Hi, I’m Karen Anderson.

I learned to knit during a family reunion in 2005. The reunion was held at a beautiful historic property in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. It had a huge multi-purpose room with tall windows letting in so much natural light. I remember it as a magical playground of all things crafty. It had everything from clay pot throwing to loom weaving, and instructors to teach you. I chose knitting. I was given two needles, that were as big as broomsticks, and some bulky yarn. The instructors taught me how to cast on and how to make a knit stitch. It was awkward, and I was bad at it, but I loved it.

In the following years I kept at it. This was before the widespread use of YouTube, and I had to figure things out for myself, with mixed results. Fun Fact: the first video uploaded to YouTube was on April 23, 2025. I mostly knit very long scarves in garter stitch (only knit stitches). Sometimes, actually most times, I would knit for a couple of hours after work and then rip it all out. I’d just start over again the next day. I was definitely a process knitter. There weren’t many resources in my area, such as local yarn shops, where I could take lessons or get together with other knitters, so that’s where my knitting stayed for a long time. And that was fine with me. I found the whole process so relaxing and comforting.

I finally stumbled across a little book/kit in a Barnes & Noble bookstore. It was called the Knit Knack Kit by Kris Percival. It contained a pamphlet with beginner instructions, a set of 25 pattern cards, a 16” circular needle, a stitch marker and a yarn needle. I started working through the projects in the kit and began to make actual usable items, like a coin purse and a little knitted mouse. I found other books and worked through those projects too. I was really starting to gain confidence, but I really didn’t feel like I could take on, what seemed to me like, more advanced projects.

In 2018 I was diagnosed with colon cancer. While I was in the hospital to have surgery to remove the cancer I caught a deadly infection. It was two weeks before I was stable enough to leave the hospital. When I got home I was too ill to do much more than lay on the couch. It was many months before I felt well enough to resume regular activities. To add to this fun, I had been let go from my job two days after I learned that I had cancer. It’s hard to describe how difficult this time in my life was. I hadn’t been knitting too much due to the demands of my job, but now I had plenty of time and nowhere to go. I picked up my needles, splurged on some beautiful yarn, and started knitting. I chose a very large wrap that was a simple combination of knits and purls knit on the bias. The yarn worked up into a beautiful ombre effect. The slight click of the needles, the feel of the yarn moving through my hands, the satisfaction of making something beautiful, and the rhythmic motion of knitting, all helped to calm and heal me.

Later that year I moved to a little town on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just arrived in a fiber arts mecca. Stepping into my local yarn shop was like walking back into that magical craft room in North Carolina. There was yarn like I’d never seen before, classes for every skill level and interest and, most importantly, a community of knitters with whom I could share my love of the craft.

I began taking classes, attending workshops and retreats, and knitting like mad. I was still trying to find my way as a, now, retired person. Knitting gave me a new purpose and opened up a creative side that I didn’t really know I had.

As my skills grew I found that I wanted to share my passion for knitting with others. I began teaching at my local yarn shop in January of 2023 where I specialized in helping beginners pick up the sticks and string for the first time. In January of 2024 I became a certified knitting instructor through the Craft Yarn Council.

I’m now on a mission to get everyone knitting. Through this craft I have met, and made friends with, people from all different walks of life. We find common ground through our shared love of fiber arts, which, I believe, makes the world a kinder and gentler place.

Well, that’s my knitting journey. What’s yours?