’t that I was being humble, or that I didn’t believe them. The idea of turning my hobby into a way to make money felt strange to me, especially because I had just come back to crochet. Why would I already start trying to make this into something when I don’t even know what it is?

It took me a little bit. Once I kept doing it regularly, I noticed there was as much interest in my crochet projects as much as in my writing. So at the end of spring, beginning of summer of this year, I was thinking seriously about it. I thought, actually it would be fun to just make and sell cute things. Not necessarily clothes, because I struggle with them. 

Even though that’s how I got my start back into crochet, it’s hard for me to create crochet pieces for other people because I can’t sometimes even fit them properly to my own body. So the thought of having the responsibility to make sure things fit other people makes me uncomfortable. Everyone has the right to receive a piece of clothing that fits them perfectly and makes them feel good. The idea that I can’t do that stresses me out. 

So I knew from the beginning I didn’t want to do clothes and that hasn’t changed. I’ve done bags, bandanas, charms. It’s more like an accessory shop than a clothing shop. It’s more fun for me. I love looking up all these different patterns and seeing things that people are doing and getting inspired and picking out the different colors. For me, these have always been the more fun projects to do because they’re small, they’re a little easier than clothing, and they still make people feel good. Once I decided to make that leap, it became so much fun. I was out here designing tags and designing the logo and putting the website together. I was really glad I did it. 

That’s amazing. I love that. This touches on so many things I feel are relevant to writers, too. I started writing as a hobby, and now as an adult I’m making money from it and it’s weird. How have you been navigating that weirdness?

My first thought is always fuck capitalism. I think that’s always the move. However, unfortunately, we do live in a society that prioritizes money-making moves over anything else. So there comes a point where you have to play the game, but in your own way. For me, especially with the shop, it’s been less about making money than about sharing my art with people.

That’s also why I wanted to start Crochet Club. As much as I try to price my items as affordably as possible, there are always going to be people who just can’t afford it. The Crochet Club was always going to be part of this because it’s an accessible way for people to have access to the crochet community and spend time with other people. I wanted Sofie’s Yarn to be a yarn collective to bring people together. That was always what it was going to be. 

That’s what has also fueled my writing: community and bringing people together. Yeah, I sell my books, I get paid sometimes when I get published. But more than anything else, I have the privilege of not having that matter so much to me. So my priority has always been, how can I bring people together? How can I make community the center of this? As opposed to, how can I make the most money off of people, et cetera. When you have that attitude, people can tell from the get-go and it’s not cute. It’s not even realistic most of the time. So, why bother? 

For example, with my writing, I have a podcast where I welcome people on to discuss their writing and to share their work. That’s been a cool way to bring community in. So when I was thinking about my crochet shop, I was thinking, how can I do that, but the crochet version? And that’s how Crochet Club was born! 

We just started a Discord server too. That was an idea from my friend, Michelle, who is part of the Crochet Club. We just launched it last week, and it’s already been really fun to share photos of the crochet projects we’re working on and to share tips and stuff like that. 

So that’s the way I’ve navigated it. I’ll do the marketing and try to promote myself but at the end of the day, the question for me is always, how can I bring people together? How can I create community out of this? How can I play along with capitalism, but do it in my own way and on my own terms?

Yes, absolutely. That’s the tricky thing—we still have to eat, we still need to survive, we all should be paid for our labor. I love that for you it all just comes back to community. But to bring it back from anti-capitalism to crochet, what is your favorite piece you've made?

There was a Valentine’s Day sweater I made a couple of years ago. It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done. It’s a sweater made out of granny squares that have hearts in the middle of them. It was an enjoyable process because I looked at videos on how to do it, and I realized that a lot of people were doing it… not wrong, but in a way I probably wouldn’t have done it. So that was the first piece that I designed on my own. I even drew out a sketch of what I wanted it to look like. It really felt like mine. I sewed buttons on the side that were little heart buttons, which no one else who had made a similar piece had done. There were so many little things like that that made it feel like my first real designed piece.

That was empowering for me because most of the time I just follow other people’s patterns. But this was the first time where I got to design something on my own and make sure it fit me. I think that’s probably one of the few pieces that fits me. 

I remember when I wore it the first time, I wasn’t even celebrating Valentine’s Day in the traditional way. I was just sitting at home on my own. And the second time I wore it I actually was on a date with my boyfriend and we spent the day at Chuck E. Cheese and Rainforest Café. There’s a lot of special memories with this sweater.

That’s so sweet. And it’s a really cool sweater. I love the little touches like the buttons. I think that’s why fiber arts are so meaningful because you’re the one that made it and now you have the memories with it. What’s your favorite piece in the shop? 

I would say it’s the frog hat. It’s just silly. That could be said for most of my shop. It’s silly, cute things. But the frog hat especially is just one of those pieces that’s funny and very cute and easy to make on top of that. So it has the holy trinity, if you will. 

My boyfriend has a matching one and when we did the photo shoot for the shop, we both wore one and it was really fun. So there is another cute memory attached to it. 

I don’t wear it as much as I would like, because I think I’m a little afraid of how people react to it in public. It’s not a negative reaction I'm nervous about but a “what the fuck” reaction. Like, why are you wearing a frog on your head? But I think one day I’ll get over it and just wear it everywhere.

I feel like the frog hat could be a literary reading outfit. And speaking of the shop, I love just looking at it. Everything looks like it all goes together. So how do you know something’s ready to add to the collection? 

I’ve only had one launch, but my second collection is out this Saturday. 

I wanted to do this flowery theme as the first launch to celebrate summer. The frog hat fit because there’s something summery about frogs, and I had the flower bookmarks.

From the beginning, it’s all about what colors I want to use. Not every product is going to have the same exact color options, but they’re all going to have similar or overlapping color schemes or color choices. That for me has always been fun, trying to decide how many colors I want something to be available in and what other colors I am going to use in the entire collection overall.

The same thought process went into my second collection because it’s a fruit market theme. I wanted to do fruit coasters and bags that look like fruits. I had bandanas too, which weren’t fruit-themed, but they had similar color schemes to the rest of the collection. 

So that’s how I go about it: first deciding what kind of products I want to do, then figuring out if they visually fit together.

I’m excited to see the new collection! This is a really broad question. Do you feel like your own identity intertwines into your work? 

Yeah, but not in the obvious ways. I’m not out here making a Mexican flag bandana. However, I do think it does, and it’s something I haven’t talked about enough on my crochet page. But I love the crochet community online. I love seeing everything what everyone is up to. I love seeing the YouTube tutorials. But like with other things, pretty much everything, there are a lot of white creators who get more engagement than everybody else. I have to seek out Black crocheters, other Latinx crocheters, whereas Instagram is always suggesting to me another white creator, another white girl who’s crocheting. They’re doing great things, that’s not to take away from them. But I want more people of color to be more visible in this community because we deserve that. It’s not just white girls who are crocheting and doing cute things. 

I feel like we have the same problem in the writing community, and we have the same problem in the Bookstagram and BookTok community, where white creators are so frequently pushed, so frequently platformed and spotlighted that it leaves everybody else behind. People don’t talk about it because of course, it’s uncomfortable to talk about. But my hope is that if I’m being visible and doing my thing, that I can contribute to people saying, oh yeah, it’s not just a white girl hobby.

I remember when I was doing my article about crochet, it was cool to do background research and discover these abuelitas doing crochet, and these creatives from Mexico doing amazing crochet who hardly ever get visibility just because of what they look like and where they come from. 

That’s kind of how I would interpret and explain my identity in terms of this. It’s not so much like writing where I’m exploring myself in my work.

That’s brilliant, thank you for sharing. That’s definitely in the writing world, and everywhere. We’re here whether or not we’re crocheting Mexican flags! Everyone is active in these communities. Creative communities aren’t just for white folks, but they're so often the face of it. It’s great you’ve started the Crochet Club, and hopefully that blossoms into more BIPOC at the front of the crochet conversation.

I hope so. It’s sad though, because every time I need a tutorial about anything, the first videos that always pop up on YouTube are always by white creators. And it’s not an accident. That’s completely on purpose. It’s something to be aware of. I wish more people were aware of it. 

The algorithms definitely know what they’re doing. But this ties in perfectly to the last question I had for you. This issue’s theme deals with Queerasures & Queertopias. What is your vision for the future? For your yarn, for your writing, for anything?

I’d love to start using more sustainably-made yarn and get more naturally-made yarn. Actually, I was just talking about this with someone at a Crochet Club meeting. They get sweaters at thrift stores, undo them, and then reuse that yarn for future projects. I was like, oh my god, that’s genius. That’s living sustainably on so many levels, right? You’re supporting a locally-owned thrift store. You’re reusing yarn that already exists. I’ve also gotten yarn from Goodwill as well. It was super cheap and I got a whole bunch of it. To get yarn in more sustainable ways is a long-term goal of mine. 

Definitely more launches! I already have four launches planned out. I also hope that the Crochet Club grows. I hope I have more creativity and fun.

In terms of my writing, I want to keep making things and meeting cool people and occupying spaces with people I admire. I want to continue to be inspired by other people. 

There’s a crocheter in Pomona, a 40-minute drive from me, organizing this nationwide yarn bomb. They put out this Instagram call to send little 12x12 crocheted squares which I’ve sent to so many people across the country. Organizing a project like that would be cool to do. It’s so amazing, what this community is doing and has been doing. I’m just grateful to be a part of it, honestly, to have some kind of impact and join in on the conversation. 

One more thing I would love to start doing is in-person Crochet Club meetings. Right now, they’re on Zoom, and I haven’t known enough people in my local area to do it in-person yet. And then, oh my god, I want to do crochet classes too. I could go on!

Sofia can be found at her personal accounts @sofiaxaguilar on Instagram and Twitter, and you can also follow her crochet shop on IG @sofiesyarn.shop. Her newest collection, “love letters,” launched on February 2, 2024 in time for Valentine’s Day and is available at her shop site.