Where did your love of knitting or other fibre art begin? Have you been knitting since childhood or just recently took it up? I bet your answer to that question will involve twists and turns and unique stories about what led you to pick up that first pair of needles or hook and start creating.
As this is my first Blog post, and by way of introduction, I can tell you that my love for textiles was born literally at my Mother's feet. Elizabeth (Lil) Parle was a dressmaker married to my father, Pat who was a farmer in rural Co. Wexford, Ireland. So I got to play with the "pet" lambs outside and play with the off cuts of her textiles indoors - seems like I was pre-destined to love yarn and textiles doesn't it?
I knitted, and sewed a little bit, off and on over the years but it wasn't until a family tragedy in 2014 that I seriously took up knitting and challenged myself over and over again to create comfortable, warm and cosy knits with which I could cocoon my grieving family, including myself.
Through that process I came to understand the therapeutic value of being a maker and the joy that something specially hand-made can bring to both recipient and the giver.
As I knitted more and more and learned more and more I met so many people in person and online who helped me and gave me encouragement. I was so flattered last year when our beautiful daughter-in-law Amica asked me to make her an "heirloom bridal shawl" for her wedding to our son Konrad in her hometown in Australia. No pressure! However 300 hours in the making and voila! All that practice really did pay off!
Now as I head towards semi-retirement in the beautiful Swiss Jura, it's time to do what I love more and more!
Spend time with this beautiful human who also happens to be my husband and expand my love of knitting in whatever direction it takes me including the first ever Swiss Jura Knitting Retreat at the Chaux d'Abel hotel in September!
I hope that you will join me on this journey - through this Blog or maybe I'll meet you at a local event or see you at one of the Swiss Jura Knitting retreats one day - who knows around which corner we may meet?