I’ve been talking a bit the last few days about Davidson College (my alma mater), which has been on my mind since Michael and I are currently driving our way from Washington, DC to Davidson, NC. As previously mentioned, we’re going for Michael’s brother’s graduation.
I’ve been talking about how Davidson College played heavily into the designing I do today. From resources like The Needlecraft Center to the art program at Davidson, this town and college started the transformation from a casual stitcher to fiber-arts professional. There is, however, one other major thing I’ve taken with me away from Davidson that has been instrumental in leading me where I am today.
My husband. Michael.
Back then, of course, he was my boyfriend, whom I had been dating for three years. As a freshly minted graduate, I had an English Degree in hand, a job working for my alma mater (which I was very happy about, as the job market had just plummeted), and a plan to live with Michael and two other friends in a house off campus. Michael and my friends were all seniors, and a year younger than I.
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| Early design project that has been revised, and will be published later in the year. |
I found myself with a profusion of free time. Having no course load and a job that lasted from 9-5, I had evenings free for the first time in my life. It was amazing. I was doing more spinning than I had ever been able to do, and was knitting and crocheting up a storm. I quickly tired of other people’s patterns, and began to work patterns of my own.
There was one such time, working on a pair of socks, that I began to write things down, so I could remember what I did for the second sock. And it was about that time that Michael began to say, “You could make money from that.”
At first, I scoffed at the idea. There aren’t many entrepreneurs in my immediate family, nor did I run into many people where I lived who ran their own business. In contrast, Michael’s father has run a successful small business most of Michael’s life. What seemed inconceivable to me seemed obvious to him.
Michael kept at it, though, asking thoughtful questions and encouraging me to learn enough about the industry to make an informed decision. It was there
where I began to seriously think about what it would take to be a designer. I wasn’t ready yet to take the leap, and I had a lot of learning to do, but it was at Davidson that the seeds were planted.
