A Knitter's Biography

I learned to knit when I was in college, because my roommate had such gorgeous sweaters hand-knit by her mother. So I asked her mother to teach me, and over a long-weekend visit, she taught me the basics. But I kept falling in love with various yarns and not finding a suitable pattern, or finding a great pattern without a suitable yarn. Then one day I went to a crafts show and saw a booth of very elegant knitted and crocheted garment, made by the Knitters and Crocheters Guild of Texas. I walked into the booth and said (with appropriate incredulity) "There's a guild around here?!?" In the guild I learned from the other knitters - principally Suzann Thompson, then began going to shows and demonstrating. Loved it. Eventually, I discovered Knitting Without Tears, Knitting from the Top, Knitting in the Old Way, and other solutions to my pattern vs. yarn frustrations.

I began to design patterns for myself and family, but while I liked designing, teaching was even better. In my other life, I've been a special ed teacher and am now teaching literacy and English as a Second Language to adults.

In the guild I met Suzanne Correira . She and I, both burned out on our original jobs, both of a maverick mind that didn't take well to following orders, found ourselves at loose ends and began an ill-fated book project. After the book project died, she moved out to the country near Austin, and over time, bought sheep, angora goats, and angora rabbits, and learned to spin. All this time, I had been resisting learning any more fiber crafts. No time, no space for spinning wheels or looms...but I was edging closer all the time. Lace led me to it. Lace knitting yarn was hard to find, especially if you didn't always want white. Really fine yarn was made on hand spindles. That wouldn't take up much space. So I took a spinning class from Carol Rhoades. Didn't like the spindle at all, but the wheel, now, that was more like it. Well, maybe I'd get a small wheel. I asked the only other woman I knew who spun if she knew of someone who was selling a wheel second hand. She did. I went to see the wheel, watched the owner spin on it, but wasn't able to spin on it myself. I bought it anyway and took it home. After one evening of cussing and fussing I was able to spin yarn that held together, and my next try produced something I could actually knit with.

At the same time, I was knitting hats to sell at fiber craft shows. This is in Central Texas, remember. Hats are just about the only knitted things most people wear. So it clicked. Patterns for working with variable gauges of yarn. I was doing it, and had a reasonable system others might like too. Remembering all those years where the only other knitter I knew personally was the woman who taught me, and the only way I could learn was from books, I decided to write teaching patterns - patterns that explained what the designer was doing and why, what options the knitter had, and perils to avoid. Writing and printing these led to a whole new set of problems with computers, that I won't even go into except to say that if my husband weren't really good at computers and very patient with me it would never have been done.

So for years I resisted learning to spin, and now I'm doing it. I resisted the urge to learn to dye. And I'm doing it. I resisted the urge to learn to weave. And I'm learning. Lately I've been resisting the urge to learn natural dyeing. Honestly, I just don't have time...