I learned to knit at the age of 6 from my grandmother, and I spent the next two weeks making the world's most god-awful garter stitch scarf in red, white and blue Red Heart acrylic. Knitting fell by the wayside after that initial frenzy, but picked up again in earnest when I went to college in the cold wastelands of Western Massachusetts. Since then, I've been knitting frantically at every opportunity, and have added some other fiber hobbies along the way - I took up spinning in 2007, started designing and publishing knitting patterns in 2008, opened my own fiber dyeing business in 2011, and started weaving to deal with the ever-increasing stash in 2012. Strangely enough, that last tactic hasn't worked out very well...

I have lived in a grand swath of places in the past 40-something years. I was born in Cleveland, OH (affectionately referred to as The Mistake on the Lake in my personal history), but consider Boston, MA to be my home. I went to college in Western MA, graduate school in the Nation's Capitol (aaaahhhh....Washington, DC in the Monica Lewinsky years....), then went off to postdoctoral fellowship #1 in Arizona, shortly followed by postdoc #2/faculty position in Houston, TX. In 2009, my husband, two daughters and I moved from Houston across the pond to London, England, where we are remaining for the foreseeable future. I like to tell people that I experienced worse culture shock moving to Texas then I did in moving to a foreign country. We've now been in the UK long enough that it's home. Which makes wool-loving me very, very happy (southeast Texas is NOT conducive to wool. Ever.)

In addition to spending as much time as I can elbow deep in fiber and yarn, I am the co-organizer (with the fabulous Allison at Champagne and Qiviut) of the Great London Yarn Crawl, now in its sixth year. You can find out more about this year's edition of the GLYC on our website, as well as more about our show, Yarnporium, happening 2-3 November 2018. We'd love to have you join us!

Tech Editing

The tech editing process is a dialogue between designer and TE, a back-and-forth process that results in a clearly written, easy-to-understand pattern that is largely error free.  When I TE a pattern, I check the numbers, the grammar and spelling, and the clarity of the pattern. I'll double check that your sizing conforms to industry standards (CYC) and that you've listed all needed materials and explained techniques. If you're designing a garment or a shawl, I'll make sure your sleeve cap will fit in the armscye, and that your lace charts will work.

In addition to standard tech editing, I can grade your garment pattern, or create personalised style sheets, charts for lace/texture/colorwork, and schematics. Please contact me to get information on my rates and availability.

Preferred document types: pdf, odt, pages, doc

Teaching

I've been teaching in some shape or fashion (not always yarn-related) for more then 15 years. I'm happy to teach one-on-one private tutorials or groups of up to 12. Please contact me to get more information on my rates and availability.

Beginner Classes

Beginning Knitting 1 (2-3 hrs) - All the basics: casting on, knitting, purling and binding off. 

Beginning Knitting 2 (2-3 hrs) - For those already comfortable with casting on, knitting, and purling, this class covers knitting in the round and decreasing. 

Beginning spinning: drop spindle (2-3 hrs) - For the brand new novice spinner.

Beginning spinning: on the wheel (2-3 hrs) - Covers all the basics required to get new wheel owners up and running. 

Advanced Classes

Beginnings and Endings (3 hrs) - There are so many ways to begin your project, and there are reasons to pick and choose your cast on carefully. The same is true of casting off - picking the correct bind off will give your piece that perfect finished edge. In this class we will explore different types of cast on and cast off techniques, and highlight some important issues to consider.

Knitting with Handspun (2 hrs) - Knitting with handspun yarn is a very different experience from knitting with commercial yarn. This class will cover choosing the correct project for your handspun, working out an appropriate needle size, and how to deal with problems that may arise from using a handmade yarn with all it’s inherent variability.

Swatches: lying liars that lie or Delphic oracles? (2 hrs) - Mastering accurate swatching is key to being able to knit sweaters that fit without running out of yarn (everyone’s worst nightmare). This class will take you through swatching from beginning to end, and show that swatches don’t really lie. Usually...