About JennyKnits
Knitting Has Been My Constant
I learned to knit as a teenager in the 1970s, watching a television program and teaching myself stitch by stitch. No one in my family knitted. My mother and grandmother crocheted, but knitting was something I discovered on my own.
From the beginning, I was fascinated by how a strand of yarn could become something useful and lasting.
Over the years, knitting became more than a hobby. It became a steady thread running through every season of my life.
Teaching Online Before It Was Common
Years later, after teaching classes in local craft stores, I became curious about teaching knitting online. As a longtime gamer, I was already familiar with Twitch. When the platform opened to crafters, I set up a camera and started streaming.
At first, no one came.
For weeks, I talked to an empty chat, explaining techniques and knitting as if someone were watching.
Eventually, someone was.
That small beginning grew into a daily knitting community. I became the first knitter to earn Twitch Partner status, and my streams were featured in online publications and even highlighted by Twitch leadership as an example of how creative communities were expanding the platform.
But what mattered most wasn’t recognition. It was connection.
Knitting Through Cancer and Grief
In 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
I chose to continue streaming through treatment. Some days I had no energy. Some days I felt physically and emotionally worn down. But knitting gave me something steady to focus on.
During that time, members of the knitting community sent handmade pink ribbons with notes of encouragement. They reminded one another to schedule mammograms. They showed up.
Knitting was no longer just something I taught. It had become a shared language of resilience.
In the years surrounding that diagnosis, I also lost both of my parents. I even shared the news of my mother’s passing during a live stream, sitting there with my knitting needles in hand, trying to hold steady.
Through it all, the stitches continued.
Why I Stepped Away
After years of daily streaming, I reached burnout.
Knitting itself is meditative. Livestreaming is performance.
As an introvert, carrying both my own struggles and the emotional weight of others eventually became too much. I stepped away from streaming and from social media for a time.
But I never stopped knitting.
What JennyKnits Is Today
When I returned, I knew I wanted something different.
Not performance.
Not pressure.
Not numbers.
Just calm, clear knitting help.
Today, JennyKnits focuses on:
• Fixing knitting problems without panic
• Creating projects you can actually finish
• Using leftover yarn in meaningful ways
• Teaching techniques step by step
• Encouraging mindful, steady knitting
Knitting has helped me through illness, loss, and change. I believe it can also help quiet the noise of everyday life.
I’ve knit through seasons of quiet, seasons of visibility, and seasons of rebuilding. What hasn’t changed is my belief that knitting should feel steady, useful, and deeply human.
A Little More About Me
Beyond knitting, I enjoy building online projects and exploring ways to create sustainable income later in life. I share product reviews and experiment with digital tools, always with the same mindset I bring to knitting: steady progress, one step at a time.
I’m married, a lifelong cat lover, and still deeply curious about what can be created from simple beginnings.
If You’re Here
If you’re looking to fix a mistake, finish a project, or turn your yarn stash into something meaningful, you’re in the right place.
Thanks for being here.
Let’s keep knitting.