First off, I just have to say I love her name – Iris Moon. It’s her bona fide real name too. If I were going to choose a brand-new name for myself, it would be Iris Moon. It’s short, but so original, playful, dreamy and clever.
Iris Moon loves my name too. When she decided to start a blog, she wanted to name it Knitnut. She checked around and discovered it was taken – by me. So Iris Moon named her blog Bumps and Loops instead, and started reading my blog.
Iris Moon has been knitting for about four years now, but is currently more interested in spinning than knitting. She knit two squares for this blanket. The pinky-purply one (magenta?) is a Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. The stripey one is a handspun merino, but she doesn’t remember the fiber source. They’re both lovely and soft.
Iris Moon (see how much I love that name? I can’t stop saying it.) lives in the mountains of Virginia with her husband, Jim, who is a psychologist in a local mental hospital, two parakeets (Poppyseed and Skittles) and a cat. She has a grown son, John, who works as a graphic artist and who bought – and lives in – the house that Iris Moon grew up in.
She says she was her ‘father’s son’ in that he taught her all the things he’d have taught a boy – woordworking, knot tying, animal husbandry, gardening. As a result, there’s not much she can’t do for herself. In addition to knitting and spinning, she can sew, do watercolor painting, stained glass work, metal work, and pottery.
She used to be the technology director for an international boarding school for young people with learning disabilities, and she and her husband plan to retire in the not-too-distant future to a condo in St. Pete’s, Florida.
She says she loved working on the Zoom blanket project, “because I had a chance to interact with a bunch of really nice women for a project that may have meant even more to me than to you.”
Thank you, Iris Moon.
a parrot owner with a husband who works in a mental hospital? we have so much in common……
My dad worked in a mental hospital; his patients adored him. One of my proudest moments was the day of his funeral ( I had been 17 for 2 whole days) when every patient who could get a day pass attended his wake and funeral. One patient who had not spoken for years came to pay his respects and was able to say how much he would miss his friend. There are so many wonderful people in this world. And one named Iris Moon.