Nice to meet you

I'm Julie Matthews and I am a compulsive knitter. :-)

I picked up my first set of knitting needles when I was four years old. My aunt, Christa, who is from Switzerland and had recently married into my family, was an avid knitter. I snuggled right up to her and she taught me the basics. I loved it then - and love it still.

Dedicated to the proposition that all women deserve to make sweaters that fit

I made the first sweater for myself in 2004. Unable to find a pattern to fit me, I used the Elizabeth Zimmerman magic formula to make myself a fair isle sweater. Thank God I didn't know what I was doing because I never would have made it otherwise! Who makes a complicated fair isle pullover for her first sweater? ME.

The biggest problem with my pink fair isle is that it is HOT. Made with aran weight wool and mohair yarn, it is secretly responsible for global warming. Living in DC, I can wear it once or twice a year when it's zero degrees outside. It's also way too big now, but I still like it.

In the past couple of years, I've made a series of sweaters, one better fitting than the next. My sole focus in life is making a sweater to fit my particular lumpiness. I'm not built like most people who can wear a straight-sided sweater just fine. My body needs twists, turns, and trapezoids! But I'm getting closer.

My life in a nutshell

I am a self-employed graphic designer in an angst-inducing economy; madly in love with a good man who (miracles of miracles) is madly in love with me; enjoying life in the burbs of Washington, DC; surviving a dreadful childhood; spoiling tremendously spoiled pets; blogging, blogging, blogging; endlessly contemplating the meaning of life; and knitting, of course!

Here are the two loves of my life: Moose and Tom. In that order. :-)