About Me
My love for all textiles and handcrafts came from my mother. She was originally from Finland, where she had her own loom and used to work as a seamstress, sewing clothing for the community around her. She taught me to knit and crochet at an early age. My love for looms also came from her. Some of my early memories include me sitting under her loom, gazing up at the wonderful coloured warp threads above my head and I remember thinking that someday I would also own a loom like this and make rugs for my floors.
My grandmother was a Saami from northern Norway and she earned her living by knitting, weaving and other textile crafts. She was the first person in her village to own an oil lamp. The light from her flickering oil lamp could be seen in the dark winter nights as she worked on her weaving projects, which she would sell in the summer months to the Norwegian fishermen. I have a special interest in learning more about the textiles of Finland and Saami peoples.
By profession, I became a management accountant and raised our family in Vancouver, BC. About 20 years ago we left the urban sprawl of the big city and moved to the small town of Nelson, BC in the Kootenays of British Columbia. There I had the good fortune to meet Judith MacKenzie, who became my mentor and good friend. I took classes from her through the Kootenay School of the Arts, and learned the art of weaving, handspinning and dyeing beautiful yarns.
In 2003, we had the opportunity to move to London, England. Although we lived in a small flat, I still made room for a loom in the middle of my lounge and continued to weave. I am now living in Chichester UK, located on the south coast of England. And again have a studio room for my loom. I like to weave Finnish style rya tapestries and linen textiles: sauna towels, table runners, placemats, and smaller braid weaving projects using small Saami style looms.
I also provide private weaving instruction from my home in Chichester UK and sell my handspun yarns and handwoven items through my website Paivatar Yarns.
About All Fiber Arts
Years ago, I used to work as the Weaving and Spinning Guide for About.com. When a large number of Guides were let go from About.com, I moved my content onto my own server. I continue to write original articles about weaving, handspinning, feltmaking, knitting, crochet and other textile art for this website. All links are hand-picked and I continue to update links and look for new patterns, yarns, books, resources and information for the textile artist.
We also have a Discussion Forum, hosted on Delphi, where visitors can ask questions, discuss their projects and display their work. I send out a Newsletter to subscribers on a somewhat regular basis, informing them of the latest updates to the website or interesting things I have found about the textile craft world.
We also have a Facebook Group page where you can share your handweaving and spinning projects.
About All Fiber Arts Website
For those who are interested in website statistics and visitors to this website:
In the past year, All Fiber Arts received about 255,000 visitors and 660,000 page views.
All Fiber Arts is a global audience, with visitors coming from over 180 countries.
The top 20 countries are:
| 1 | US | 54% |
| 2 | UK | 11% |
| 3 | Canada | 10% |
| 4 | Australia | 4% |
| 5 | India | 2% |
| 6 | New Zealand | 1.5% |
| 7 | Germany | 1.2% |
| 8 | Netherlands | .8% |
| 9 | Philippines | .7% |
| 10 | Italy | .7% |
| 11 | France | .7% |
| 12 | Ireland | .6% |
| 13 | South Africa | .6% |
| 14 | Spain | .5% |
| 15 | Greece | .5% |
| 16 | Poland | .5% |
| 17 | Finland | .5% |
| 18 | Russia | .5% |
| 19 | Turkey | .5% |
| 20 | Sweden | .5% |
Ad Rates
If you would like to place an ad on this website please refer to the Ad Rates page for the current price list.
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About Me 
