Hi, I’m Moira, the designer behind daisyknots designs and video tutorials.

 

I’ve always been a “crafty” person, working with materials and fabrics from a very young age.  Unfortunately this wasn’t considered a “proper" career choice in the 1970s.  The first 20+ years of my working life were spent in the emerging IT sector. Latterly I enjoyed designing websites, as this worked around my children’s school day.

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However, I felt something was still missing.  I took the scary step to change direction and study for a degree in design at university.  I was ecstatic when my application was accepted and four years later I qualified, top of my class, with a First in Textile and Surface Design. I was even more elated when at the New Designers Degree show I was shortlisted from over 2000 new designers for “New Designer of the Year”.

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I subsequently trained as a high school teacher, and taught textiles at my local high school for a few years, with the intention of designing part time.   I found that I really enjoyed encouraging others to learn new skills but that school teaching was all consuming. As a result, a few years back, I took the plunge and decided to focus full-time on daisyknots. 

 

Initially my emphasis was on running local craft classes on macrame, crochet and embroidery, as I feel it’s important these skills are not lost.  These classes were very popular and I started to get requests from farther afield.  To reach a wider audience I, therefore, taught myself how to record and edit online tutorials.  Around the same time I discovered mosaic crochet and completely fell in love with it. It ticked all my design boxes and I found that writing patterns and creating the tutorials to go with them met my love for sharing and teaching too! 

 

So finally, just past my 60th birthday, I have my dream job. I don’t think retirement is on the horizon anytime soon!