Getting To Know Larissa!

Please give us a brief bio, where you are from, who you are, and how you started in this field?

My name is Larissa and I am a craftsperson, dance administrator and dancer at heart living in Toronto, Canada. I live in a cozy apartment in the High Park area with my partner Corey and I work at the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement, a not for profit charity. I have been knitting since I was very small: I learned in kindergarten because I went to a Waldorf school. Just recently I decided to make knitting a bigger part of my life and opened my etsy shop, purl knitting.

When did you first discover your creative talents?

I didn't so much discover them because they were always inherently there. It was just a given to me that life was to be spent doing creative things. I grew up in a very artistic family so that influenced me greatly. I was always drawing, sculpting, crafting, making music, dancing, and dressing up. And I still am.

What inspires you to keep going and how do you keep yourself motivated?

I don't need much to keep me going with my knitting, thankfully. I look forward to it every day because it is how a relax and unleash a very tactile and expressive part of myself. My biggest passion in life was and is dance, but a few years ago I developed chronic migraine headaches which really have prevented me from doing much at all. Knitting is something that I can keep going on throughout the pain.

How would you describe your style?

A little vintage, a little relaxed, a little eclectic, a little trendy. It changes daily.

Share with us something funny that has happened to you recently.

This didn't happen recently, but once I put my coat on and went out the house for my day and I noticed that my coat felt a little weird. I was just getting off the bus when I lady tapped me and the shoulder and said "Excuse me, do you need this?" She was holding a coat hanger.

I had worn my coat all over the city with the coat hanger still in it.

Describe yourself in 5 words.

passionate . sensitive . loving . delicate . strong