Hello lovely knitters!
I’m so excited to introduce to you the newest member of our family, Mary Claire Phillips. Texan expat and resident of Washington, D.C., Mary Claire is joining the KnitFreedom team as our new Knitting Expert.
Mary Claire will be answering your knitting questions and blog comments and acting as my right-hand helper in all things knitting-question related.
To get to know her a little better, I’ve put together this short interview asking some fun questions.
You may ask her your own questions in the comments!
Interview with Mary Claire Phillips
How did you get into knitting? At what age?
My passion for knitting developed as I got older and was fueled by a love of listening to audiobooks and time spent with my mom at knitting group, yarn shops, and fiber festivals growing up in North Texas.
What are your favorite projects to knit?
I’m a big fan of knitting sweaters, especially if there’s colorwork involved. In my free time I like to doodle color charts, and have even considered drafting patterns. My favorite small project has to be socks, which I often end up gifting to loved ones.What other hobbies do you enjoy, crafting and otherwise?
When I’m not crafting (and the world is not in quarantine), I really love backpacking and visiting museums! I try to visit a yarn store in every country I go to, or at least learn something about the local textiles.
Even at home in Washington DC, my favorite weekend activity is puttering about all the wonderful (and free!) museums appreciating its art and percolating about how history is presented.
Tell us about the yarn store where you work. Is it the only one in D.C.? What do you do in your capacity there?
The knitting community in DC is absolutely wonderful, and I love getting to see everyone’s yarn choices and projects. Currently Looped Yarn Works is the only yarn shop in the District of Columbia.
I understand you have another career as a historian. What does that mean and what do you do?
When I’m not working in the world of yarn, I am a historian with a focus on LGBT History. I went to the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in History & Government with Honors. My undergraduate thesis was on the LGBT Servicewomen in WWII, which I have since shared in other forms such as a blog post with the Library of Congress Folklife Center.
Since then I’ve dabbled in public history, archives processing, and even curating an exhibit at the Goethe-Institut DC. I love reading through old documents in archives, listening to past voices, and shining light on stories that history books have long ignored.
Recently, I combined my two passions and joined the Center for Knit and Crochet as a Board Member. CKC is an online open-source archive created to preserve and promote art and scholarship of knitting and crochet. I lend a hand reaching out to different designers and scholars, and see where we can highlight people’s work and expand the archive.
In fact, anyone can add their knitting to the crowd sourced archive! All they have to do is fill out this form. It’s super simple, and helps preserve the important history of our craft!
You’ve got a great presence on Ravelry and Instagram. What are your favorite things to photograph?
Aww thank you, I appreciate it! I’m actually not much of a photographer, the credit for most of my FO pictures goes to my awesome partner. However, test knits are my favorite thing to get photographed because I love lending a hand to someone’s design dream. (For those who do not know, many designers will host a test knit before releasing an official pattern to the public.)
I really love posting on Ravelry & Instagram for the community it fosters and all the amazing knitspiration. Whereas I only knew knitters from my local groups before getting on Knitstagram, now I have knitting pals all over the world!
You’ve just recently joined us as KnitFreedom’s Knitting Expert. What are you most excited about to do at KnitFreedom? Anything you’re looking forward to learning?
I’m also excited to learn more skills to round out my knitting repetoire. KnitFreedom has such an extensive library of tutorials that I’m bound to add a few more knitting tricks up my sleeve!
Our readers are used to one-on-one help from me. How can you reassure them that you’ll be just as capable as me at answering their questions?
I’ve been knitting for over 15 years and have seen my fair share of projects and techniques. I like to joke with my students that I make all the mistakes so they don’t have to.
Working in an LYS has shown me how to teach knitting skills and adapt to people’s various learning styles.
I hope that when I answer your questions, that it’ll feel like you’ve headed to your local yarn shop without having to leave the comfort of your home.
What else would you like our readers to know about you?
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Excited to welcome Mary Claire on board? Have a question for her? Please post in the comments and let us know.
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