I spend my days finding ways to follow my creative side. I love designing for knitting and crochet because the colors, fibers, textures, and shapes allow for seemingly limitless design possibilities. At home you might also find me quilting, drawing and painting, sitting behind the pottery wheel, or maybe out in the garden. I’m always up to some new crafty project.
I studied theatrical design and fine arts in school, working as a seamstress on touring Broadway shows when they came through town, as well as building sets and sewing costumes for shows at school. I’m thankful that I had a mother who encouraged my creative side and let me follow my passions in and out of school.
I learned to knit as a kid, but it was in college that the knitting bug really bit. I soon was spending all my free time with yarn in my hands and opened up a local yarn shop, Rae’s Yarn Boutique, in April of 2004. Soon after I started designing patterns and dying my own line of yarns under the name Extravayarnza. Running a yarn store for over 8 years was a wonderful time of my life, getting to be part of a talented community of knitters and crocheters in mid-Michigan.
Life took a big spin at the end of 2012. I packed up shop and relocated to Charlotte, NC. I was able to enjoy designing full time for over 7 years, mainly working with Willow and Premier Yarns as their design coordinator, while being a short hop away from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. Looking forward to summer days spent hiking, hanging in my hammock, or floating down a river, always with a ball of yarn close at hand.
I now operate GammaRaeCrafts and GammaRaeGeek here on Etsy.
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