We here at Eat.Sleep.Knit. have a great time helping customers find the perfect yarn, but what else are we up to? If you’ve ever wondered who’s on the other end of the phone, email or shipping invoice, now’s your chance to find out!  For the next few weeks we’ll be introducing the amazing staff of your favorite yarn shop – starting today with the woman who started it all: Erin!

What type(s) of crafting do you do?
What type of crafting haven’t I tried, ha! As a kid, I was into pretty much anything involving a glue gun – I’ve made quite a few hair bows in my day. Then my mom taught me how to crochet, and I dabbled in that for a few years but fell mostly off the crafty bandwagon in college. Then, I met my now-husband, who really brought out the crafter in me – I took up cross-stitch, painting flower pots, latch hook rugs, sewing those little felt Christmas ornaments, and I was even pretty into stained glass for a while. Once I learned to knit, though, which was about 10 years ago, I’ve pretty much abandoned everything else.

What got you into knitting?
I taught myself to knit in December of 2004 mostly using internet videos from Knitting Help. I wanted to recreate my family’s heirloom Christmas stockings for new family members. I watched the cast on and knit stitch videos over and over and wondered how anyone would ever describe this as relaxing. In fact, I found it so frustrating that once Christmas had passed, I think I didn’t pick up a knitting needle for nearly a year. The next time, though, it all made a lot more sense, I dove in head first and haven’t looked back.

What’s your favorite color?
You can’t ask me this question; every color is wonderful. I tend towards a more autumnal palette, but rainbows are one of my favorite things.

What do like knitting most?
Sweaters galore! Sit me down with a sweater pattern and I can have a medium-sized women’s sweater done in 2-3 weeks. Hand me a sock pattern and two months later, I’m probably still whining about having to make a second one. It definitely does not help that I’m possibly the loosest knitter of all time – I knit worsted weight on US 2.5-4 depending on the required gauge.

What’s your favorite yarn that we carry?
Reeeeeeally?? You know I chose all the yarn, right? I’m borderline obsessed with all of it. Lately, I’m really into ShibuiKnits – I’m knitting Concord Jacket out of their new Pebble yarn held double, and it makes me deeply happy.

And as always happens when I’m asked about my favorite, my mind is now full of “oh and also!!” Pretty yarn is pretty. But can I also mention, another yarn I LOVE knitting with that I think gets overlooked a lot for the next “ooh shiny” is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport. I knit up a Cria in The Bean colorway and the yarn is so unbelievably nice to knit with, the color so even, the stitch definition so pleasing.

What’s the Finished Object you’re most proud of completing?
Any pair of socks, hahaha. Actually, that’s probably true. I love these Pucker socks, even though I gauge-failed big time and ended up gifting them to my mom.

English vs. Continental?
Continental! No fewer than 20 people have shown me how to purl English-style and I still can’t figure it out.

What’s your favorite knitting resource?
Hands down, the Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries. Every knitter should own them! And any other stitch dictionaries. So inspiring and fun!

What’s your favorite non-yarn hobby?
Oh god, this is so nerdy – jigsaw puzzles. I love jigsaw puzzles. I own a gajillion. I’m planning a “puzzling corner” in our new house. (Lots of natural light!)

Where is your favorite vacation destination?
My husband and I took a trip to Costa Rica last summer that was the most wonderful vacation either of us had ever been on. We spent part of the time in the mountains close to San Jose, at an elevation of over 10,000 feet, and the second half of the trip at sea level in a little villa overlooking the ocean, and we’ve been talking ever since about when our son Levi will be old enough that we could go back.