Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by to look at my website. I'm Denise, and I live in Northern California about 20 minutes north of San Francisco in Marin County. I grew up in an Air Force family and we were transferred to Hamilton Air Force Base in this area in 1959. I came back here on my own in 1972 and have never looked back. There is nothing that compares to the San Francisco Bay Area!
I began knitting at the age of five, taught by my Finnish grandmother. Using a child-sized pair of needles I spent countless hours knitting yards and yards of nothing. The love of knitting had not yet been ingrained at that point, as I became interested in trying other artistic endeavors such as paint-by-number kits, sewing doll clothing, making beaded bracelets, learning how to draw horses, and ultimately going to the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. But I digress... at the age of 15 I took up knitting again. The first sweater I knit was a pull-over with a large cowl collar in emerald and black thick-and-thin yarn. I don't know what I was thinking but I wore it proudly. A few years later I tackled a three piece outfit: skirt, vest and cardigan. That was during the time of mini skirts and I believe the skirt might have measured 17 inches. It was a really cute outfit and I still have it. (No, I do not wear it!) Then I knit a pull-over sweater for my father on size 3 needles. My father was not a small person and it took a long time to knit a big sweater on those small needles. I took a little more time off from knitting when I became enchanted with embroidery and began stitching designs on my clothing. That led to many other needle craft and artistic activities until I came back to knitting and embraced it completely. But what about The Sock Ruler®? In the summer of 2012 I had been knitting socks for about two years, becoming increasingly frustrated with the measuring process. Due to the three dimensional quality of a sock, tape measures and rulers were just not cutting it. I could never be sure the measurements were accurate. I needed something I could stick into the sock that would show me a true measurement. I tried a variety of options until I hit upon the prototype that became The Sock Ruler®. It flattens out the sock, thereby providing that true measurement I was seeking. Best of all, no more floppy tape measures to deal with! Knitting from the cuff down I could put it inside the sock and see exactly how much further I needed to knit to the start of the heel flap. The rounded end tucked right into the heel so I could measure from the heel to where the toe decrease would begin. It also worked for socks knit from the toe up. I used my prototype for two years, all the while thinking that other sock knitters might like it. Then I took The Sock Ruler® to where it is now. I think you will find it as wonderful to use as I do! -Denise Ilmanen |