Who is Annie Amelia?

When I was 7 years old, my grandmother taught me to finger-crochet. I used to sit and watch her knitting needles click in and out of her favorite baby yarn (always booties!) and finally one day she must have seen the prospective glimmer in my eye so she taught me to loop the yarn around my finger, pull over a stitch, tighten. She told me if I practiced lots and lots, she'd teach me how to use a needle on her next visit. When she pulled into the drive way the following week, I rushed out to proudly display my 12 foot chain of yarn. Her jaw hit the floor and she immediately got me hooking (the good kind). When I wanted to make Barbie a sleeping bag, she explained joining seams. When I wanted to make my new nephew a rattle, she explained increases and decreases. She always promised to teach me to knit, but her health was decaying rapidly and somehow we never quite made it to the two-needle lesson before she made it to that big rocking chair in the sky.

Though I continued to crochet whatever the demands of my young life required - a hamster carrier, those squishy therapy balls, book bags, finally afghans - I remained mystified for years by the two-needle art of knitting. I don't know, maybe I was afraid it just wouldn't be the same without Grandma, but I gave up the grudge when I was pregnant with my fourth child. I picked up a Teach Yourself to Knit booklet and knitted the garter stitch organic cotton baby blanket that still requires washing a couple times a month. I still crochet on occasion (mainly embellishments for my knitting and christening dresses for my nieces) but I admit I find my comfort in knitting. I love knitting. I love yarn. I love knitting with the yarn and how the yarn looks while I'm knitting it (or not knitting it). And I owe my love of the fiber arts to Grandma, who clothed more baby feet than should be humanly possible, which is why I named my yarn shop after her.

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Cheryl Callahan is a busy, bustling mother of four busy, bustling children - two girls, two boys. She likes tart foods, long novels, and the color green. Also blue. And red. (And sometimes purple.) She is married to a really great guy.