About the designer

I've been knitting off and on since I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. Grandma taught me to cast on and to knit, but not how to purl; Mom taught me to cast off with in the next few days. I remember sitting in the backyard while Mom was in the kitchen, knitting up what must be the world's ugliest vest for her out of green variegated acrylic yarn that she bought for me at the grocery store. The vest was hip length, opened in the front, and was fastened with two huge pompoms connected by a crochet chain. It had to be pulled on over the head as those pompoms didn't come off. I had no idea what a pattern was, much less how to read one, so I made it up as I went along. It was the 1960s. You can imagine how horrible the yarn was.

After that I crocheted a lot, did needlepoint, embroidery... whatever. Took two knitting classes at a yarn shop when I was in my 20s, learned to purl (!) among other things. I still have and wear the sweater I knit in that first class.

Between then and now I've phased in and out of knitting here and there, now and then. Made scarves and sweaters mostly, then a bunch of socks and an intricately cabled Aran for Dave in the 1990s. Knitting was replaced with a flurry of counted cross stitch projects for 3 or 4 years before knitting resumed. After about 15 years of husband-ly prodding, Dave talked me into designing my first piece, Pinwheel, a lap blanket for him to use in his home office in winter. It's been a downhill slide ever since.

Laura