About the Designer

I learned to crochet when I was very young. One of my grandmothers showed me the basics—holding the hook and yarn, the chain, the single crochet, the double crochet and how to make Irish roses. The other grandmother taught me a variation of the “mile-a-minute” technique in thread for adding a lace edging to embroidered pillowcases. I still have and treasure the little Learn How Book put out by Coats & Clark that included the basics of knitting, crochet, embroidery and tatting. After a few years of sustained interest, Mama paid for my subscription to The Workbasket magazine. I love the internet, but still learn best from books and am always trying to upgrade my skills.

What first attracted me to crochet was the delicacy of threadwork—doilies, tablecloths and edgings---things kept in the cedar chest for someday, made by grandmothers and greatgrandmothers and preserved as heirlooms.

In contrast to today’s overwhelming number of available patterns, back then (pre-internet) I had little access to crochet patterns. Making up designs was just part of the art of crochet. With a little imagination and a lot of persistence, you can crochet just about anything. So, I guess I was designing from the beginning but didn’t think of it as such. My first acceptance letter arrived in 1997 and my Octagon Doily was published in Hooked on Crochet #69 (the May/June 1998 issue).

These days I keep returning to crochet for its versatility—the varying stitch heights, the ability to start and stop virtually anywhere or take off in any direction, and the ease of combining colors, making different shapes and creating lace.