Today we would like to introduce another very busy member of the Spinnery Cooperative. “Eric” Robinson (still known as Judy to her family) is responsible for many different areas at the Spinnery. She is the shop manager, and handles the ordering of non-GMS merchandise and organizing the shop staff. As our go-to, in-house computer person, Eric maintains the database and helps to moderate the “Friends of Green Mountain Spinnery” Ravelry group.
Eric learned to knit from her grandmother around age 8, when she used her somewhat misshapen first efforts to wrap Christmas presents. She blesses her Grandma every day for teaching her continental style knitting, although her family came from England. Around her home town, Eric is known as the “knitting doctor”; she has even been known to make house calls on occasion to solve someone’s knitting dilemma!
Friends of the Spinnery are sure to notice Eric’s energy when she is in the shop, working sheep shows or at knitting conventions. A firm believer in the quality of the Spinnery’s products, being in sales has always been a positive experience when it comes to Green Mountain Spinnery. If you ask her, she’ll tell you the more exciting and rewarding jobs relate to pattern writing and editing and knitting.
Eric started her work at the Spinnery filling in for vacationing shop clerks. Over the years she has become a designer, knitting instructor, tech editor, creator of graphs and schematics, and pattern grader. Her knitting designs, beginning with the best-selling Eric’s Glovelets, tend to include unusual (or quirky) construction elements, as she likes to look at things from different perspectives. Similar to Maureen, Eric designs on the needles, and she is not afraid to rip back and rework the design until she gets just the look she wants. One can also see from her experience as a high school music and chorus teacher is that working with teenagers has kept her vision fresh and her willingness to try new things is influenced by a younger sensibility!
Are you a devoted fan of Eric’s designs? On Ravelry, her most “hearted” patterns include Waterfall, On Your Toes Sweater, Anatolian Flip, and the Elfin Hood. Add them to your queue today and come over to our Ravelry group or Facebook page to chat about it or share your work!