I have a thing for handmade textiles. Do you?
I'm Katherine, and Cross and Loop is my shop.
I have been involved with textiles my entire life, being taught to sew, knit, and crochet when I was a child by my mother. I am an information junkie, and I manifest that by collecting textile techniques into my muscle memory the way other people might be driven to collect teapots or memorize sports trivia. My family has learned to live with the shrapnel of textile samples that surrounds me. I just make sure to corral it all by the end of the day.
There are a lot of great and skilled seamstresses out there. I can sew, but what really, really fascinates me is the creation of the fabric, from raw fiber to usable piece.
I love portable techniques. Okay, okay, I have and use a spinning wheel and sewing machines, but what really cranks my gears is being able to carry around a piece of growing textile. Maybe because I'm always dashing in and out caring for children, animals, and gardens. And maybe because I share my workspace with my family, often clearing an inkle loom from the table to get it set for supper.
So I am immersed in off-loom and small-loom weaving. I'm always pushing further to learn about other small-scale techniques, often archaic ones, but not always. The better-known knitting is as fabulous as the lesser-known peg loom weaving.
My shop is currently focused on inkle weavings and shuttle tatting, but stand by. You never know what's just over the horizon.
