KRAFTERS DIVISION

Featured Member

December 4, 2011
by Loraine Stayer

Becky Frankeberger
State: Washington
Craft: Knitting
Contact: b.butterfly@comcast.net, 360-426-8389
Website: www.butterflyknitting.com
(The site is under construction but ready for viewing)

At the age of eleven, Becky Frankeberger persuaded her mother to teach her to knit and later, after a fractured bone took her off her feet for a while, to crochet. Becky suffers from OI, Ostogenesis Imperfecta, and a disorder that leaves her prone to bone fractures. Her eye problem stems from retina problems blurring her vision. When asked how much vision she has, her response was, "Not much at all."

Although her mother doubted her ability to learn these crafts, Becky confounded expectations, proving quite adept. Her first project was a knitted throw from blue yarn. Feeling this was a bit too small, she knitted a second in pink. Her mother sewed them together to make a throw big enough to cover both her cast encased and unbroken legs.

After returning to school, Becky asked her mother to teach her to crochet, but says it took another broken leg before she agreed. No one seemed willing to read patterns to her, so she began to design her own. For years she crocheted everything she could think of, from afghans to sweaters, scarves, and hats. Becky admits to losing her knitting needles often, so the crochet hook seemed a good bet. A neighbor taught her how to read patterns, and how to do Tunisian crochet. After college, she decided to stay in Erie, Pennsylvania. She found herself challenged by the senior ladies in her apartment building, who didn’t believe she could crochet. However she was told later, after showing her work to them, that her work was more professional than theirs.

Married after college, Becky found it a necessity to improve the family finances. Challenged to show how much income she could generate with her work by her VR (Vocational Rehabilitation) Counselor, and inspired by an article about a knitting machine, Becky went in search of one. What she found was Morgan Hicks, a knitting professional, who became her teacher. In short order, she found she could make a sleeve in practically no time at all, in addition to beginning on the body of a sweater. The difficulty then became persuading VR to buy her a knitting machine. Determined to meld all her loves, crocheting, knitting and the knitting machine, Becky hammered out a business plan with the help of her husband. VR, of course, insisted on doing its own business plan, but the result allowed Becky to purchase two knitting machines, as well as adaptive equipment to accommodate her blindness, including a Braille ruler, measuring tape, and a computer with speech.

The knitting machine is not a loom, but a machine with needles that actually knits. It is forty inches long, three or four inches high, and eight inches deep. There are between one hundred twenty and two hundred needles across the top of the machine depending on which machine she is currently using. A carriage moves along the needles and knits the fabric. According to Becky, the machine loves the yarn, though different yarns react differently. Yarn that is too fuzzy will gum up the machine unless it is adjusted to handle the different texture. The dials of the knitting machine are marked in Braille, with a paper clip set at zero.

Before deciding to form a business, Becky donated her projects to a local school for the blind, which unfortunately went out of business too soon. Becky listed ponchos, shawls, throws, bedspreads, baby clothes, and adult sweaters as the type of items that she makes. Her latest achievement is a cowl, worn over a sweater to change the look. She has designed a cell phone carrier and cane holsters, as well as holders to fit small electronic equipment. She designs everything she makes, and will design to order if her customers describe what they want ahead of time.

After a year-long struggle Becky received approval for her business. She says, "When that equipment flowed into [my] former second bedroom turning it into a studio, suddenly all the responsibility was on my shoulders. Then I sold a scarf to an unnamed person who saw and loved [the] work done on my knitting machine. Then a throw, then two button shawls and the rest is Butterfly knitting." Becky describes her work as "Hand-made, hand-finished, and made-with-love."

The biggest obstacle Becky faced in learning her craft was finding a teacher, and getting to Morgan Hicks' store, an hour and a half from her home, for the lessons. Lining up drivers was difficult, but using the transit system was time prohibitive. There were few others in the state available to teach the machines.

In terms of what was helpful, Becky says, "I can't tell you how valuable the Krafters Korner group is to me. Just when I can't figure out how to do something, these fine people find ways, and so can I. Krafters Korner forces me to think out of the box. I sit at their feet ready and willing to learn."

If you would like to suggest someone to be interviewed, please drop us a note at: division email link.

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