Coty Cockrell is an actor, singer, pianist, music director, instructor, award-winning barista, and, apparently, knit-designer.

Wow, that sounded unbelievably lame and pretentious.

I started knitting my last year of college. It helped me through one of the worst bouts of uncertainty I have ever felt, and it kept me from maiming things. I decided that I adored the art of knitting, and became immensely fascinated by the magic of sticks and string becoming recognizable objects to be loved and coveted.

I have taught countless people how to start down their own journey -- many have stuck with it, many have let it go by. Regardless, my joy comes from showing people that, even when you think there are no options and no ways out, there is always a solution -- nothing is ever as finite as it seems.

That kind of open-ended potential in knitting was what ensnared my fancy in the first place. To say that a yarn could become a sock, a sweater, a hat, a blanket, or none of those things at all -- now, that is refreshing! As a male knitter, I am always met with curious looks and gently prodding questions. Am I not just as the yarn, to be able to be transformed into any number of things?

People are like yarn in that way; we are all made up of different stuff, we all react differently to different pressures, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. But we all can be whatever we set our minds out to change ourselves into, be it one stitch at a time.

My designs rely on this sentiment of substitution, adaptation, and evolution. Use what you have, and make it work! Learn from it, and make it yours. Although I don’t have many designs documented, please trust me that there is a very worn book of handwritten scribbles waiting for me.

Yarn never apologizes for itself, and neither should you.

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” -- Dr. Suess