Member Biography: Joy Davis

"My name is Joy Davis and I'm the Membership Chairman of Windy City Knitting Guild. I was inspired to learn to knit by my 4th grade teacher, a very hip nun, who knitted when she had yard duty during recess and lunch hour. We pestered her to teach us to knit because we wanted to be cool like her. She did teach us, and we knitted the whole year. My enthusiasm for knitting continued all through grammar school. In 7th grade, I started hanging out at the yarn store down the street. The women who worked there were my role models, showing me how to puzzle my way through a pattern. Recalling their kindness and patience brings a smile to my face forty years later. I only hope I can pass that on to other knitters."

"My 4th grade teacher and the yarn shop women were laying the foundation on which I've developed a lifestyle. Knitting has taught me the principles from which I work, whether I'm doing knitting or something else, like being a nurse or a paramedic. My teachers showed me how to get the big picture, how to plan ahead, and then break it down into smaller parts that would be done in a stepwise fashion, and how to make things fit (at least they tried to teach me that. I didn't really learn this until pretty recently). When I have to deal with something complicated, I say to myself, "Well, it's really like knitting a sweater. It has all these different parts to it that you have to figure out, that's all."

"Later I wanted to learn to spin. The Whole Earth Catalog showed spinning wheels. I asked around and found out that if I volunteered to work as a docent in the Pioneer Gallery at the Chicago Historical Society for 4 hours a week, the staff there would teach me how to spin. That was wonderful. I bought my Ashford Traditional wheel in 1971 and still use it. I spin because it feels good. Most of my handspun is still sitting here in skeins, waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. One of these days, I'm going to do a Sally Melville sweater using my handspun. My current spinning project is the Myrna Stahman Seaman's Christmas Tree Scarf, done in 2-ply, Wilbur (dog) & silk, for the wife of my friend, Paul. He built me a Charkha, and the Wilbur Scarf is his "thank you".

"I started taking knitting classes locally in the mid-90's. I joined WCKG in 1996 and was excited to find other knitters with whom I could share my passion. My first knitting conference was Milwaukee in 1998. It changed my life! Now I go to as many knitting workshops and conferences as I can. You learn so much, and they are a lot of fun. I passed Level I of The Knitting Guild of America's Master Hand Knitting Program in 1999, and Level II in 2000. Level III is proving to be yet another learning experience. I have been a proofreader for INKnitters and Machine Knitter's Source since 2001. This has been very gratifying - I continue to learn with each issue. There is so much to learn about knitting, it's really wonderful in that regard - sort of like photography - you can "point-and-shoot" or be like Ansel Adams. You can knit a garter stitch scarf or get REAL complicated -- your choice!"

"Being with other knitters and spinners invigorates me. Seeing what other people are knitting gives me inspiration. Sometimes I think, "How'd she do that?" - those are the ones that really grab me. We are a community, Sure, you can sit and knit alone, and I often do. But we are stronger because we relate to one another, help each other, support each other, in our creativity and puzzling through our projects."
 

Page updated: 03/14/2007