A LEGAL worker has turned her crochet hobby into a business to inspire other girls to take up new skills.

Working at a law firm as a cost negotiator, 23-year-old Maariyah Patel from Blackburn spends any time she isn’t working, crocheting.

Miss Patel runs her own Instagram page @Thecrotchetbox_ where she displays all her styles and takes orders.

One of her most popular designs are her baby turbans, for which she receives many orders and compliments for.

She said: “People love handmade things; it can be sentimental, and I can personalize things for babies so parents can keep them.

“I recently started making baby turbans and had a lot of support from places like America and India.

Miss Patel learnt how to crochet from a friend’s mum at the age of 20.

She said: “My mum has no patience, she could not teach me how to knit or crochet, but I was at a friend’s house and her mum was knitting.

“I was 20 at the time and I was fascinated, and she taught me how to crochet as it was easier.

“I started watching YouTube videos and got the hang of it while making things like baby blankets and now I make teddies and turbans and more.”

Now, with over 1,000 followers on Instagram and an Etsy page, the hobby has turned into a business to be proud of for the 23-year-old.

She said: “It’s not common, for Asian girls and shows we can have a full-time job and still do something we love, while making money off it.

“I just feel like a lot of Asian girls are very complacent and unhappy where they are.”

Miss Patel has also taught her 12-year-old sister how to crochet and hopes she can join her business one day.

She said: “She used to see me and ask what I was doing, and asked me to make her a blanket, so I showed her how to make one herself.

“So, she made her own bed blanket and when people go to her house for the first time, she proudly shows people her bed blanket and says she made it herself.

“It is my little happy place when I am doing it and It has encouraged my own friends to try new things, one of them had become an Instagram baker now.”

To see her work, go to @TheCrochetBox_ on Instagram.