For many, crocheting is a quiet retreat or a rhythmic way to decompress after a long day. For Abigail Gordon, the artist and entrepreneur behind Ofcourse Knot, the craft is less about relaxation and more about reaching new heights. After a decade of perfecting her stitches, she isn’t just making clothing items, she is weaving the very fabric of Barbadian identity.
“I think I’m creative through and through and my creative pursuits manifest themselves in different forms,” she says. Once I’m being creative and creating something…creating…itself, is my home.”
Abigail’s journey began at just eight years old when her mother first placed a crochet hook in her hands to teach her some of the basics. The early results were what she calls “holey” bags. They were impractical as everything she would place inside, slipped through the holes, but in her eyes, they remain sentimental masterpieces. They were the uneven, airy foundation of a lifelong passion.
“I made holey bags until I got a phone and access to the internet, ” she recalled. “That happened at 14. I used to go on Youtube and look for tutorials on how to actually do things with more complex stitches, that my mom didn’t teach. The first thing I tried to make was a bikini top…when I realised that you can crochet a swimsuit. It did not fit because I didn’t think much about sizing, I was just excited.”
By 14, Abigail turned to the digital world for mastery. Scouring YouTube and Instagram, she found a mentor in the creator By.Krishtun. Her first true milestone was a blue bikini, an exact replica of a tutorial that proved she had the discipline to match her creativity. From there, she moved past oversized tops and simple patterns, evolving into a multifaceted crochet connoisseur with a vision that extended far beyond the wardrobe.
There is a certain rhythm to her portrait work as she relies on long, consistent stretches of stitching to carefully map out the facial features of her subjects. However, the leopard print of the ‘Jaliea’ set demanded a unique form of discipline. Inspired by her friend Jaliea’s animal-print birthday dress code, Abigail found the pattern to be her greatest technical challenge yet, requiring continual color-switching to replicate the organic flow of the spots. Unlike the steady, rhythmic rows of a portrait, this piece was a mental marathon of constant yarn-swapping to maintain sharp patterns and perfect tension.
Now, a decade into her journey, Abigail has set her sights on her most ambitious project to date. Driven by a deep love for her island, she has committed to a creative marathon: “Crocheting One Barbados National Hero Per Month Til November 30th 2026.”
To commemorate the upcoming 60th anniversary of Barbados’ Independence, Abigail is transforming yarn into legacy. Her inaugural piece was an amazing 10,000-stitch tribute to Sir Garfield Sobers. As her first-ever yarn portrait, the piece serves as a massive testament to the labor and precision required to turn a single thread into a recognizable face of excellence.
“I saw people doing it overseas. This kind of crochet is called tapestry crochet and what you do first is create a graph/grid to follow so that you would know when you need to change the colour. I manipulate the image to make it into a guide so that I can follow as I crochet.”
While other artists might struggle to source specific yarn colors, Abigail’s approach is as strategic as it is aesthetic. To ensure the series remains cohesive and on point for the national celebrations, she made a deliberate design choice, every hero’s face consisting of various shades black and white tones, set against a deep blue or golden yellow representing the colours of the Barbadian flag.
For the month of February, she turned her hook toward the ‘Diamonds’ star and National Hero, Rihanna. The depiction features a vibrant yellow background, allowing the black-and-white yarn work to pop with the same energy as the global icon herself.
Ultimately, this is a huge win for Barbadian pride. Abigail’s Instagram has become the place to be, with everyone in the comments trying to guess which local icon she’s going to stitch next. She’s keeping her March tribute a total mystery for now, masterfully building that suspense as she honors the nation one stitch at a time. Abigail’s work is a message to anyone intimidated by the complexity of a craft or the scale of a dream.
“In order to grow, you’ve got to put yourself out of your comfort zone. Reframe how you look at it, from being something scary, to something that would push me past my limits and encourage me to challenge myself,” she expressed. If you get excited to complete a challenge, it will never actually feel like a burden…Anything is possible.”
As she prepares to reveal her next masterpiece, Abigail Gordon is doing more than just crocheting portraits. As a creative, she is inspiring a new generation to view their heritage and their hobbies through a different lens. She stands as living proof that when you honor your craft, creativity becomes the gateway to endless possibilities.
“I would like people to feel inspired when they look at my work,” she shares. With 10,000 stitches at a time, she is doing exactly that.
Photo credits: @ofc.knot on instagram.
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