I am a retired nurse and I spend my time crocheting, playing with beads, paint, paper, and decoupage medium, and taking care of my seven chickens, two dogs and a cat. I’ve been married for 30+ years and have two grown children and one grandson. I love going to my church, singing in the choir and attending Bible study. We enjoy taking road trips and going to baseball games. I am very involved in crochet/knitting groups in town, and in the past, I organized a fibromyalgia social group as well as a cribbage group. I volunteer with the Girl Scouts and help out with my local yarn store, The Yarn Store at Nob Hill in Albuquerque, NM, where I teach a number of classes.
In addition to teaching classes at The Yarn Store, I host crochet-a-longs where everyone gets together to crochet the same project. It is a great opportunity for them to learn a new technique and broaden their skills without sitting through a class. I am also teaching crochet classes at Michael’s stores as well as privately to individuals. I enjoying designing my own patterns then sharing them with my students.
Even though I learned crochet as a child from my grandmother, I began crocheting in earnest several years ago to help deal with fibromyalgia pain. I found that the meditative stitching took my mind off it. If you are interested, I’ve heard wonderful reviews about “Crochet Saved My Life” by Kathryn Vercillo (and I don’t receive any compensation for mentioning it). You can read more about it here: http://www.crochetsavedmylife.com/ .
In 2018, I’m proud to say that I completed two certifications:
Master of Advanced Crochet Stitches and Techniques, from the Crochet Guild of America
Certified Crochet Instructor, from the Craft Yarn Council
Besides crochet, I really enjoy working with beads. I started out just stringing them, then I learned some bead weaving and taught myself Kumihimo, the Japanese art of braiding. My jewelry making classes are fun and well-liked — in a four hour class, a student will learn techniques then make a project to take home. They leave with enough skill to make their own jewelry later.
Of all the things I’ve created over the years, nothing can compare to these two!
Fruit of These Hands 