Beth Brown-Reinsel
Forest Hill, MD USA
|
Books |
Knitting Ganseys, and working on another on Scandinavian Knitting
|
| Specialty |
My passion is teaching knitting--but specifically, historic knitting. I love creating new workshops, researching, planning the miniature garment for the class project, writing the handout, editing, the whole works! But the best part is being with knitters--creative, involved, alive people who know the joy of learning and creating with their hands.
|
| Contact Information: |
PO Box 722 Forest Hill, MD USA
beth@knittingtraditions.com
Knitting Traditions
www.knittingtraditions.com
StitchesMarket.com No.
|
| Favorite Knitting Book |
Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitting Without Tears"
|
| Favorite knitting reference |
Mary Thomas' Book of Knitting
|
| Favorite Cast-On |
The Channel Island Cast-On
|
| Favorite Knitting Tip |
Don't rip late at night!
|
| Classes |
2 day classes:
Traditional Construction Techniques for Ganseys, Traditional Construction Techniques for FairIsles,
The Swedish North Halland Pullover,
The Swedish Ullared,
The Norwegian Setesdal Lusekofte,
The Danish Sejero Skratroye,
The Norwegian Fana Cardigan,
Seamless Arans,
Aran Cardigans From the Neck Down,
and more in the works!
5 day classes:
Mittens Around the World,
Designing Your Own Gansey
6 hours or less:
Norwegian Mittens,
Twined Knitting,
Braids (Cast on and Knitted In),
Swedish Cast-Ons and Knitting Technique,
Gansey Techniques,
Aran Pullovers From the Neck Down (with optional Bobble study),
Darn! (I've got a hole in my sock!),
Socks,
Scandinavian Sweater Construction
|
| Biography |
Well...I am the oldest of three girls and our baby brother. I moved a lot as a child. Both of my parents were teachers and I often wonder if there's a Teaching Gene, or it just rubbed off on me from them. I'm not saying I'm the greatest teacher, it's just that I love it!
I was a teenager during the end of the 60's and early 70's and all I can say is, it was a very interesting time. ;)
I met my husband in college, and endured Navy life for 2 years to be with him. (The women who put up with that are Saints!) Jorn, our first son, was born while Bob was stationed in San Diego.
It was at this time that I began spinning, quilting, exploring photography, Hard Crochet, and designing knitwear. I then moved on to dyeing and weaving, growing moldy brown cotton (doesn't grow well in Maryland) and raising silk worms (mice love to eat them)and angora rabbits. (I raised the most expensive angora around if you weigh the fiber I got against the feed I bought. Sheesh!)
I did craft shows selling my handspun, vegetal dyed yarns packaged as kits with patterns. No one was too interested, but I persevered, opening a yarn shop with two friends who were also spinners. Being a partner in "Spinners 3" taught me a lot about retail, marketing, teaching, and how tied down one is in the retail business. We hung on for three years, never made a profit, and disbanded when we saw that we had other agendas in each of our lives.
My agenda was a bummer--my baby daughter Chloe had died of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and I needed to reevaluate my life. I plunged into knitting manically, and began designing and writing and reading all I could. I started teaching more and got to the national level with my Gansey workshop. This eventually led to writing my book, Knitting Ganseys. I do not recommend writing books when your kids are 7 and 4. It was awful-- my guilt haunts me still. Now, Chelsea is 16, Jerod is 18 (living in Florida), and Jorn is 28 (living in Boston).
I owned my mail order business, Knitting Traditions, from 1995 to 2001, importing beautiful British yarns. My friend Karen Frisa helped more than I can ever say. I decided to close the mail order biz finally because I needed to get a life, to be with my kids, have a day off! I miss it sometimes, but I know it was the right thing to do.
My husband and I separated in 2001 and I am now in the running for the longest divorce proceedings ever known! At least I can laugh about it!
I love traveling, meeting new knitters, making up new classes, and having time to knit and design again. I am very blessed with my family, work I love, ties with many lovely people I would not have met if it weren't for knitting! I feel so enriched.
|
| What is your knitting mantra? |
Check your gauge! Every two inches!!!
|
| What inspires you? |
Nature, for sure! High gauge knitting. Old knitting. Yarn all by itself in its glory. Being connected to something greater than myself.
|
| Confess - when it comes to hiding your yarn, what are your secrets? |
One of the blessings of being single again is that I don't have to hide anything from anyone. What a relief!
|
| What is your idea of knitting heaven? |
Being in a lovely beach house right on the shore, with no one else around but the ocean, my yarn, and me. Well, some cheese and wine could round the scene out a little. And chocolate. Serenity! Nirvana! (Can you tell I am basically a hedonist?)
|
| How many UFO's (Unfinished Objects)do you have going at once? |
Probably around 15. I am great at starting new things, and I DO finish stuff--it just takes awhile, because I keep thinking up new projects.
|
| My yarn stash equals the GNP (Gross National Product) of ... |
Lilliput. (You know, where the Lilliputians came from --the guys that tied up Gulliver during his travels? Oh well. Sometimes I am too esoteric for even me!) What I mean is, I have very little stash. I give a lot of my leftovers away to schools, church school programs, a women's prison in Ohio, etc. I have maybe 2 or 3 medium boxes of stash. OK, maybe 8 boxes.
|
| Whom would you like to see accept an Academy Award wearing your creation? |
Oprah Winfrey. I admire her so much!
|
| What knitting commandment do you most like to break? |
Follow the pattern! I try some times to follow someone else's pattern just because I need some easy mindless knitting, but before I know it, I have the calculator and the pattern books out...
|
| What frequently-asked knitting question do you hate to answer? |
How much yarn do you think I'll need?
|
| What is your most dog-eared knitting reference? |
Barbara Walker's Treasury Trilogy
|
| When and how did you learn to knit? |
I wish I could remember the first time I saw knitting and conceptualized the fact that it was something I could learn to do. I DO remember trying to find someone who could teach me to knit when I was 7 years old--I would ask the ladies in my parents' circle of friends (my mom doesn't knit). Finally I found that my neighbor on the corner, an Iranian woman, could knit. She taught me to cast on, knit, and purl in English style. So I made a lot of straight things, until I discovered a knit shop near my way home from school. I got a Columbia Minerva book and taught myself to increase and decrease and cable. Then a relative from Switzerland visited, and taught me to knit Continental and to purl in a peculiar way, which I call the Swiss/Norwegian purl (I have since met Norwegians who purl in this manner.) After that, I was on my way...
|
| What is the most unusual place you've ever knitted? |
It's a toss-up between the cruise ship QEII, on its way to Bermuda, or in the Yukon, on my way to take a dog sled ride across a frozen lake. It doesn't get any better than either of those!
|
| How long can you last without knitting? |
In my case, the question should read, "How long can you last without reading about knitting, writing about knitting, designing knitting, teaching knitting, thinking about knitting, or knitting? About 10 minutes. I feel immersed!
|
| If you were stranded on a deserted island, what one yarn, book, or gizmo would you want along? |
I think I'd want my charkha along so I could spin fibers I find. I can make knitting needles. I'd be set!
|
| How many hours have you knitted non-stop - and why? |
Between 8 and 10, trying to meet a deadline for my book. What that does to one's hands is not worth meeting a deadline. (HA! Easy to say NOW!)
|
| What do you want your knitting epitaph to say? |
Raising Children and Doing Handwork were my Greatest Creative Endeavors.
|
| Who would you like to greet you in knitting heaven? |
Sojourner Truth. I saw a photograph of this mighty woman, who spoke out against the injustices to Afro-Americans and women, and she had some knitting in her lap. I almost cried. How powerful knitting is- to clothe, to soothe, to comfort grief, useful and beautiful, simple or complex. Kind of like life and love. But then, I'd love to meet Mary Thomas too. She was an amazing person-- brilliant!
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
