 We're so excited to welcome Noël Anderson-Corwin, our newest staff member to Knit & Pearls. She’ll be teaching a variety of classes as well as helping out in the store of course.
A Canton resident, Noël started her journey into all things fiber as a young girl. “My mom is the root of it all,” she says, noting that her mother was a traditional basket weaver. “I have memories of watching her do that.” Also a crocheter, knitter and sewer, Noël’s mother taught her to crochet when she was around 9. “My family in general is very crafty.”
She remembers her first crochet project: a bag with a chain handle. “I made so many of those things,” she laughs. “That was the coolest thing to me.“ It was also the kind of project she could easily bring in the car. She says she spent a lot of time traveling from her family home in the Binghamton, New York area, to visit relatives in the Albany area. “Having something to do in the car was important,” she says.
Noël enjoys the sense of accomplishment that comes from working with fibers, which she experimented with a lot as an undergraduate Sculpture student at RISD. “I like making things in general,” she says. “Fibers are specifically such an awesome connection that brings you back to earth.” Wool is her favorite fiber to work with. “There is something so grounding about it. I feel like everything is hurry hurry hurry, get to the next thing. I don’t like that but it’s so much of life all the time.” Knitting and other fiber crafts are a way to step back and take time, she says. “It's like raising a child. It can’t be rushed. It’s a process. There’s lots of quiet space that can be had there.” Noël's passion for fibers continued into graduate school at Marywood University where she earned her Masters in Sculpture with a concentration in Fibers.
Noël usually opts to knit if she’s making something to wear and reserves crocheting for items like toys or accessories. “I prefer the aesthetic of knitting when I wear it,” she says, adding that she can also find her mistakes more easily when she knits.
Noël found her way to Knit & Pearls after she and her husband moved to the area for his job. Their daughter, Stella, was 3 at the time and Noël was looking to meet people. "The first thing I did was look up yarn shops,” she says. After a couple of years as a customer, Noël joined the team this spring.
In addition to her popular needle felted dryer balls class, she has taught beginner knitting and a drop spindle class, with more to come. ”I’ll teach basically whatever they want,” she says. “If I don’t have experience I’m willing to sort it out.”
Noël loves sharing her love of fibers with others. “It’s nice to sit down with people who share a similar interest, who are trying to learn something new or expand their skills.”
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