The Happy Hooker : Keeping Detroit Warm
Story by Andrea Grimaldi
Photography by Bernie Laframboise
What do you get when you combine a life-long obsession with yarn and an endearing sense of humor? The Happy Hooker Detroit shop. Owner and operator Christina Larson has arguably the coziest corner of the Rust Belt, as well as an eclectic online shop. She takes comfortable crocheted items and gives them her own spin. The website explains her work as “Inspired by your grandma and taken to the streets, Happy Hookers Detroit provides comfortable knitwear with an attitude.”
Each product in the Happy Hookers shop is created from patterns written by Christina. The clothing section of the shop is extensive. “Armies” are fingerless gloves and feature unique designs, like swirls and a snakeskin print. “Butt Sweaters” are beautiful skirts that are as warm as they are unique (because what are skirts, but butt sweaters?). “Cloaking Hoods” are neck scarves with a unique shape that can be worn several different ways. “Scarf Sleeves” can also be paired with the cloaking hoods, or purchased in contrasting colors for a one of a kind look. The scarf sleeves can also be worn in any number of ways and are a stand out on their own.
The Happy Hooker shop also has bowties, gorgeous hats, and scarves, all made with integrity and make layering up for winter weather less depressing. No two items at Happy Hooker Detroit are alike, making each piece a work of art.
In addition to clothing items, the Happy Hooker Detroit shop now features pillows with unique designs. Personalized wedding pillows feature stick figure portraits of the couple, the wedding date, and optional initials. The wedding pillows are a great gift for the couple who has it all. Other pillows include whales or a robot fighting a dinosaur.
The pillows are made with a knitting machine that can take two-color images and put them in yarn. While the images are simplistic, they are very entertaining. The machine that creates the pillows is aptly-named “Mr. Fancy Pants,” because of the fancy image technology. Christina has another machine named
“Workhorse,” who makes a lot of the hats and sleeves for the shop. Christina’s third machine is a Brother 270 named “Greased Lightning” for its efficiency.
It is hard to say if Christina’s biggest talent lies with yarn or with naming inanimate objects.
While Christina learned to crochet as a child, she picked up knitting from a coworker during her time as a director at Channel 7. She worked in broadcast for 17 years, before the job changed into something she wasn’t enjoying. She realized she had a business ready to go in her craft room, and has been running Happy Hooker full time for the last two years. In addition to the year-old Rust Belt shop, Christina takes her hooking on the road with booths at various music festivals.
Christina’s newest project is a group effort called Fuzzy Tripod (another Christina name). Created alongside photographer Evans Tasiopoulos and artist Dave Messy, Fuzzy Tripod is a new group aiming to bring Detroit-area artists together. The group put on a Summer Art and Beer Garden earlier this summer, and plan on creating more venues to showcase local talent. Another event in the works will pair poets with painters for an extended period to see what they can inspire each other to make. Follow the Fuzzy Tripod page on Facebook to see what is coming next.
While Christina will tell you that her true love in life is yarn, creating things that make people happy is her true passion. The pride in seeing someone wearing her clothing or making the perfect gift for her customers is what keeps Christina hooking. Visit her at the Rust Belt to see her wears in person, or check out her website at www.hhdclothing.com to place an order.
