I started asking my mother to teach me to knit when I was eight years old, but no one in our family knew how to knit. After several years of asking, in desperation, Mom told me to go ask Dad to teach me to crochet.

I finally learned to knit at a slumber party when I was sixteen years old. When I found out how seemingly simple it was, I was hooked.

My first sweater fit flawlessly. The second sweater, intended for me, fit my father who was not enthusiastic about wearing pink. However, when oversized sweaters became the rage, I was in business!

Knitting had become a major part of my life.

When I was twelve, a distant relative showed my parents a knitting machine he had just acquired. I was nearly fifty when I purchased my first knitting machine, a computerized Brother. As I developed expertise in this machine, I eventually became Chair of the Machine Knitting Committee for The Knitting Guild of America.

By now, my children were entering college and a paying job became necessary. I had been teaching hand knitting at a local shop, so I joined the working staff there and worked my way into becoming the full time manager.

I was surrounded by women who had been knitting for twenty to forty years. All excellent knitters who were able to fix some basic mistakes yet were completely confused by others. This was because they did not really understand the knitted fabric. Another machine knitter and myself became the go to persons for these repairs.

Eventually the owner wanted a website. It was at that point that I began to develop my webmaster skills and put the shop on line. The shop owner recently retired and closed that shop and the website.

KnitAid is a compilation of my life long association with both knitting and computers. KnitAid is a site that can teach you to knit but hopefully will aid you in understanding the fabric you are creating. This understanding will help you fix more mistakes and aid you in being a better knitter.

Picture taken by friend in 2005. Hat pattern from A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swanson; Picture Hat pattern designed by Katherine Misegades; discontinued Rowan yarn called Linen Drape.