Spotlight

On this page we are pleased to introduce the art of an individual member...

Meet Susan Rosenberg

I would never presume to call myself a “fiber artist”, so I feel I’m in this section of the Guild’s website under false pretenses.  But I would admit to being a person who really, really likes to knit.     My knitting addiction began first with the yarns themselves, the more brightly colored the better, and grew from there.  I did not come from a family of knitters, nor were any of my friends or co-workers knitters, so in the absence of any knitting role models, I at first indulged my yen for yarn (and yarn stash-building) mostly with needlework projects.  Since for most of my career my job entailed a lot of business traveling, I had plenty of airport and airplane hours that needed filling, and needlework was the perfect solution--easily transportable, esthetically satisfying, but not too demanding attention-wise.  (I ended up with a sizable inventory of pillows from this period, as did my family who were happy to share the bounty)...  Read more of my story below

Some examples of Susan's Work:

Socks!

More about Susan

... After I retired, I was able to take on yarn projects that were more complicated, challenging, and creatively satisfying.  In other words, it was time to dive into Knitting with a capital “K” in a serious way.  I was lucky to be living in Seattle at the time, where I had easy access to classes and mentors – ready with the advice I needed to get me over the inevitable rough spots.  I’d done a lot of dressmaking when I was in high school and college, so the idea of creating knitted garments didn’t present any particular terrors for me, it was just that I didn’t know how to make the knitted “fabric” itself, in the dimensions and with the characteristics I wanted.   It took me several years of project-by-project practice to learn many of the “tricks” of the knitting trade… not just the stitches themselves, but also the “simple, once you know them” shortcuts, rules of thumb, etc. that one can pick up only thru experience, and mistakes.  Regarding mistakes, though, I found knitting very forgiving by contrast to sewing.  A cloth fabric once cut can’t easily be put back together if an error is made, but “ripping out” in knitting costs the mistake-maker nothing but time and a little embarrassment maybe.  In knitting, nothing is irrevocable—it’s the ultimate “not-to-worry” activity.  A major reason why I’m so fond of it.

 Like most knitters, I have gone through various cycles of enthusiasms…e.g., for a particular type or brand of hand-dyed yarn, for projects built from combinations of knitted squares, for lace-knitting, for anything made from a ‘slip-stitch’ pattern, for shawls, for moebius scarves, for the latest gauntlet pattern in Knitty’s on-line magazine etc., etc.   Of course,  as I move on to the next type of knitting that catches my fancy, my stash of yarn just continues to grow and grow.   A stash of yarn is a wonderful thing.  Just to know it’s there is a very warm and comforting feeling for a knitter… whether it exists in beautifully organized storage bins (ideally) or is simply somewhat randomly tucked away (more my style), it’s just waiting there for me to re-discover the perfect yarn for some future engrossing knitting project.   It makes that next project so cost-justified…no need to buy any new yarn for it; I can use what I have already, right ?

 But, to realize these good intentions it means I have to be careful to stay far away from those enticing yarn stores … which unfortunately I never do….

 and so…..

 Before I know it, the stash has just gotten a little bigger. 

 Ah well.  I’m not out of yarn storage space yet.

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