About Us
BQueen started in 2014, when Brian came home with a wood lathe. We were new parents with a newborn in our arms, freshly married, living in a state far away from family and serving in the Navy on the east coast. I persuaded Brian to try turning a crochet hook, and off to the garage he went with a scrap piece of oak and no experience. After a few tries and modifications, he showed me something I thought we could make a business selling. I knew they were worthy to be shared with the world, so I bet him that if we could sell a few crochet hooks by the end of the month, we should start a real business. And here we are.
Our hooks featured the signature crown tops from the start. This idea came from my love of chess and growing up playing the game, and also my childhood (and still today) nickname of Boo Queen. The combination of nickname and game is where "BQueen" originated.
For a while, BQueen hooks were all wood, but carving the hook tips was labor intensive and unforgiving - and my job. One heavy handed swipe of a file, and the hook could be ruined. We also desperately wanted to improve the durability of our hooks in case of a drop or pulling a tight stitch. We knew Clover Amour crochet hooks were expertly designed to be both inline and tapered in their hook head, so we found a way to incorporate their perfect tips with our ergonomic wood handles.
Without any dyes, stains, synthetic materials like acrylic or resin, we simply show off the real, unfiltered, and undeniable beauty of wood. Every hook is truly unique in this way, because no two pieces are exactly the same. The wood grain is alive with character and uniqueness, and is my favorite part of our hooks because all we have to do was encourage it, let it shine and be what it naturally is.
From where we started in 2014, we moved states, homes, changed careers and grew to a family of six - four boys! Ever present, we continued BQueen through it all and loved to serve the crochet community. Brian became a firefighter, we settled in to a new home in Larkspur, I ecstatically embraced being a stay a home mom with our sons... things were good.
In August of 2022 while Brian was on shift, I opened our garage door to find it engulfed in flames and moving in to the rest of our home. By the grace of God, I was able to get all our children and pets out of the home before it was deemed a total and complete loss, with only a handful of items saved. We would later ascertain the fire was started by mice in our garage wall that had chewed on electrical wires. BQueen was shut down indefinitely.
We didn't know if we would reopen BQueen. But blessings have filled our life after the tragedy and trauma of losing our home, one after another. Our neighbors, community, fire family, and so many generous strangers helped us get back on our feet and progress through the incredible process of rebuilding our life. Two years later, we have found our forever home in Black Forest, Colorado. We keep moving forward, one step after another, and we are blessed.
We settled in to our new life, but still felt a calling to serve the crochet community. I so sincerely believe in the hooks we make, not only that they improve the technique and motion of crocheting because of the ergonomics, but that they truly are unique pieces of art unlike any other to be shared.
BQueen was a passion of ours, to provide the crochet community with a tool we believed could serve the craftsman better, raising the standard of "one of a kind". Our hooks aren't factory made, copied on mass production machines or made in foreign countries by unnamed labor. Our hooks are made down a dirt road in a forest, by only one man in a garage, interrupted by curious children.
We are so thankful to be in a place where we can offer our hooks again. We believe in our product and the benefits it can give the maker, and to our customers - we thank you for your support of our small business through the good times and the hard times. You are one of our blessings we count each day, and your purchase puts food on our table and provides for our family.
Thank you, and God Bless.
Makenzie + Brian