Julie Brocklehurst owns a small crochet business called Logy Made. Following the loss of her young son, she uses her work as a way to help her cope with her grief.
Aurora Hickey
Kicker
Julie Brocklehurst is navigating through the grief that comes along with losing her son Brennen. She is using her crochet business as a form of therapy to help her manage the stresses she faces every day. Photo by Nate Gates.
When Julie Brocklehurst learned to crochet 10 years ago, she had no idea her hobby would turn into a small business.
“I wanted to be able to make a Granny Square blanket like my nan did,” said Brocklehurst. “I never planned to sell any; I just wanted to learn how to make one for myself.”
Now, 10 years later, crocheting has become her full-time job. Her business is called Logy Made. To her it means so much more than a business: It’s a form of therapy.
She is now using her business to help her cope with the grief that comes along with losing her young son, Brennen.
Brennen was born with cerebral palsy. When he was diagnosed, Brocklehurst said, she was heartbroken.
“I honestly thought it meant we were going to have a terrible life. I felt sad for him, I felt sad for me, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.”
In January 2023, Brennen faced a battle against pneumonia. He was 17 at the time, and Brocklehurst said he never really recovered.
On July 16, 2025, Brennen died. He was just 20 years old
“I’ve had people say to me, ‘I would never be able to survive the loss of a child.’ and honestly, I don’t think I did,” said Brocklehurst. “I’m a different person than I was with him.”
Brocklehurst says Brennen was a gift to her.
“I wouldn’t change a thing, I wouldn’t change his disability, I would do it all over again.”
Crochet is something that Brocklehurst can do to keep her hands and mind occupied. She says it is something that keeps her thoughts from going all over the place.
Brocklehurst finds comfort in the fact that her crochet pieces give joy and peace to other people. She recently received a message from a woman who received one of her blankets as a birthday gift. The woman said the blanket was “like being wrapped in a hug.”
“I feel like I get that back; it’s like her giving me a hug back,” said Brocklehurst. “I don’t know her, but it’s a comfort and a special thing to be able to create that for other people.”
Meaning making
Kelsey Collins, a grief counsellor, says grieving is different for everybody.
“It’s about finding ways to integrate that grief and the love for the person you’ve lost into your life in a way that allows you to continue to live and move forward, while also honouring your own grief and loss that you’ve experienced.”
Collins says that there is a stage of grief called “meaning making” that isn’t often talked about. She says that work can be meaning making depending on what you’re doing and if it is creative and means something to you.
“Your work can help distract you; it can make you feel like you’re creating something in the world when that loss is still so present in your life.”
Whether it was at home or at the hospital, crochet is something Brocklehurst did for years with Brennen by her side.
“Now that he’s not here, I feel like that’s something familiar I can hold onto.”
Brocklehurst says Brennen made her the person she is today.
“I know that I will be sad because he died for the rest of my life, but I’m the person that I am because he lived.”
Brennen is a part of every piece Brocklehurst creates and she can see herself crocheting a tribute piece to him in the future.
Be the first to comment