About MLQKnits

I was taught to knit by Mrs Constable, who was my teacher at school when I was 6. She taught us all to cast on, knit garter stitch squares, and cast off. The resulting squares and rectangles were supposed to make Barbie doll clothes, but as I didn't own a Barbie doll, it was rather a waste of time as far as I was concerned! I did the odd bit of knitting over my school years, but it took me a long time to learn to have the patience to finish many of the projects I started.

I taught myself to crochet in my teens (sadly, I didn't know anyone who knew how to do that), and I probably did much more of that for a long time, especially as I quickly realised that you could make it up as you went along, and that was useful later for giving me the confidence to have a go at adapting existing knitting patterns, as well as designing my own.

When I left school, I went to the Central School of Art & Design (now Central St Martin's) in London to study Jewellery Design & Silversmithing (against the advice of my Art teacher, who thought I should be studying textiles!), but left after 2 years, as although I enjoyed the general design process, as well as playing with wire, beads and gemstones, I didn't enjoy the silversmithing part very much.

I took up knitting again in my early 20's, and apart from a few years in the mid-90's, when my children were quite small, I've knitted ever since. I also acquired a couple of knitting machines along the way, and though I don't really have time to do much with them these days, they're there if I ever do, and there are a number of techniques that I learnt from using them that I have since been able to put to good use in hand-knitting (to name just a few - mattress stitching and grafting, short-row shaping, i-cord, use of waste yarn).

I most enjoy knitting cardigans/jackets and jumpers, but thanks to other commitments, I don't always have the time for larger projects. I've found that scarves are always well-received, especially since they've become so fashionable recently, so I make quite a lot of scarves too. They're great for presents, and for trying out ideas, and also for using up stash. They're also a good way of testing out new yarns, and from my point of view, much more fun than knitting tension squares (or indeed, clothes for Barbie dolls!) 

I've had a couple of scarf designs published in 2006 in Simply Knitting magazine, and I've re-discovered Jewellery in a very small way, as you'll see from the MLQKnits Shop. I plan to offer mainly 'Knitterly Bling' to begin with, to be followed soon by downloadable knitting patterns for some of my own knitting designs. I am also hoping to be able to undertake the occasional piece for commission.

Most recently, I've been doing some technical editing for Yarn Forward magazine, and for the new book, 'Going Straight - A New Generation of Knitted Hats', available soon from Woolly Wormhead