Karen and Beth's Bio:

     What do a criminologist and a scientist have in common? In the case of Karen and Beth, it started with the love of all things knitting. They met in a knitting class about three years ago and soon discovered that they had many other things in common. They had both left challenging professional careers to raise their children. Beth had worked for 16 years as a Young Offender Probation Officer. Karen's career was in bio medical research at the University of Western Ontario, followed by several years of teaching. Their sons, Cameron and Matthew, are in the same honors biology course at the University of Guelph. Their daughters are Megan, a forensic biologist (real life CSI), Marie, a business graduate, and Addie studying psychology and criminology. They both live in areas that remain heavily forested; they tap the sugar maples in their forest and make their own maple syrup. They love animals - Karen has two dogs and Beth has three cats and a dog. Each has a black lab which they adore. Bella and Sierra are two years apart in age, but from the same breeder so they are probably cousins, if not sisters. They also share many values, most importantly an enjoyment of life and love of family. Back to the yarn thing! Although they both love knitting, their tastes are very different. Beth loves bright colours, hand paints, recycled sari silk, and unusual novelty yarns, while Karen prefers the pastels and finer yarns. Beth will readily admit to having a short attention span and although she enjoys the challenge of lace or cables, she likes smaller projects that she can complete quickly. Karen prefers garments, intricate stitches, advanced cables and heirloom afghans. Both Karen and Beth have had several years experience in teaching and enjoy sharing their love of knitting. It soon became apparent to Beth and Karen that they would never be happy until they realized their dreams to have their own yarn store. Serenity Knits was born; fine yarns, knitting supplies and classes - along with two friends who can't believe they finally have their dream jobs.