Welcome to Knitting Lane

Upon reflection, I would have to say that the most influential person in my life would be my kindergarten teacher - Kay Ort. She also happened to be the art teacher for my elementary school. Mrs. Ort noticed that I loved art and strongly encouraged me to pursue this passion, so I did. I can recall many hours as a child sitting at our kitchen table drawing. My favorite thing to draw was horses and that was my main focus for many years. Even when I was in the Graphic Design program at the University of Houston I tried to work horses into every project that we were assigned (much to the dismay of my professors). They encouraged me to step out of my box and work with colors, shapes and patterns. At the time I begrudgingly did what they asked, but many years after the fact I am grateful that I did because it has helped me in my career as a knitting pattern designer.

A good friend taught me how to knit in 2004. She was a continental knitter and that is the method that she tried to teach me. However, I just couldn't get the hang of it and after much frustration (including episodes of yarn and needles being chucked across the room) I finally just decided to try to knit in a way that was easier for me. I thought I had created my own unique way of knitting. Imagine my surprise when months later I discovered that I basically was doing European knitting (throwing the yarn around the back of the needle with my right hand). Guess I wasn't so inventive after all!

I spent about a year or so knitting garter stitch scarves. Then I decided to branch out and try something new. Most people wouldn't jump straight to lace knitting from garter stitch scarves, but I am the type of person that loves a challenge. Around that time I went to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival and bought the Punch and Judy pattern by Anne Hanson. Even though it is a fairly easy lace pattern, I still struggled to figure it out by myself. So I reached out to Anne via email and she kindly responded with explanations and tips on how to knit lace. I will be forever grateful to her because otherwise I might have given up and stopped knitting altogether. That is one of the things I love about the knitting world - it is full of kind and generous people.

By creating this blog I am hoping to inspire other knitters to step out of their comfort zone. I want to encourage my readers to try something new and ask questions if you need help. Hopefully I will be able to give you some answers, but I am by no means an expert on everything so hopefully other people will help by commenting as well.

Thank you for stopping by. Please follow me on Facebook or Instagram if you would like to keep up with my posts. I'm excited to take this journey down Knitting Lane with all of you!!