Luise has worked with crochet, knitting and fabric since childhood, with crochet being her special passion. Luise learned to crochet when she was 7 years old. Her old Italian grandmother was their babysitter and felt that they were watching too much TV, so she got out yarn and crochet hooks and taught them to crochet. A couple of years later, her grandmother gave her a small steel hook and thread and she started doing Italian crochet lace. Since her grandmother couldn't read English patterns, they worked from pictures, just figuring out what to do. As she grew older, Karen began teaching herself new techniques from books like Tunisian crochet. On the design side, a friend encouraged her to start submitting designs which she did in 1998 and has been going since.Luise works as a freelance technical editor for Inside Crochet magazine, where she checks patterns to make sure that they work. She also contributes designs and patterns to the magazine. Luise is also a popular tutor, running regular crochet workshops so others can learn and be inspired. According to her, I teach Crochet at all levels at my workshops and have designed many patterns for them.