Lynn Hamann
Grand Junction, Colorado

Antarctica opened my eyes, touched my true self, and inspired new life paths.

I know when and where I learned to knit. It was right up there with the Beatles, Barbies, the seashore, and drawing. Knitting ranked as high as hopscotch, riding bikes, and summer slumber parties in the backyard tent. My first knitting experience was in Newtown, Connecticut at Hawley Elementary. Our teacher taught several kids to knit after school. I was nine. Since then, there's always been a project on my needles.

My mother, not a knitter, says I was born in Munich, Germany, just days before Christmas and lived there until age three. She has photos to prove it so I believe her. I was raised mostly in Connecticut and Colorado, and am fortunate to have traveled on six continents.

I love knitting for the 'Zen' of it.  Knitting is meditative, and artistic. I love the portability, the fellowship, and community of knitting. It's healing and freeing and it makes me happy to be in the world. I love to create. Knitting is artful and good for the soul.

Colors, shapes and textures of nature inspire me, and especially color. The Internet gives me inspiration. Knitting books, magazines, blogs and Ravelry.com are all full of knitting inspiration.

My husband and I traveled to Antarctica for jobs after a work colleague in cubical-land told me about it. It's where I met the talented Christine Powell. I worked 6 austral summers and 6 austral winters on the southernmost continent, about 90 months of the last 144 since September 2001. My first job was handing out parts in the electrical supply warehouse. Antarctica opened my eyes, touched my true self, and inspired new life paths. We meet interesting, adventurous people and travel the world because of our life changing experiences in the beauty and solitude of Antarctica.