Finishing Details

A long-lost memory recently surfaced, with an eerie recognition of the way dies are cast at a very young age. During sixth grade and the first month of seventh grade, my family lived near Saugatuck, Mich. The community was then and remains largely a summer resort with families from Chicago owning or renting many of the local cottages. It was a safer and gentler time when children could take off on a bicycle and be gone all afternoon with no concerns for their safety.

As a 12-year-old, I used this freedom to gather news and comments, and then write a one-page weekly neighborhood paper. I slowly pounded out columns of the comings and goings of those who lived nearby, using carbon paper to make three or four copies. The beleaguered contributors of those stories were then asked to spend a whole nickel to purchase that which they had freely given just a few days before. The seed was sown, however, and thus began the much-interrupted saga of your editor, who re-entered the world of publishing in a most unexpected way many years later.

Knit with wild abandon and uncorked pleasure!

Barb Bettegnies
editor, Creative Knitting magazine

As a very determined 4-year-old, I convinced my mother to teach me to knit. I recall clearly my eureka moment at the age of 12, when flicking the yarn the way Mother did made sense to me, and I have been knitting ever since. The home arts of sewing, baking and cooking have always held my interest. After years of co-owning an agribusiness (grain warehouses), I began teaching knitting independently. This led to becoming the editor of Creative Knitting magazine. Perhaps my mother is the only person who was not surprised at this turn of events; she always knew I could achieve more than I had tried. I have grown sons and several grandchildren nearby and knit for them only when asked.

I continue to teach knitting in an informal manner, gathering groups of people together who become friends. The classes are less structured than the norm, with each person working at her own pace on her own project. It's unusual for two knitters to be making the same project; each learns from the successes of others, and we have a great time. I am blessed to be doing what I love!

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