A little about me...

Welcome to my home on the net! I’m Kay and I’m glad you found me. It took me awhile to get here – I seem to get sidetracked by life.
Let me introduce myself. I’m a wife, mom, grandmother to precious little Jack, relentless knitter, yarn shop owner, and knitwear designer.
A little bit about the knitting/designing me (the condensed version)…
My lifelong passion for knitting led me to open first yarn shop in the fall of 1981 in Northway, Alaska. Through the years, in my travels around the great state of Alaska, my little shop with its humble beginning in a small Indian village has grown into a bustling business in Anchorage. The shop names have changed over the years, as did mine, but that’s another story – I’ll save that for another day.

I discovered in my experience as a shop owner and knitting instructor how important it is to have well written basic patterns to give the new and growing knitter confidence and success. In my early years in business I found that there were few really good patterns available. There was no Ravelry, so designing was a natural next step for me. Having shelves of beautiful yarn to play with only fed my desire to design. One aspect I truly enjoy when designing is discovering unusual techniques and incorporating them in my designs. My goal then becomes writing a clear and easily understood pattern. It’s certainly been an advantage to have a shop full of knitters at FNYC (Far North Yarn Co.) testing my designs.

All of my 4 children have been part of the business in one way or another, almost since birth they like to say, but particularly during their high school and college years. Lucky for me a few years ago my oldest daughter, Annie, became a full time partner in the shop allowing me to devote more attention to my designing, and making it possible to spend more time in our home in Madrid. How fortunate I am to literally have the best of two worlds.

I’ll use this blog to share my experiences with knitting, designing, favorite techniques, travel trivia, and most likely some family stuff. I’ll introduce you to several characters in my yarn shop world who provide inspiration, joy, and comedic relief to my life. Wait ’till you meet them!

-Kay

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