Meet Lori ~ Growing Her Skills One Stitch at a Time
Learning how to knit had been a dream of Lori's and retirement finally gave her the space and time to try it out.
She first found Knit Collage in April of 2023 and she decided to jump into the spring knitalong. She tackled her very first knitted garment, the Everyday Yay Cardi.
Though her first cardi had some imperfections, the fact that she had finished it and made it herself lit a fire in her! She went on to join our Creative Knitters membership and take on Knitalongs and Challenges with verve.
"I've dived headfirst into everything fiber related. I never expected to like knitting as much as I do, but I absolutely love it. I credit Creative Knitters more than anything else in helping my skills progress in a way that I couldn't have imagined."
Lori says that the Creative Knitters community is unlike any other when it comes to creative inspiration and cheerleading. "The people within the creative knitters group are so wildly creative that it blows my mind," she says, and they continuously inspire her to try new techniques and to get outside her comfort zone.
Lori finds particular satisfaction in the shortened format of a 10-14 day Knitting Challenge.
She says that she loves that push to get the project done in the time allotted and the combination of having a deadline, the tools to meet that deadline, and a community to do it with is a recipe for success.
"I love the push. I love the sense of community. I cannot believe how much support you offer to each and every person regardless of where they are on their knitting journey."
She credits the supportive community atmosphere with helping her skills progress. "I feel like with your videos and with your help in community, I can learn anything," she said after learning crochet during the Frolic Flower Shawl Challenge.
There's now no skill that she feels like she can't tackle with a little help from her knitting friends.
When Lori learned intarsia in the fall 2025 knitalong, it was a moment of pure joy and reflection on just how far she'd come in a few short years. "Your knitalongs are truly my happy place," she said. "I use them as a measure for my growth as a knitter."
"If somebody would have told me [when I first started knitting] to fast forward a couple of years and that I would be doing intarsia, first of all I would not know what that was. I would have thought it was a place to visit. Like, I'm going on vacation to Intarsia," she quipped. "I can't believe I did that, I learned that!"
"Now I can't imagine NOT knitting. It's become a really special part of my life."
