Laura Militzer Bryant
St Petersburg, FL USA
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Books |
Knitting with Novelty Yarns, A Knitter's Template, The Ultimate Knitted Tee (all with Barry Klein); The Yarn Stash Workbook all for Martingale
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| Specialty |
Color
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| Contact Information: |
No mailing address is available...
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| Favorite Knitting Book |
Barbara Walker's Treasury series
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| Favorite knitting reference |
Principles of Knitting, Hiatt
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| Favorite Cast-On |
Cable or knit-on
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| Favorite Knitting Tip |
Leave a long enough tail to sew the seams--fewer ends to bury!
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| Biography |
Born to a relentlessly creative mother, she had me & the other Brownies knitting at 8 years old (she taught us all to sing, too--off key, I might add. Can't sing to save my life). While most of them quit, it stuck with me. By age 14 I was crocheting purses & mini skirts to sell at the local boutique. Went back to knitting after all that crochet & thought Aha! why can't I knit like I crochet--thus teaching myself Eastern Continental on both knit and purl rows--and presenting all stitches backwards on the needle. Voraciously learned every type of knitting as a young person--Aran, Fair Isle, Intarsia--everything but Entrelac, which I just couldn't figure out. Once I learned to read my stitches (remembering they are all backwards) I got that, too. Went to college planning to become an attorney, got sidetracked by art, went to art school, learned to dye & weave, left art school as a starving artist.....worked in a yarn shop, learned about sales reps, talked my way into being a sales rep for Tahki, Berroco, Ironstone & a few other companies.....got into the national marketplace & had another Aha! moment when I saw hand dyed yarns. Gee, I knew how to do that....and with years of color theory behind me, it was a natural fit. Started Prism in 1984 with a custom dyed line for Tahki; went out on my own in 1986. The rest is history!
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| What is your knitting mantra? |
One more row.
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| What inspires you? |
Everything--nature, runway couture, ready to wear, travel photos, cooking magazines, science magazines--I'm a sponge.
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| What is your idea of knitting heaven? |
A balmy day, on my boat in the shade with gentle breezes.
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| How many UFO's (Unfinished Objects)do you have going at once? |
I knit 3 or 4 projects at a time and do all of the finishing for Prism, so the studio is filled with up to 10 UFOs at all times
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| My yarn stash equals the GNP (Gross National Product) of ... |
probably Miami
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| Whom would you like to see accept an Academy Award wearing your creation? |
Helen Mirren--classy & elegant & feisty
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| What knitting commandment do you most like to break? |
Mostly all of them--my second favorite saying is "I am not the knitting police"--I don't care how you do it as long as it looks right when finished.
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| What frequently-asked knitting question do you hate to answer? |
What's the best cast-on.
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| What is your most dog-eared knitting reference? |
A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker (pages falling out).
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| When and how did you learn to knit? |
Mom at Brownies at age 8.
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| What is the most unusual place you've ever knitted? |
On a sailboat racing from St. Petersburg to Cancun, Mexico.
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| How long can you last without knitting? |
I get itchy after a day
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| If you were stranded on a deserted island, what one yarn, book, or gizmo would you want along? |
The Dune Series by Frank Herbert
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| How many hours have you knitted non-stop - and why? |
5 or 6--deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.
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| What do you want your knitting epitaph to say? |
She knit it her way.
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| Who would you like to greet you in knitting heaven? |
Kaffe Fassett
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