This Is Us

Melissa (she/her/they/them) is a Maker, a mother, a lover and a writer. A knitter for 20 years, she cast on her first project between her sophomore and junior years of college and has since started thousands more. Her current record for late-season swimming in Lake Michigan is November 10^th and she believes that a Caffeine is a way of life. She considers implementing an embargo to all books crossing the threshold, but everyone in her house knows it would never last more than a week—so why even try? She is particularly skilled at the art of Rage Cleaning, makes a baller blueberry cheesecake and prefers pullovers to cardigans. She hates to pick favorites but when pressed, she admits that her desert island yarn is Malabrigo Finito. (Or anything with mohair. Or fingering weight yarn in general.) Her children are Sasha (8) and Sienna (4.5), and they are the loves of her life.

Liz (she/her/they/them) is a Maker, a mother, a twin and a dedicated student of Life. A seer of The Big Picture, she is the official keeper of The List; in knitting and in life, she always looks for the most nuanced approach. A DIYer before it was a thing, there isn’t anything she won’t do. Make your own diaper cream? Yes, please. Learn to strip, varnish and polish a concrete floor? Child’s play. Teach yourself how to knit on double-points to make a (surprise) garland of 100 Habu paper lanterns from written instructions and a solitary sketched diagram? GAME ON. She once knit a Queen-sized Aran afghan as a wedding gift and it only took her 18 months. (She memorized the pattern, of course.) Her children are Cecily (5.5) and Eggy (true name tbd, arriving earthside midsummer) and they love raspberries, the color orange and creating complex, fantastical worlds of wonder, not necessarily in that order.

We are sisters, knitters and best friends. We are graduates of Glen Lake High School (class of ’99 and ’02), routinely break bread with former classmates and swap book recs with our elementary school librarian (who, by the way, is also a knitter). A few of our mutual favorites include Suri alpaca, Six and Seven Alfalfa, celery juice, Buchan’s lavender ice cream, lemon balm tea, Gwen Frostic’s studio, Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, crackling beach bonfires, hunting for Petoskey stones and Post Malone. Some of our core memories were made on the shores of Lake Superior in Ontonagon, and we once held a school record together in the 4 x 800 relay. We’ll never turn down a slice of mud pie (dairy sensitivities be damned), and when we really need to put the hammer down, you can assume we’re listening (and dancing to!) Dave Matthews Band. We met our true loves when we were very young, and while Life has not been easy for any of us, we have both been married to our respective saints for sixteen years. If you want to know even more about us (and congratulations to you, dear Reader, for making it this far!), you can follow us on Instagram or watch our Making Comfort and Joy interviews on YouTube where more quirky details (Melissa’s affinity for Taylor Swift! Liz’s tendency to hate all her own knitting!) spill into our candid conversations with fellow Makers.

And.

We believe in science and research.
We believe that we are all connected in one way or another, and that we are bound by more than our earthly bodies.
We believe in Peace.
We believe that love is love.
We believe in gender fluidity as expression of self, both in practice and in theory.
We believe that Black lives matter. This includes all Black Life, including Black trans, queer, fat and disabled bodies, and their entire range of full, lived experiences.
We fully acknowledge that we live, operate within and benefit from a racist society and we are committed to confronting and dismantling white supremacy in our shop, in our homes and in our hearts.
We live on stolen Odawa and Anishinaabe land.
We are two people who happen to love yarn—we are in the business of Being Human.
We welcome everyone to this safe space, both in-person and online.
We are so glad you are here.
Here’s to the next 21 years.