Gloria Chukman		Houston, TX USA
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			I've been a knitter for about 20 years and began to crochet after taking Prudence Mapstone's free-form course several years ago. I also enjoy weaving, spinning and dyeing. In my day job I am a Chemical Engineer and work in technical software; I have a husband, also an engineer, a 15-year old daughter and 2 cats.
			The first group of colors I put together were spring-like colors that reminded me of bright flowers in the sunshine. I had just taken a course by Valentina Devine and used one of her "swirl" knitting free-form techniques to make the first swatch. This swatch is all-knitted and 13 yarns were used; the piece was constructed as one piece, each bit added to an edge.
			The second group of colors were muted with warm glitter highlights. This piece was all crochet and was created all in one piece, each bit added to the existing swatch. I used 14 yarns, and I kept going until almost all were used up, just making 8" diameter.
			The unusual part about both these swatches was that neither color grouping was in my comfort zone, which is strong, saturated colors, featuring purple. That grouping was third and I haven't yet done a swatch with them! The part I loved was that I could immerse myself in these different bundles of yarn, and get a different feel, totally inspired by the color and textures of the yarns that I otherwise would not select on my own.