Amor Esperanza has a curious mind, an adventurous spirit, and a joyful heart, all of which bring magic to her explorations in the fiber arts. The Endless Skein is delighted to have selected Amor's Pando Shawl as the featured knit pattern for our  Summer 2023 Giving Project.

Amor spoke with us of her many creative pursuits, how she builds community as an introvert, and her goal of having a completely handmade wardrobe. Read on to learn more!

Please tell us the story of how your love of fiber began.

I first held a strand of yarn between my little fingers when I was 8 years old. I recall with warm clarity, sitting with my grandmother on a steam trunk (filled with her crocheted lace). In the soft shade, on a sunny afternoon, she taught me how to crochet a chain. That was exciting enough, but then she doubled the challenge and taught me how to take a short chain of three stitches and connect it into a circle. Now this was the perfect recipe for my young heart. I added row after row until I had a sweet little polka dot. That afternoon, with my grandmother’s yarn scraps, I filled a small grocery bag with a rainbow of matching crochet polka dots. Later she taught me to stitch them together to make a blanket. It was compound creativity, and with her loving and patient instruction, it was compound joy.

Fiber arts continues to hold the same magic for me and the same peace. I was a quiet child and my grandmother was a quiet soul as well. Sitting with yarn in hand and a hook or needle gives me a quiet geography to wander about in, to lose myself in the tactile and the sequences. That introspective universe is immense and that is where I am most at home.

You have been an ethnographer, yarn dyer, and yarn shop owner. How did you get started as a knitwear designer?

All of these occupations are actually variations on one major thread in my nature, my inability to resist padding further into the landscape, to discover the underneath and the behind of things. Now we’re all wired differently, of course. My husband, for example, is wired for the who, what, where, when nuggets of information. He has a remarkable historical memory for dates, names, locations of anything he learns about. My mind is like a sieve where such nuggets are concerned. But the why and the how are siren calls that I cannot resist. So my family calls this ‘habit’ of mine, the “follow up.” Small talk can easily turn into big talk with me, as I dive in with my follow up questions to understand the meaning/feeling of things for the person I’m talking to. This is what drew me to ethnography as a student of anthropology. This is what helped me build a vibrant community in my shop, where people felt heard, seen, and that they mattered.

This is also why dyeing completely enthralled me. I took an online class in 2012, in which we learned the mechanics of dyeing and produced our own wooly color wheel, with 12 hues. Well, this was a good start, but the realm of color theory was a deep ocean that I could not resist diving headlong into. Within two weeks of finishing the course I had over 300 tiny (1g) color samples and was dreaming of subtle color shifts in my sleep. When I could sleep, that is, as learning a new creative skill always guarantees me a period of insomnia, always. It was the same with knitwear design. I can probably count the number of patterns I have followed beginning to end on one hand. Instead, I collect possibilities (stitches, motifs, construction methods, fabric qualities, etc.) and then I carry them onto new paths. So I suppose my curiosity for why and how, leads me right into a proclivity to understand how much further I can take it.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

This may sound odd, but I love the pliability of a creative practice. As a fiber artist the materials are pliable and yielding which allows us to manifest our visions with them, to orient them and join them into more than they were when we began. But an art practice makes us pliable as well. Whether you are working with a new fiber or skill or vision, or repeating an intimately known process, it is the intimacy of touch and attention to your materials and your actions upon them that inspires awareness of new possibilities. Bending my knowledge, staying pliable to new understandings of the work, allows me to follow the journey down paths I have not been on before. In that way the fiber arts are always fresh and challenging. This is a gorgeous formula for me. ❤︎

What has surprised you about your career path?

That would have to be that an introvert, like myself, has pursued and enjoyed so many extroverted experiences. The possibilities of fiber arts are magnified through sharing, there’s no way around that. It inspires sharing at some level or another. Though to be honest, if you met me on the street or at the grocery store you would never guess in a million years that I was an introvert. This is because of that persistent “follow up” habit of mine. I engage. Even when I’m exhausted, even when I don’t have time because I’m going to be late to something, I engage. I just can’t help it. But my fiber arts practice benefits from this greatly when it comes to being in community with other fiber artists. With others, I have grown and my practice has grown.

If you could sit and knit anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

Under the shade of a big grandmother tree. On a sunny day. The touch of a soft breeze. A delicately running stream nearby. Accompanied by birdsong. Soft and cool-to-the-touch quilt beneath me. My sweet little furry shadow, Finn, tucked in beside me. In relative solitude.

I’m pretty flexible about where this little setup is located.

What is currently on your needles?

Well, I’ve decided that within five years I want a wardrobe that is 100% me made. I’m currently working on a couple of cardigans, one a long aran weight cold-weather robe of a thing, and another cropped lace weight whispery darling. Because I have an affinity for short sleeve dresses and tops year round, a diverse suite of cardigans is invaluable to staying comfy in all seasons.

Is there anything else you would like to share?

After 10 years working as a professional fiber artist (in many capacities), I am on a mini hiatus. I must say, it has been a wonderful thing to create for myself or my loved ones alone. No deadlines, no marketing plan, no audience outside of me and my family. And I am expanding my fibery interests. On any day given day you can find me knitting, of course, or weaving, felting, sewing, or bent over my embroidery. The voice of entrepreneurship is still murmuring in the background, so I am certain I will return to it at some point. But for now, I am loving the opportunity to quiet my mind, simplify my intentions, and make.

Now through September 30, 2023, your purchase of yarn at The Endless Skein to knit Amor's Pando shawl -- or to crochet Cecilia Losada's Margarita shawl -- will help support Keaton's Kids! Keaton's Kids is a local nonprofit organization that funds transformative outdoor adventures for kids from underserved areas.

Start your Summer Giving project today!