About

I’ve been knitting on and off since about junior high. A neighbor taught me the basics, and I took off from there. My first project was a cabled sweater from Vogue Knitting. I felted it. Accidentally.

I actually crocheted more than knit in my teens; I crocheted a couple afghans, at least one lacy sweater, and a slew of slippers (with some hideous sparkly acrylic) before going away to college.

I didn’t knit at West Point.

I did, however, take up knitting again when I was in the Army stationed in Germany in the early 1990s. I started a stranded sweater that I never finished and subsequently frogged. (I actually still have the remains of the yarn in my stash here on Ravelry & have used it for several small projects.) I also started an intarsia Adrienne Vittadini sweater in pink cotton. Frogged that, too. Learned I’m not a fan of intarsia.

I didn’t knit again until the early 2000s.

I don’t think I started because of the boom in popularity; I think it was just time for me to do so again. (Ten year cycle perhaps?)

But this time it stuck.

And expanded. And flourished.

About the designs…I strive to create clever, elegant patterns that keep your attention& interest as a knitter, and still end up with a cohesive, lovely design.

I’m inspired by a variety of things: places I’ve been, California natural history, the Arts & Crafts movement, Art Deco and Art Nouveau motifs, interesting stitch patterns from around the world, and of course, the yarn and fiber itself.

I love trying new techniques — and old techniques in new ways. Cables, twisted stitches, lace, colorwork, braids…

Think old techniques in modern styles.

On the non-knitting front, I’m a small animal relief veterinarian in Southern California, filling in at veterinary hospitals as needed.

I’m married to Dave, a high school physics teacher. No kids except for the four footed: Rigel, an English Cocker spaniel, and the Tonkinese cat herd: Meggie, Obi and Cali.

Things we do: triathlons, hiking, SCUBA diving, traveling, wine tasting. If we’re lucky we get to do all of that on one trip.

Tattoos: I’ve had people recognize me from Ravelry from my Ravatar pic, which is a photo of the relatively small celtic cat triskelion on my right upper arm. I also have a corvid with a pictish spiral on my left upper arm, and a puma on my right shoulder blade.

We’re also the oddballs of our neighborhood in Hermosa Beach, restoring our 1920s Spanish Eclectic bungalow in a neighborhood where old houses are usually considered teardowns or at best ‘starter homes’.

We’re trying to be as green as possible – we have solar panels, a tankless water heater, recycled cellulose insulation, no lawn (native plants & we’re growing some veggies & fruit trees)….I try to use things like Craigslist or Freecycle to find things for our house & yard if & when we need something as opposed to buying new (and trying to decrease buying in general).