All About Beth Hood
If you know Beth now, you may find this hard to believe: She was a novice knitter when she started working at Halcyon Yarn. Oh what changes have occurred in the three years she’s been here: She is now a knit-a-holic, a go-to knitter amongst staff and customers for info and advice, and uses her rapidly expanding knowledge to great effect in her role as a customer service provider.
“Amid such inspiration (both in store and from our customers), I have ventured into unexplored fibers and projects, and done some basic designing” says Beth modestly. Such understatement, such creativity and skill: She is the genius behind the Diamond Hood in Silky Flamme, the Fountain Hood in Halcyon Gemstone Soft Twist Silk and an alternative to the traditional Prayer Shawl, the Trinity Shawl out of Misti Cotton.
No doubt, Beth is productive. About recent projects she had this to say: “I have really enjoyed working on projects displaying some of the lesser known yarns and accessories. I had fun with an I-cord necklace out of Silk Garden and a triangular scarf out of Malabrigo Angora to show off the striking Magnetic Clasps. My favorite yarn right now is Taffy which comes in such splendid colors! I was very pleased with a yellow dress in Taffy for one of my granddaughters and I am working on a Pure and Simple Henley T Shirt in red Taffy doubled.”
Having a dad in the Army, and “Marrying into the Navy”, Beth has lived just about everywhere, no kidding. But, “My parents are both from Maine so it has always been home”. While she now lives close to work, she’s also had some far-flung and important jobs: “My most exciting job (before Halcyon) was working in the Vice President’s Office in D.C. as an Administrative Assistant.”
“When I’m not at Halcyon, I love being with my family–parents, siblings, husband- Jack, our four sons, three beautiful granddaughters and handsome grandson” says Beth. She has a son in California, one at the U of Maine, one living locally (he’s a lobsterman – a real Mainer), and one serving in Afghanistan. Luckily for Beth, her well traveled family has some young ones close to home: “Golden haired 3 year old Savhana keeps us young and on the go! She is my favorite knitting inspiration!”
Beth has recently tried her hand at felting in a Nuno class, is enrolled to take the ‘Knit to Weave’ class and has even started contemplating spinning! Beth also enjoys reading, gardening and cooking. “There are a lot of great cooks here at Halcyon and we are frequently trying things out here and exchanging recipes!” Oh man, the only problem for the rest of us is restraining from “trying out” too many slices of Beth made cakes… As if all that wasn’t enough, she is studious as well: “I am in my fourth year of Education for Ministry and hope to continue those studies,” says Beth.
Thanks Beth, for all that you do for Halcyon Yarn!
Dear Charlene,
This is one of those instances in knitting when we advise people to ‘put their brains in park’ and just follow the pattern. In round one of the pattern, you are making increases for the lace pattern. Round two retains those increases. In round three you are decreasing the increases you made and taking it back to the original number, retaining that through round four. And increasing again for round one of the pattern. I hope this helps. Beth Hood
please help me, I’m a relativly new knitter and I’m running into a problem with the fountian hood as printed in the book. It seems to me that the math isn’t correct. In the decreases, I read that there are 4 for every 10, which would mean that there would be 60 decreases over the 156 stitches, which of course takes it down to 96 not back to 104 as stated. I;m trying to make this as a Christmas gift, purchased the silk and….am very frustrated. Charlene Huff