An eighth-grade field trip to Sturbridge Village proved fateful for Laura Knott-Twine. Her classmates were probably mildly interested in the colonial crafts demonstrations — and mostly just glad to be out of the classroom — but Knott-Twine was fascinated by the weaving demonstration.
Knott-Twine asked the demonstrator how she could learn to weave, and the demonstrator had vaguely mentioned that she’d heard of a woman who taught weaving in Norwich.
Years later, then in her 20s and with kids of her own, Knott-Twine tracked down this mysterious Norwich weaver, spent three years learning the craft and eventually became the woman’s business partner, helping students learn weaving and spinning. Knott-Twine ran the business herself from 1980 until 1985, teaching more than 400 people who came in from all around the state or farther.
It was a decade or so between inspiration and execution, but Knott-Twine held on to the idea long enough to make it reality: “I’m very tenacious,” she said, laughing.
History Rules
Today, she’s the executive director of the Hartford Preservation Alliance, still making history very much a part of her career.
But way back when, it was the process of weaving that initially sparked Knott-Twine’s interest — forming the patterns and bringing the designs to fruition. The Sturbridge demonstrator had played up the mathematical aspects of measuring out patterns and selecting enough threads for the work, an element that stimulated Knott-Twine’s interest enough to stick with her years later as she recounted the story.
By the time she tackled her weaving dreams, she’d already worked as a day care employee; she liked kids, so she worked in child care, and she liked weaving, so she found a way to work at that, too.
“Just about everything I like to do, I turn into a job or business,” she said.
But the weaving life couldn’t last forever: there’s only a certain number of people in any area who want to learn to weave, she said, and enrollment was dwindling. Rather than wait for more generations to grow up and take an interest in learning, Knott-Twine sold off the business and started another, albeit on a similar theme: The Windham Textile and History Museum in Willimantic.
Like weaving, that particular piece of Connecticut’s history fascinated Knott-Twine. Textile mills were a huge part of Connecticut’s past, especially in river towns such as Willimantic: many students who visited the museum were the children and grandchildren of former mill workers themselves, Knott-Twine said.
The job also required a vast amount of organizational work, something Knott-Twine also gets a kick out of — she even teaches organizational development and entrepreneurship as a part-time professor for Vermont College. Knott-Twine continues that work in addition to her job with the Hartford Preservation Alliance.
She began her work there out of that same respect for history that had driven her to open the Windham museum, but with a more personal twist. As part of the 12th generation born here in her family, the Hartford native said the job is an outlet for her love of the city, its history and architecture.
It’s like she tells her students, “If you work at gaining your skills at what you love, work isn’t a burden, work is a pleasure.”
