Joyce Williams

At 12:25pm, our dear Joyce Williams passed away. She will be sorely missed. I met Joyce five years ago at Schoolhouse Press' Knitting Camp and was instantly drawn to the little elegant lady in green (which I soon discovered she had a love for, as her partner in crime, Amy Detjen, had a love for purple). Although small in stature, she had a larger than life spirit and passion for knitting. I admired her desire to continue growing and learning in her craft, and love to hear the stories she would tell.

I'm a night owl and have struggled with insomnia over the years, and was delighted to find a fellow knitter to knit away the midnight oil. We also are such loose knitters that we have to go down usually 2-3 needle sizes and it felt good to find someone who enjoyed knitting on size 1 and 2 needles or smaller.

A few years ago, she asked me to model the Morocco sweater from Latvian Dreams and I don't think I took it off the rest of camp, I was in love with it. This year, Meg asked me to model The Star cardigan from Latvian Dreams and again my heart was stolen. However, it was a little more than that. I felt a little closer to Joyce and her absence not so harsh with the sweater on.

As I was thinking about Joyce this morning, I thought about that sweater and the little bit of comfort it had provided me, and pulled the Latvian Dreams book off the shelf. I opened to the front where I knew that Joyce had signed the book and read what she had written, my finger slowly tracing where her pen had traced. I then turned to the page that had The Star sweater on, thinking that maybe I should consider knitting that sweater now while thinking of her. I was surprised to find that Joyce had actually signed my book a second time and was deeply touched.



It reads "Kim, Knit Your beautiful dreams, Joyce Williams 7/07"


(A picture of Joyce next to her dear friend, Meg Swansen.)

Joyce will be missed my many. For such a petite gal, she sure did make a big impact. Dream on!