All About Yarn

Pilar's Biography 

I first learned to knit and crochet when I was about 5 years old from my grandmother and my mother. During those times almost all girls learned to knit, crochet and embroider.  The process was similar to everyone else who learns, one stitch at the time.  I learned by watching and then imitating.  They showed me how to take pride in any thing that I accomplish and how to valued things made by hand.  I always felt that these were special moments that I spent with my mother and grandmother, especially now that they are no longer with me.  Also, I appreciated their patience and encouragements.  They encouraged me to come up with new ways to solve a problem and to be creative in making my own patterns.  I decided I wanted to be an artist at the age of 12.  I took every type of art class I could: design, ceramic, drawing, painting, and interior design.  

As life has it I migrated here to the U.S. from Argentina with my husband.  I had to concentrate in learning English, working and raising a family.  Now that my children have grown I am dedicating my time to do the things I enjoy the most.  I want to give others what my grandmother and mother gave me, which was a fun, social and satisfactory feeling when crocheting or knitting.  I teach one stitch at the time without making it feel so technical, and with lots of encouragements for my students.  I enjoy spending time teaching and I also learn from them.  Through my teaching I have met people from all parts of the world, we are so different and then so much alike.  The common factor - we all love to knit and crochet!
~Pilar

Veronika's Biography

Ever since I was a little girl I loved beautiful yarns and exotic fiber. Born and raised in Bavaria - Germany, I learned knitting and crocheting as a young child. I’ve always seen my grandmother knitting on something. My father once announced that he, too, can knit, and to prove it, he made a pair of socks with the help of Oma (German word for grandmother). I was very surprised that a man could knit, and I admired my father for his talent. From that moment on, I wanted to learn to knit too. I’m certain that this event and seeing my grandmother knitting a lot was the driving force behind my starting to pick up knitting at a very early age. A little later, while in elementary school, I had one two-hour period a week of “Handarbeit”. During this time, my home economics teachers nurtured my eagerness to learn helped me master the basics and go beyond. Over time, I became quite proficient, and like most all young girls, I made my own “fashion” items from scarves to bags to mittens and gloves.

There came a period in my young life when I wasn’t so sure I enjoyed knitting and crocheting anymore. During my “finding and exploring myself period”, I had a teacher who I was certain hated me because every time she found a little imperfection on my project, she asked me to rip it out and correct the problem. I remember one incident when she wanted me to undo almost half my project because of a mistake in the lower part of the ribbing. I was upset and told her that she couldn’t expect me to do that since the problem is “all the way down” in the ribbing, and no one would notice it anyway. She didn’t budge and ordered me to stop arguing, sit down, and correct the ribbing. I told her I was not going to do it.  She then took my project away from me, pulled out the needles and “frogged” it herself. I was standing there with tears in my eyes and couldn’t believe what I just witnessed. It was devastating for me to see her doing this, and from that moment on, I decided I would dislike this instructor “forever” and “ever”.

After high school and some detours, I studied home economics, and knitting & crocheting is part of the learning requirement. After college and student teaching, I landed my first teaching job. As we all know, home economics curriculum is dying a slow death in public schools across the country mainly because of budgetary reasons and declining enrollment in the field. Because of that, a few years ago I decided to become proficient in another field and chosen to refine my second best talent. In 2005, I received my master’s degree in educational technologies. Moreover, although my teaching assignment split between home economics and technology, I truly devote more time to knitting/crocheting.

Veronika