"I was born in Latvia, a place where the knitting of socks and mittens was done out of necessity, not pleasure. My mother would sit me down and have me hold the skeins of wool yarn she needed to wind into balls. To this day, the winding of beautiful yarns into balls, ready for knitting or crocheting, is a pleasure to me. It recalls a lovely feeling of childhood, helping my mother, feeling warm and safe during the cold Latvian winters.

My mother taught my sisters and me the arts of needlework - crocheting, embroidery, needlepoint, and knitting, just as she had learned from her own mother. Each of us girls had favorites, but all of us could do them all. Our mother was able to duplicate a sweater from a magazine picture without using a pattern, and she could knit the most intricate Latvian mitten designs. I still have a cherished pair of mittens that she made for me.

Over the years, I have dabbled in all of the needle arts and made decorative things for the home, baby gifts and Christmas gifts. But since my retirement, crocheting has become an important part of my life. This website is a representation of the work that I would like to share with the rest of the world. The creation of beautiful things and the process of choosing and combining fibers and colors is an expression of my history and my present".

- Rita Heacock