You are here because you desire a journey. You want to connect with your knitting and believe in its message! 

Transformational Knitting

The moment I decided I transform knitters lives through my patterns was when I realized I had a story to tell. It happened during Fiber Boss College with Chelsea @knitfitch 

But really, it all started 5 years ago. March of 2012 I gave birth to a healthy 8lb baby boy. I remember the drive home from the hospital. The red buds were blooming, the daffodils were waving in the breeze, the apple trees were drenched in blossoms! I stared out the window & cried. That was when the lights went out.

We moved halfway across the country. I was never diagnosed with postpartum depression but I was so so terribly depressed. I had quit teaching music to stay at home with this squealing squalling infant who needed me EVERY MOMENT OF THE DAY. I hated it. I hated everything about it. I never wanted to be a mom! I felt huge thunder heads growing bigger every day.

I turned to what I knew. Knitting. I started a blog and wrote and connected with other moms. I cried buckets of tears every day. But I was connecting and knitting. It equipped me to slowly begin to claw my way out of the muck. ---
Slowly bits of joy began to find its way back into my life. The laughter of my son. As he learned to smile I would find myself smiling back. As he learned to crawl, then walk, I too began to slowly begin to learn to walk this new way of life. I learned I was not alone.

The sun has slowly began to rise. I have learned to embrace motherhood! This journey took years. It is just now that I am beginning to embrace this new dream of designing knitting patterns. As I release each of my patterns enriched with message of hope, encouragement, and transformation. I am beginning to understand that all of my experiences have equipped me to be able to reach out on a deeper level. It has not been an easy journey. because all of these experiences have been a catalyst of action for my business and my message. A message of hope, encouragement, and transformation that can miraculously be knit into a shawl design. That is why I design.

Exploration

When I was a girl my favorite thing to do was to explore the damp dark woods behind my grandparents house. My cousins and I would set out about mid morning carting crusty bread slices and oranges. We would spend hours in those woods building tipis, forts, turning up damp fern clots, picking berries, and in general having a grand old time. It was these adventures that sparked my curiosity and zest for the discovery of new things in life. 

I have taken the path less traveled. Somehow from those backwoods of Nova Scotia my path took me across Canada multiple times, down through the States, and dumped me in the middle of Kansas where I found myself taking my masters degree in music education. Then unceremoniously I left my career in music education, traveled across the country yet again and became a stay-at-home mom. I suppose it's no coincidence that I returned to my fiber roots and began knitting again.  

After blogging for several years I had a serendipitous encounter with Frenchie of Aroha Knits. I had this dream to write a book that would honor my ancestry of knitters by incorporating a bit of family history and patterns from the land of Anne Of Green Gables. (Yes, I grew up being able to look across the bay towards PEI!) As a result of this chance encounter on Instagram and becoming a student of Franchie's class I began the journey to become a knitwear designer.

Inspiration

The act of knitting itself is so inspirational You first take a thin piece of wool, that was used to keep an animal warm, twist it and turn it and soon it becomes a work of art! Knitting is healing. Knitting takes you on a transformational journey of self discovery.

I grew up in the back woods of Nova Scotia. When I say backwoods I mean we pumped our water with a hand pump because we didn't have running water! I used an outhouse and I really actually did forage for berries to supplement my meals! (Usually when I tell people this their eyes widen in disbelief and they glaze over. People think that way of living ended in the 1800's!) Seriously, I can romanticize the heck out of anything! 

But I love the fact that I come from such an interesting background! It is what makes me me! My family is rich with a history of makers. My great grandmother was constantly knitting! Sweaters, socks, scarves, slippers, mittens, dolls, doilies, yeah pretty much everything! They also raised their own sheep and fished for a living.

I am inspired by my memories. I am inspired by the places that I grew up. I am inspired by the tawny sand, azure blue sea, periwinkle sky, and the emerald forests and hills of Nova Scotia. I am inspired by the details in nature. By the gold edge of the changing maple leaf. I am inspired by the dandelion puff. I am inspired by the simple manudane everyday things that are actually at their core phenomenally marvelous in their simplicity.

Somehow, someway, designing knitting patterns has become more than just a pattern of repetitive stitches. It has become a message. It has become a means to wrap up a message to knitters with a bit of string. The stitches become more than just a pattern, they are a means of conveying a message of hope and healing that you can knit into a warm woolly hug.