Rachel Z

Beg.

Born in England and raised in Montreal, Rachel vacationed in Vancouver as a teenager and fell in love with the city.  Vowing to return, she moved here as a young adult, and after a brief stint back in Montreal to attend school, she’s now a North Vancouverite.

Casting on:

Mostly self taught, Rachel attributes an English vacation to visit her grandparents as the catalyst to her love for knitting.  With undivided attention from her Grandmother, who showed her the basics, and armed with Dell’s “100 Knitting Stitches”, Rachel taught herself to knit over that summer.  The hobby taken up as a young teen has blossomed into a passion for all things made with knitting needles!

PSSO:

A busy home life with hubby and two children plus a full time job with the District of North Vancouver keeps Rachel’s life pretty full.  She is an avid reader (she’s making her way through the Canada Reads list) and enjoys travels with her family.  They’ve gone to Europe together and mentions a trip to the Maritime provinces as especially memorable.

Knit Knowledge and Know How:

“I love the Interweave family of magazines”, she says.  An avid Raveler she is more of a “looker” than a “poster”.  After taking a WCKG workshop with noted knitting guru Donna Druchunas , she fell in love with sock knitting and the basic principles of their construction.  She sees them as various interchangeable parts.  Rachel is definitely not a member of the “only one sock finished” club!

Cables & Lace:

A beautifully fitted green cotton vest is her one of her most satisfying (and envied) projects.  The pattern from Knitter’s magazine, Fall of 2008, is called Candy Apple.  It fits perfectly and one of her coworkers has suggested that if she ever wants to rid herself of it, just toss it her way!

Steeks, Tinks & Frogs:

After having purchased the yarn in England (in shades of blue) and settling on a pattern, Rachel eagerly started a cardigan over two years ago.  Realizing that it was full of too many cables and ribs to her liking, the sweater is awaiting the rip it, rip it of Senor Frog!

Dye Lots:

Rachel loves blues & blue red combinations in yarn.  Merino is her most frequent choice and sock weight yarn seems to be what’s on the needles these days.  Patterns with short rows are  what she most often looks for when selecting her next project.

Fibre Fantasy:

The Peasy  cardigan, found on Ravelry, has caught her eye.  She says she can visualize it the Donegal merino in greens & blues she’s bought for the very purpose of making “Peasy”. She loves the style of the top down design, which appeals to her sense of organic style knitting.  Organic, to Rachel, is being able to “change on the fly”, something that top down patterns are particularly suited for.

Guild Gauge:

Rachel joined the WCKG in 2007.  She especially loves the fact that she and her mom, Mariela  (who is WCKG past president) have further nurtured their mother-daughter bond with the mutual joy they find in knitting.  Rachel is the Guild’s membership co-ordinator, and you can often find her at meetings greeting new members.

Purls of Wisdom:

Rachel says she can knit anything with the magic loop method and is a self professed convert and addict.  She admits that once she discovered the magic of magic loop, she’s never looked back!  Maybe we should all give it a try!