Here's Liz!

Hi there! My name is Liz and I am the youngest and tallest member of Locust Street Crafts. I currently live in Grand Blanc, Michigan, but spent over 5 years living in Mt. Pleasant and it has a sweet spot in my heart – especially Locust House.

This picture of me displays the true magnificence of the counter space in Locust House. Never before and since have I lived in a place with such abundant counter space – this is only maybe 1/3 of it, and it's clearly enough to sleep on. A lot of mornings in the Locust House found Samantha, Erica, and I huddled around the coffee pot, staring it down, mugs in hand. A watched pot may never boil, but a watched coffee pot gets you the first cup.

Since leaving Mt. Pleasant in 2007, I've completed a Masters Degree in Library and Information Science. Yes, you read that correctly, I'm a Scientist! But more realistically, I'm a Librarian. I have a great job working in a public library with awesome kids.

On the craft side of things, I'm the daughter of a yarn wizard – my mother, Pam. Rarely in the history of my life do I think there were ever fewer than 25 skenes of the stuff in our house. She is always working on something and never met a crochet pattern that she couldn't tackle. Pam also knits occasionally. At a young age, she taught my older sister, Amy, how to crochet something very basic – you know the story, where the beginner starts out doing well but then either adds too many stitches or not enough to the end of something and ends up with a triangle. Well, Amy ended up with a triangle alright, but my mom had the wherewithal to fold it up just right, darn the edges, add a button, and WHAM! That thing was suddenly a darling clutch purse. Pam is just that kind of resourceful lady.

So then, it was my turn to learn. My mom has 5 children total and I am the fourth. In hindsight, I don't know where she found the time to teach me to crochet, but she did. When I was in 4^th grade, she helped me learn to crochet an entire afghan for one of my best friends. I was 9. To date, it's the only afghan that I have ever made, mostly because I didn't crochet much after that. I became really interested in drawing, and once I reached high school, I dabbled in a variety of other arts, though still picked up a crochet hook once in a while. College came and the muscle memory of crochet came back to me, as I created very basic single-chain hats and scarves for my friends.

To this day, I still really only crochet with a single-chain and don't make anything very fancy, though I am working on another afghan. I own only one crochet hook. I don't do any sort of counting or writing numbers down while I crochet, it's just all a very simple process for me and I'm fine with that. I get creative with colors and blending instead. I did knit a scarf once, with the help of my mom, but prefer crocheting. Someday, I hope to learn new chains and stitches to add some variety to what I make, but I'm in no rush. Fortunately for me, I am always interested in trying new and different types of crafts in addition to any yarn work I do. I've made a variety of crafts, some seen here:

Hanging wall vases

Stuffed bird toys

Washer necklaces

There are a lot more items I've made, and most recently I tried my hand at hair clips. If I had my way though, my craft of choice would be pottery:

I made the pieces pictured above when I had some studio time gifted to me by my fiance last year. Clay is so much fun for me, and I'd love to have my own wheel and kiln someday.

I live with my fiance, Eric, and my cat, Lola, who turned 10 years old this March, that old girl! I enjoy going thrift shopping, listening to audio books in my car on my hellish commute, making and eating chocolate no-bake cookies, and traveling. I'm a vegetarian, adore everything George Harrison, enjoy a good rock show, and really like tattoos. Lately when I craft, I watch a lot of Law & Order: SVU.

Here are some gratuitous pictures of my cat, and thanks for reading.