RC resident authors book of her own knitting designs

Terry Ross of Rogers City decided when she was eight years old that she wanted to learn how to knit, and even as a child, when Terry decided to do something, she made sure she got it done. She purchased a book and a pair of knitting needles and taught herself to knit, and once she learned the basic stitches, she decided she had enough and put her needles away ? that is, until 40 years later when she picked up those knitting needles once again. Her re-dedication to the craft has turned into success for Terry, and she is happy to announce the release of her knitting book Twelve Bags Fulled, which includes 12 of Terry?s own purse designs ? one for every month.

?THE STORY of my life is this: if I can do it, anybody can,? said Terry. ?About two years ago, my friend, Vicki Bedford (of Posen), began nagging me to pick up knitting again. Vicki and her daughter, Summer, had created a knitting course called ?Biblical Bits for Knit Wits.? It was a 12-week study, and each week we focused on one square, which was then made into an afghan. In the process of taking that course, I realized I did like to knit, and I started knitting other things.? Since then, Terry has been teaching herself more. She said her favorite part about learning something is learning to do it very well, so Terry began studying techniques and spending a lot of time online in knitting chat room forums.

?I found out that Crystal Palace Yarns (a wholesale supplier of yarns located in California) was looking for someone to do test knitting with patterns in order to produce models,? said Terry. ?I had photos of my own work online, so I sent them a link and said I was interested. I figured, if I like to knit, I might as well do it with free yarn.? Last April, Terry heard back from Crystal Palace Yarns, and although they were willing to take Terry on as a test knitter, they were more interested in her own designs. Crystal Palace Yarns asked Terry to create designs for their website, and since then she has created more than 20 projects for the company.

?My designs have gotten a lot of attention, and I was encouraged to do more,? said Terry. ?I had an idea to design a calendar ? a purse a month. That idea turned into Twelve Bags Fulled, where there is one bag for each month, and the designs are loosely inspired by what you might think of for that month.?

TERRY?S BOOK begins with January, where she designed a pattern for the ?Starry Nights Party Wristlet? purse, and ends with December and a design called ?Santa?s Got a Brand New Bag.? ?Each bag has an underlying shape and structure. Some of the bags are plain, and some have more embellishments,? said Terry. ?When I see a shape I think, ?I could knit that shape.? I knit a lot on the fly, and ideas have changed midstream.? It took Terry only nine weeks to design and knit 12 bags, and she credits her speed to being organized throughout the process. ?I?m a very organized person, so I wrote while I was knitting,? said Terry. ?That way, I had everything in the computer and ready to go. I was knitting every day ? I really enjoy knitting at night when it?s so quiet and peaceful ? I can?t go

to bed, I don?t want to miss that time.?

Terry had a woman she met online perform some test knitting of her designs, and her friend took photographs of each purse to use in the book. Other than that, Terry completed every step of having her book published on her own. The book went to print in the middle of December, and Crystal Palace Yarns bought half of her books from the first printing. Terry took the book to Knit Michigan 2007, which is a breast cancer fundraiser downstate. She also has the book listed on Amazon, and people can either purchase the book by logging on, or they can come right to Terry?s backdoor.

?It?s not magic, and it?s not mysterious,? said Terry. ?It?s just one stitch at a time.? Terry continues to create designs for Crystal Palace Yarns, and when she isn?t knitting, she is a full-time mom. Terry and her husband, Art, are adoptive parents to Duncan, 5, Abby, 2 _, and Emma, 2. For more information on Twelve Bags Fulled and the designs of Terry Ross, visit www.terryrossdesigns.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.