Andrea Lyn Van Benschoten

Name: Andrea Lyn Van Benschoten

Age: 38

Location: Rockaway, NJ

Profession: Seach Engine Optimization Analyst

Craft(s) of Choice: Crochet, Yarn Spinning, Needle Felting, Wet Felting

Blog: http://thefiberforum.com

Since I was a child, I always wanted to learn to crochet. My grandmother tried to teach me, but like most children, I didn’t have the required attention to learn. After she passed away, I wished I had learned from her and it is one of the regrets of my life. I did learn in 2000 and have been addicted ever since! I tried knitting, but it just didn’t “speak” to me the way crochet did. Probably because of the connection to my grandmother.

As I continued to improve my skills, I decided to give yarn spinning a try, first with a spindle, then with a wheel. When my husband told me to pick out a wheel to purchase, I did lots of research. When I narrowed down my choices, I showed him photos of them. He immediately picked the Majacraft Rose. It is a beautiful piece of equipment and has a rose etched into the wood. It is a perfect tribute to my grandmother, since Rose was her name. As I feel the fiber move through my fingers to create yarn, I always feel my grandmother’s spirit nearby guiding me.

To take my “fiber addiction” even further, I took some of that roving I use for spinning and decided to give felting a try. I love it and have created many items and received several blue ribbons at the New Jersey state fair. I have made many life-long friends through my fiber journey and am grateful for every one!

Beverly Army Williams

Name:  Beverly Army Williams        

Age:  39

Location:  Granby, CT

Profession: College freshman composition professor and fiction writer

Craft(s) of Choice: Knitting, spinning, weaving, embroidery, crochet

Blog: http://www.wbnm.typepad.com

My Gram was an avid stitcher.  She and her four sisters loved to crochet, although only one of them could read a pattern.  Aunt Franny would find an afghan or layette that she liked and teach the pattern to the other sisters, who would make endless items from memory. 

At nineteen, I decided I would use the road trip to our family reunion in Ohio to learn to crochet from Gram.  We worked with a small crochet hook and fine thread.  Gram wasn’t much of a teacher; she would rather rip out and fix my mistakes herself than show me what to do.  Somehow, though, I created my first doily—a bit wonky, but clearly a finished project.

It would be a few years before I taught myself to knit, but once I did, I was enamored. Until I moved to New Mexico for graduate school, I knit by myself.  Once there, though, I found a community of knitters, several of whom remain dear friends, despite my move to Connecticut.  We met every Tuesday night, and those gab sessions were my respite from academia.  My skills developed, and I found myself taking on more challenging projects, knowing that I had a posse of knitters ready to help me if I got stuck.  In the same way Gram learned from her biological sisters, I learned from my “knit sibs.” More than the product or the process of my creativity, it is my crafting community that means the most to me.

Name:

Age: 45

Location: Dover Foxcroft, Maine, USA

Profession: Disability

Craft(s) of Choice: Knitting, Crocheting, Spinning

Blog: http://beverlysyarncrazy.blogspot.com

I have done crafts of some sort all my life, but work and other obligations always came first. So there would be big breaks in between projects.

About 2.5 years ago, I became so disabled that I could no longer work. This resulted in me becoming very depressed, until my mother asked me to make a little shawl for a lady at the nursing home where she worked. I suddenly felt useful again and my creative juices were flowing because I didn’t have access to patterns at the time, so I made them up.

Since then I have been improving my knitting, and crocheting skills. I also, learned to use a drop spindle and recently purchased a spinning wheel. The learning adventure never ends.

I have been blessed by the wonderful online friends that I have made in the crafting communities who have taught me so much. They are constantly inspiring me.

Jenessa Keller

Name: Jenessa Keller

Age: 28

Location: Meadville, Missouri

Profession: Day Care provider and full-time Masters student

Craft(s) of Choice:: Spinning, Dyeing, Knitting, and Crochet

Blog: http://www.myfairyarn.artfire.com

During my senior year of college I was the lone person left (or so it seemed) in my tiny little college town during Thanksgiving break so I went off to the Wal-Mart in search of something to do. After wandering the craft isle I decided to pick up a “Teach Yourself To Knit” kit and a skein of Carron Simply Soft. About 6 yeas and numerous scarves later I consider myself a full-on fiber addict. Soon after teaching myself to knit I taught myself to crochet, earlier this year I taught myself to spin and dye fibers as well. After many urgings from family and friends I decided to open up shop and sell my fiber art online. You can find me Artfire and as a regular Phat Fiber contributor. Or look me up on Ravelry as thenoviceknitter.

Jenna Zeidler

Name: Jenna Zeidler

Age: 27

Location: Champaign, IL USA

Profession: Assistant Librarian at a software company

Craft(s) of Choice: Oh, I dabble in so many things!  Knitting, thread crochet, sewing/quilting (So much faster than knitting!  Knitting is like making your own fabric and then creating something out of it while sewing seems one step ahead of the game to me!), polymer clay, paper crafts/origami, miniatures, jewelry, spinning, embroidery,

Blog: http://corgipants.blogspot.com 

Crafting to me is about learning different and varied skills. I was brought up crafting and it shaped my learning style.  I learn by doing, creating and thinking about the process, not just the end product.  It is also about being more self-reliant and prepared for the worst.  If push came to shove and I was forced to rely on myself to create my own shelter, food, clothing, shoes, etc., I feel secure in my ability to take on the challenge with all the knowledge I have amassed from the variety of projects I have tackled and the heritage skills and work ethic my parents instilled in me!

But let’s just say that major civilization meltdown never comes.  I’ll be a very happy, active senior! My degree is in Leisure Studies and one thing I really took to heart was the fact that the more recreational options you explore early on in life, the more choices you will be open to when you’re older. I am dedicated to trying new things not just for fun and enrichment now but to broaden my recreational opportunities once I’m AARP-age.  

Jenny Bannock

Name: Jenny Bannock

Age: 34

Location: Connecticut

Profession: Adult Education Secretary, Knitting & Spinning teacher, & Yarn Small Business Owner

Craft(s) of choice: Spinning, knitting, crochet, sewing, embroidery

Blog: http://divinebird.com/wordpress

When I was 12, my mom sat me down at her sewing machine and declared that I was NOT going to grow up to be someone who couldn’t hem a pair of pants or fix a button. Of course, at the time I resisted, but she persevered. I made whole outfits from patterns and learned how to manipulate fabric to create the shapes I wanted. I still hated it until I moved out years later and discovered that I was the ONLY person I knew who could sew. Suddenly, it wasn’t such a bad thing anymore.

I decided then that I was going to be good at textiles, the one thing I could claim I was honestly better at than anyone I knew. This was back in the days before Ravelry and Crafster, of course! I wanted to learn every major textile art–knitting, weaving, embroidery, etc.–to the point where I could design and make a project. Later, that goal changed when I found it much more rewarding to be able to teach those skills, and now the goal is to learn until I can teach.

My quest to learn has brought me to spinning, which wasn’t part of my original goal because at the time it wasn’t even on my personal radar. I feel as though I’ve found the root of my love of textiles by, well, finding the root of textiles themselves. Now I’m a textile evangelist and certified yarn geek, and I like it that way.

Jill Smith

Name: Jill Smith-Mott

Age: 36

Location: outside of Austin, TX

Profession: teacher, writer

Craft(s) of Choice: KNITTING, spinning, quilting

Blog: winstonandchloe.wordpress.com

I knit, spin, crochet, quilt. Sometimes I feel like I should have been born 200 years ago.  There is something about using my hands to make the things I need (or want, in the case of Anthroplogie scarves), providing for my loved ones, and feeling like I’m frugal.

I love the idea of using scraps to make a quilt, even though I usually buy my fabric.  Of saving yarn leftovers to combine them into something new.  Recycling sweaters into something new and desirable.  It makes me feel connected to my past, my ancestors, and my grandmothers who struggled through much leaner times than now.

My favorite things to make are beanies, bowls, and blankets.  Not because they start with the letter B, but because they are essential things.  To make them beautiful and give them away fulfills something in me, even if my recipients are tired of getting handmade things from me.  I just don’t care; it’s part of the process.

Also, like a crow is to shiny, I’m attracted to all of the colors and patterns, of fabric; the limitless possibilities of combining yarns and stitches into textural patterns and designs; and the only slightly controlled chaos of combining fibers into lengths of color to be plied, and knit.  The possibilities, happenstance, and perplexities of random choices coming together to make something beautiful and useful, doing it yourself, improving a skill, giving a gift, and saving money are integrally satisfying. I feel like it’s what I should be doing.

Joey Tan

Name: Joey Tan

Age: 10

Location: Fair Oaks, CA

Profession: Homeschooler – 5th Grade

Craft(s) of Choice: Crochet, Spinning, Sewing, Felting, Card Weaving, Dyeing

Blog: http://www.syrendell.blogspot.com

I enjoy spinning yarns, crocheting presents and sewing new fashion out of old clothes. I demo spinning and Tunisian crochet at conferences and workshops along with my mom. I just got back from a retreat where I did weaving and dyeing. I would like to be a fashion designer someday. My picture shows a shirt that I dyed and an apron that I designed and sewed.

Julie Anderson

Name: Julie Anderson

Age: 39

Location: Joliet, IL

Profession: Knitting Designer

Craft(s) of Choice: Knitting, spinning, weaving, paper craft, braiding, book binding, embroidery, and much more!

Blog: http://www.boogaj.com

I remember the first time I picked up the knitting needles. My mom was a knitter and her mother before her, so when I was old enough, she got me a skein of yarn and pulled out some of her mom’s knitting needles and I started on a garter stitch scarf. There were many mistakes and wobbly parts, but I loved it anyway. It was years before I knit anything else, but I still remember that first scarf with affection.

Leslie Petrovski

Name: Leslie Petrovski

Age: 48

Location: Denver, Colorado

Profession: Freelance writer

Crafts of choice: Knitting, crochet, beading, spinning and soapmaking

Five years ago, I decided I wanted to combine my profession—writing—with my hobby—knitting. At the time I felt stuck in my writing life, while my knitting flourished. Why not combine the two?

It took a bit of persistence, but I finally placed a short article with Vogue Knitting. I was elated. Soon I was writing for them regularly, which gave me an excuse to think about knitting even more. I launched a knitting blog, designed a few sweaters and began writing personal essays.

More importantly, I began to love words again. Daily blogging kept my writing loose and I felt inspired by the words and knits of other bloggers. Knitting’s meditative qualities created space for new ideas and phrases to emerge. I went from feeling trapped to feeling liberated.

How come? Because now my office is filled with yarn and knitting books along with to-do lists and file folders. Most days I get to indulge the spirit that compels us to turn words into prose and yarn into sweaters. Though sometimes it’s a struggle to stay focused—it’s so easy to dabble and get distracted—I’ve realized that to stay vibrant, I can’t deny the curiosity that pushes me to ask, “What would happen if…?”

Knitting helped remind me of that.