About Me
I Love to KNIT . com
About Me
My Work History
I’m Cindy Fite, a retired high school science teacher in Lakewood, CO. I spent 29 years at Green Mountain High School and 4 years before that at Carmody Junior High (now it’s a middle school but it wasn’t then.)
When I retired, I went to work at A Knitted Peace in old downtown Littleton. I work in the store a couple of days a week and teach
classes.
My Personal Life
I have a husband, Jerry. A 28 year old son who lives in Oakland, CA. Two dogs, Daisy and Miss Muffet. A house with a 1/2 acre yard both of which (house and yard)
are much neglected.
My Decades of Knitting
and important influences
or something akin to an Academy Award
Acceptance Speech
Decade of the ‘60s and ‘70s. I learned to knit in the late 1950’s. My mother, a non-knitter, had the wisdom to find a woman to help me after I taught myself how to knit from a book. By the end of the 60’s, I felt that I coul
d knit any pattern.
A long distance college boyfriend allowed me to spend a lot of time knitting. Today, I would say I was a talented, capable “blind follower.” I could follow the directions to the letter and knit anything!
Decade of the ‘80’s. It had become difficult to find wool yarn. Everything seemed to be acrylic. In my search for wool yarn, I found Skyloom Fibers and met Sidna mourn. Sidna opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking about my knitting. I was lucky enough to take several classes with Sidna. I still mourn her death. Too soon, too soon.
It was Sidna who introduced me to Elizabeth Zimmermann. Her books were, and still are, powerful influences in my knitting life. I especially love Knitter’s Almanac. It has “Pithy Directions” and “Patterns for the Blind Follower” for every project. Elizabeth makes so much sense. I wanted to be like Elizabeth and Sidna.
Decade of the ‘90s. With lots of soccer practices and then a teenage driver, there was lots of 
“waiting” time. I was able to do a lot of knitting. I took a workshop with Valentina Devine and was introduced to the concept of Freeform Knitting. I found the Estes Park Wool Festival.
Into the 21st Century. I retired from teaching in 2002 and found more time to knit and more inspiration at A Knitted Peace where I now work part time. The store opened by Peggy Anderson and now owned by the amazing Marsha Asheim and Jane Dickinson has the best help and the best classes around. (I admit bias.)
The women who work there are 
each an inspiration. I have learned so much.
Karen Gress - the brain of an engineer, the soul of an artist makes Karen an outstanding designer.
Cristi Engbloom - sees a sweater in a magazine and has it knitted in two weeks.
Molly (Tsunami Tattoo) Christopher - a connection with my youth and a fabulous knitter. She loves little, intricate critters.
Choppie Pikas - makes me smile and does amazing finish work. Wish she’d block all my lace.
Joanne Conklin - the “help night” queen, blogger, and colorwork champion.
There are so many knitters who have taught me, changed me. There are wonderful teachers who are brought into Colorado by LYSs like A Knitted Peace and individuals like Judy Pearce. There are the wonders of traveling to a knitting camp, conference, or fiberfest where the nation and world’s best knitters come together. While many have affected me, these three rise to the top.
Lucy Neatby - thinks about every stitch and the stresses on it. She loves technical knitting and, need I say, Lucy loves color!
Her website is
She sells wonderful knitting technique CDs as well as patterns. Also, Lucy blogs at
Or contact her at medrith@jps.net> or
The Woolroom, 390 Jackson Street
Post Office Box 353, Quincy, CA 95971.
Here’s Beth Brown-Reinsel modeling one of her fabulous creations. I’ve been lucky enough to take several classes with Beth over several years. She studies the classics and inspires me to knit them. Find her website http://www.knittingtraditions.com/
There are many other teachers who have influenced me. In addition, there are my knitting friends - the girls at A Knitted Peace and Kara, Kay, Carolyn, Jane, Laura, Mary, Eugenia, Susan, and my lovely, lovely students. And, in the tradition of the Academy Award, there are certainly more that have floated from my mind for the moment but are always in my heart.
Sidna on the left;
Elizabeth on the right.
Nordic Dress
McCall’s Needlework
Fall-Winter 1967-68
Using Charts - KsymW Font
Often I find that I want to copy the charts in a knitting pattern. Copy as in “use my own hands”, not a copy machine. It makes me look at the charts critically with my mind on the charts, not on needles and yarn.
The font I use is KsymW and is available
as a free download from Knitting Universe.
http://www.knittinguniverse.com/flash/DownloadsList.php?CategoryID=32
Scroll down to “knitting fonts”.
Many thanks to Alex X and all those at Knitting Universe and Knitter’s Magazine for making this font available at no charge.
