Rebecca Roush Brown is the designer from ChemKnits. Rebecca graduated from Wellesley College in 2006 and earned her PhD in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology from the the Division of Medical Sciences at Harvard University in 2011. Her undergraduate research focused on organic chemistry, specifically the synthesis of various histidine analogs. In graduate school, she focused on mechanistic enzymology and the biosynthesis of natural products.
ChemKnits was born in 2008 on a ski trip to combine two of Rebecca's passions, Chemistry and Knitting. While researching earflap hat knitting patterns, Rebecca was frustrated that she couldn't find a list of links anywhere so she decided to create her own. Before long, she was challenging herself to tackle new knitting techniques and started publishing her own designs. ChemKnits is Rebecca's lab notebook, she takes detailed notes and pictures of her projects to help herself (and others) replicate her results. Beyond the blog, Rebecca follows this approach on the ChemKnits Tutorials YouTube Channel which has over 3.5 million views as of 2017.
ChemKnits has gone through many evolution over the years as Rebecca's crafting skills grew. In addition to knitting, Rebecca shares her adventures in crocheting, yarn dyeing, spinning, and now sewing with a few other non-fiber based crafts sprinkled in.
Rebecca lives in Massachusetts with her husband, Keith, two sons "Lucky" and "Rowdy", and their American Eskimo Puppy, Indy.