Kris Abshire • Sarah Anderson • Janine Bajus • Beth Brown-Reinsel • Evelyn A. Clark • Carson Demers • Amy Detjen • Elise Duvekot • Jared Flood • Pat Fly • Amelia Garripoli • Franklin Habit • Sivia Harding • Ilisha Helfman• Daniel Herrera • Betsy Hershberg • Mary Scott Huff • Brian Kohler • Judith MacKenzie • Nancy Marchant • Syne Mitchell • Lucy Neatby • Stephanie Pearl-McPhee • Margaret Radcliffe • Carol Rhoades • Deborah Robson • Gayle Roehm • Samantha Roshak • Jane Slicer-Smith • Sara Swett • Stephannie Tallent • Andrea Wong • Jean Wong
Kris Abshire has lived and worked in Alaska for over 40 years, increasingly pursuing her creative muse as a self-taught weaver and surface design textile artist over the past 30 years. Inspiration for her work comes from many years of venturing into Alaska’s wilderness and from the wildlife and seasonal colors and textures surrounding her studio in the magnificent Matanuska Valley. She is a strong supporter of wildlife and habitat conservation and deeply involved in preserving and protecting the Palmer Hay Flats Refuge near her home. Kris’s work has been represented at the Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, Oregon School of Arts & Crafts, Museum of Northwest Art and fine galleries in Anchorage and the Pacific Northwest. She has received juror’s awards and special recognition for entries into exhibits throughout the Northwest and in British Columbia. Please learn more and see Kris’s work on her website at www.krisabshire.com.
Sarah Anderson is a self-taught spinner since 1973. She has written for Spin Off magazine and contributed knit designs for the “All New Homespun Handknit” book. With a fascination for spinning techniques and constructions, Sarah has developed an extensive Yarn Library and has taught at SOAR, Golden Gate Fiber Institute, Madrona, Shepherd’s extravaganza and for various guilds. Sarah lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, a few geriatric chickens, and a California quail named Boo.
Janine Bajus, known as Feral Knitter, has been intrigued by the mysterious effects of Fair Isle knitting for years and she loves sharing her obsession by teaching the secrets of color knitting. Her designs have appeared in Color in Knitting (an Interweave eMag) and Sweaters from Camp. You can read about her current projects at www.feralknitter.com.
Beth Brown-Reinsel has been teaching knitting workshops nationally, as well as internationally, for over 20 years. Her book Knitting Ganseys has been deemed a classic. She completed her first DVD Knitting Ganseys with Beth Brown-Reinsel in 2010 and is working on a new DVD on color knitting. Her articles and designs have appeared in Threads, Cast On, Interweave Knits, Shuttle, Spindle, and Dye Pot, Vogue Knitting, and Knitters magazines. She continues to design for her own pattern line Knitting Traditions. Beth’s website, blog, and more can be found at www.knittingtraditions.com.
Evelyn A. Clark is a designer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. She left a marketing career to live a simpler life and developed a passion for putting holes in her knitting. Her designs have been published by Fiber Trends, Interweave Press, Knitter’s Magazine, Vogue Knitting, and Leisure Arts. Evelyn is the author of “Knitting Lace Triangles”. Her designs also can also be seen at www.evelynclarkdesigns.com .
Carson Demers is a physical therapist and ergonomics specialist by day for a San Francisco Bay area medical center. Every other moment, he’s knitting, spinning, designing, or otherwise up to some fiber fun with a watchful eye toward ergonomics. His passion and experience in fiber arts combine with his expertise in physical therapy and ergonomics to create a unique skill set that he eagerly shares with the fiber community to keep us all creating healthfully ever after.
Amy Detjen was the “List Mom” of the original Knitlist for over 4 years, then started KnitU. She’s very proud that she’s been Meg Swansen’s assistant at her Knitting Camp for over 16 years. Teaching knitting and helping people learn about their knitting options is something Amy is passionate about and it comes through when she teaches; she loves solving problems.
Elise Duvekot is a knitwear designer who has written the book Knit One Below – One Stitch, Many Fabrics, published by XRX Books in 2008. Elise’s enthusiasm for novel techniques led to the completely new approach presented in this book. Her inspiration comes from geometrical patterns and from the many beautiful colors and yarns that have become available in recent years. As far as the style of her work is concerned, it can best be described as traditional in workmanship, while modern in color and design. She divides her time between the Old World (The Netherlands) and the New World (Canada). In addition to knitting strands of various yarns together as a designer, she knits words of various languages together as a translator. Knitting and translating both provide ideal environments in which to be creative and productive, combining the best of both worlds.
Jared Flood is a New York based knitwear designer and photographer. A Pacific Northwest native, Jared holds an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and travels the country teaching traditional handknitting technique and garment construction. He has been living and working in Brooklyn since 2005. His design work and writings have been featured in Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, Knit.1 Magazines, and Spin Off (Interweave Press) as well as various other print and online sources. Jared has launched his own an artisanal line of wool yarn grown, spun, and produced in the US. – first SHELTER in 2010 and now the brand new LOFT. Be sure to visit Jared’s website, www.brooklyntweed.net, to see these yarns of lovely colors that make you want to plop them in an ice cream cone and slurp them up. Jared is the author of Made in Brooklyn – a collection of original handknitting designs with natural fibers, distributed by Classic Elite Yarns and his own “LOOK” books of designs using Shelter and Loft and Wool People, designs by others who love his yarns.
Pat Fly has been collecting and restoring sock knitting machines since the 90′s. She has a wide collection of machines from all over the world including United States, Canada, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France, England, Scotland, Switzerland, and Sweden. A founding member of the Circular Sock Machine Society of America, she has taught in Germany, and all over the United States. Learn more at www.angoravalley.com .
Amelia Garripoli “fell” into spinning when she purchased a house that came with two llamas. Since then, her spindle collection has taken over the book case! Amelia runs The Bellwether, a specialty spindle and fiber shop on line and at local shows. She is the author of Spindling: The Basics, and is an active mentor in several online spinning groups including Spindlers and Spindlitis. Amelia teaches workshops, private classes, classes at local yarn shops. Visit her website at www.thebellwether.biz.
Franklin Habit is a writer, illustrator, photographer and author of It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons (Interweave Press, 2008). He is the proprietor of The Panopticon, one of the most popular knitting blogs on Internet, www.the-panopticon.blogspot.com. On an average day, upwards of 2,500 readers worldwide drop in for a mix of essays, cartoons, and the continuing adventures of Dolores the Sheep. Franklin’s other publishing experience in the fiber world includes contributions to Yarn Market News, Interweave Knits, Interweave Crochet, PieceWork, Cast On: A Podcast for Knitters, Twist Collective, and a regular column on historic knitting patterns for Knitty.com. These days, Franklin knits and spins in Chicago, Illinois, sharing a small city apartment with an Ashford spinning wheel and colony of sock yarn that multiplies alarmingly whenever his back is turned.
Sivia Harding learned how to knit in 2000 and has been churning out patterns since 2003. Her work has appeared in magazines and books such as Knitty.com, Big Girl Knits, and No Sheep for You plus designs featured in the Rockin’ Socks Club from Blue Moon Fiber Arts and the Year of the Lace 2008 subscription club from Make One Yarn Studio. This year will see several other designs in publication. Sivia is known for her work with exceptional beaded knits and teaches throughout the Northwest. You can learn more at www.siviaharding.com.
Ilisha Helfman is a graduate of Smith College and the Yale University School of Design. She has been knitting quietly and creatively for over 40 years, has shown her knitted work in galleries in NY and Portland and had her collages in galleries and museums throughout the United States and Great Britain. Ilisha has a chapter in Knitting Art by Karen Searle (Voyageur Press, 2008) and has a new book out called Jazzknitting: An Introduction. She has worked as a Graphic Designer, Textile Designer and Toy Maker and currently has a laser design studio with her husband in Portland, called “LEAFpdx”. For a more indepth look at Ilisha’s range of creative work check out her blog at sundaymagazinepaperdoll.wordpress.com and her other websites www.hestiahouse.com; www.followthethread.com; and www.leafpdx.com.
Daniel Herrera is amazingly versed in all forms of knitting, crochet and needlework. He first learned needlepoint in Mexico when his grandmother took him to a coffee circle. Later, at age 7, Daniel picked up a pair of knitting needles with a scarf remnant on them, taught himself to knit and never stopped. He pursued all sorts of fiber arts as a teen and while traveling the globe for 6 years with the US Navy fixing computers. Daniel thrives on puzzles and clarifying instructions to help find the key to move you forward. He is the best-kept secret in Seattle. Knitting and designing for 30 years, he was discovered by Lily Chin in 2001 and became one of her “Urban Knitters”. Daniel teaches, designs and solves knitting and crochet problems at the shop “Stitches” on Capital Hill in between working in the travel industry days, spinning yarn and playing the French Horn. Daniel will be our resident expert at the “Just-in-time Answers and Solutions Clinic” at the Winter Retreat and available to consult on any of your knitting or crochet problems that have you stumped. Find Daniel in the Rotunda near the Market on Saturday and Sunday.
Betsy Hershberg is proud to call herself a Knitter, a Teacher and a Designer. She is also “over the moon” excited to soon add Author to this list when her new book, “Betsy Beads: Confessions of a Left-Brained Knitter” is released just in time for Madrona 2012. Learning how to add beads to her knitting in 2002 seems to have provided just the right spark to kindle her creative fire and the creative process she discovered while playing with her new toys (beads) is one she is eager to share. For a glimpse into her world of fiber and beads, visit the Gallery on her website at www.studiobknits.com.
Mary Scott Huff trained as an actor in New York City. Since then she has acted like: a wife, a mommy, a computer programmer, a writer, a knitwear designer, a motorcyclist, and an adult! Not always in that order. New roles are eagerly anticipated. Mary is the author of The New Stranded Colorwork: Techniques and Patterns for Vibrant Knitwear published by Interweave Press and is deep into a second book. Mary became a serious knitter after experiencing textile, rather than food cravings during her first pregnancy. The cravings have yet to subside. Find out more about Mary and her designs at www.maryscotthuff.com.
Brian Kohler is a free-lance artist from the Puget Sound. He has created knitting patterns for major yarn companies and is published in industry magazines and a book by Vogue Knitting. Brian’s artistic abilities are multi-faceted as he is a singer, emcee, actor, magician, and, with his sewing machine, creates garments, costumes, quilts and evening gowns. His passion for creative arts is huge but his ultimate love is helping others to find and develop their own creative abilities.
Judith MacKenzie is a nationally known teacher, master weaver, spinner, and fiber artist now living in the State of Washington. Judith teaches as only she can— with depth of knowledge honed by years of practice, scientific and historical knowledge, patience, creative informality, personal perspective, great humor, and hands-on expertise that demystifies any process. Classes with Judith are an experience in learning the story behind every fiber and process. Judith is a regularly featured author in Spin-Off Magazine and she has published a book, Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning. Her second book The Intentional Spinner published in 2009 by Interweave Press became an instant best seller. You can now experience a Judith workshop in your own home with one or more of Judith’s best selling spinning DVDs released this year by Interweave Press. You will experience the history of each process as it has been performed through the ages and come away with a depth of knowledge of that raises your skill towards excellence.
Nancy Marchant was born in Indiana but now lives and works, as a graphic designer, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has written articles for Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, as well as a number of Dutch knitting magazines, and is the author of Knitting Brioche, which is is the first and only knitting book devoted exclusively to the brioche stitch. She maintains a web site on the subject at www.briochestitch.com.
Syne Mitchell has been: a scientist, a science-fiction writer, a programmer, and a weaver. She enjoys making things blink and glow and helping her students do likewise. Her past work includes the podcast, WeaveCast, and the online resource, WeaveZine.com. Her articles have appeared in Handwoven, Spin-Off, and Craft. She blogs and shares information at: www.synemitchell.com.
Lucy Neatby has been a dedicated knitter for more than 30 years, constantly seeking to extend her range of techniques and experiment with many fibers and is currently very absorbed in double-layer knitting techniques. She was educated in the United Kingdom and had formal training as a Merchant Navy Navigating Officer sailing aboard trawlers and coastal oil tankers as Second Officer. Lucy and her husband and three children moved to Nova Scotia 20 years ago from the United Kingdom where she has expanded her involvement in knitting and launched her many wonderful designs and kits that you can get through her own company, Tradewind Knitwear Designs. She teaches internationally and is devoted to raising awareness and respect for knitting amongst the general public. She never misses an opportunity to do so as part of her commitment to enhance people’s knitting pleasure by helping to open their eyes to the vast potential offered by a pair of needles. Lucy’s other passions are cycling, skiing and lately, fabric piecing. Lucy has published Cool Socks Warm Feet and a series of 16 “Learn with Lucy” DVD’s. Check out Lucy’s new website: www.tradewindknits.com.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the Yarn Harlot and will be joining us again this year as a special guest and teacher. Those of you who would never miss a day of her internet blog (www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/) know that wherever Stephanie goes fun with knitting, life’s serious and comic adventures surely follow. The real mystery is how Stephanie manages to knit when she is writing so many books. Her latest, All Wound Up, just hit the New York Times best seller list! It’s hard to keep up with them but some favorites include Free Range Knitter and Things I learned from Knitting (whether I wanted to or not) join her very popular other books, At Knit’s End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much, and Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter. Stephanie has knitters around the world laughing out loud and reveals the real truth about obsessive love of knitting and its culture. Along the way, she imparts her unique perspective that clears up many a knitting mystery and shines light onto some of life’s secrets. Most of all it is important to have fun and in Stephanie’s world there are no mistakes only opportunities to knit more. After all, “Knitting is not defusing a bomb!” Stephanie lives in Toronto, Canada and has dedicated herself to support Doctors without Borders enlisting knitters worldwide.
Margaret Radcliffe has been a knitter for 45 years, a designer for 25, and a teacher for 17. She is the author of the bestselling Knitting Answer Book and The Essential Guide to Color Knitting Techniques. Her newest book, Circular Knitting Workshop, will make its debut at Madrona this year. In 1997, she founded Maggie’s Rags and publishes a line of knitting patterns under that name. She is well known for her ability to help all knitters to become independent and creative. Like many knitters, Margaret has a varied background. She has degrees in Medieval Studies and English Literature, has been a teacher, auditor, programmer, business executive, research administrator, dancer and editor. Margaret’s website is www.maggiesrags.com.
Carol H. Rhoades has been examining the relationship between fiber, preparation, spinning, and product for over 30 years. She is particularly interested in Scandinavian sheep and the knitting traditions connected with their wools. Carol has studied knitting in Sweden; is a regular participant in the Scandinavian Knitting Symposium; and is the translator for many fiber arts books from Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish authors including Vivian Hoxbro, and Anne Maj-Ling. In 1993, she combined several of her interests in a dissertation on 19th century British and Swedish women writers, discussing a knitting scene from their works in each chapter. Carol’s infusion of knitting with her love of 19th century literature makes her the perfect person to bring knitting legacies to life for all of us 21st century spinners and knitters. Carol is the Technical Editor of Spin-Off Magazine and frequent contributor to both Spin-Off and Piecework. Carol teaches knitting and spinning around the U.S. and abroad and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Deborah Robson is a fiber generalist, with specialized knowledge about spinning, knitting, and weaving. Her most recent major project has been The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook: More than 200 Fibers from Animal to Spun Yarn, in collaboration with livestock expert Carol Ekarius (Storey Publishing, 2011). Currently editor and publisher of Nomad Press, she is also a consultant on publishing, a freelance editor and book designer, and . . . oh, yes, writer! Recent pieces have appeared in Spin-Off, Interweave Knits, PieceWork, and Handwoven magazines. For fourteen years she served as an editor at Interweave Press, including twelve years as editor-in-chief of Spin-Off: The Magazine for Handspinners. She also edited Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot and has worked for a number of other presses, including trade, literary, and scholarly houses. She has contributed essays to fiber-related anthologies including KnitLit (too), KnitLit the Third, Hooked, and The Knitter’s Gift, and has published her designs in a number of magazines and collections, including The Best of Debbie Macomber. She has also published fiction, poetry, and articles on a number of nonfiction topics in magazines and anthologies. She earned an MFA in writing (fiction) from Goddard/Warren Wilson and is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and of the Colorado Authors’ League.
Gayle Roehm is a former management consultant who now devotes herself to fiber arts, especially knitting. She has been teaching these topics around the country for knitting events, guilds and yarn shops. Her designs have been featured in Knitter’s, Interweave Knits, A Gathering of Lace, and other publications. She also sells her work through a local fiber arts gallery. Gayle has traveled throughout the world, lived in Japan, speaks Japanese and has knitted with Japanese designs for many years. She published an article about Japanese patterns in Knitter’s magazine in 1997, she prepared the Japanese section for Knitting Languages, and for several years she translated patterns for Dancing Fibers (now Sunrise Yarns/Diakeito). She lives in Maryland, when not indulging in wanderlust.
Samantha Roshak is a former software engineer and lifetime crafter. After discovering the wonders of fiber on a cross-country RV trip, she began applying her love of detail and problem solving to knitting. Before long her new obsession and need to create led her to become a designer. She has a passion for matching fibers with projects, interesting construction methods, and finding the right details to make a project something special. Samantha publishes her own line of designs and has been featured in Yarn Forward, the Rockin’ Sock Club, and the Loopy Ewe Sock Club among others. Find out more about Samantha and her work at www.knitquest.com .
Jane Slicer-Smith has been designing her own unique fashion and picture handknitted designs since 1985. She was trained in knitwear design at Trent University in England and while there won the British Knitting Export Council’s award for color in 1980. In 1982 she settled in Australia after traveling throughout Africa. She became a designer with the Japan’s largest importer of British wool and began commuting between Sydney and Tokyo. By 1985 she had established her own Signatur Handknits at Sydney’s Paddington Bazaar. Jane says that “life has provided me with wonderful opportunities to travel and work. My own label has allowed me the indulgence to play with color, texture and designs.” Jane’s new book Swing, Swagger, Drape has just been published by XRX Books. Jane’s many designs can be seen at www.sigknit.com.
Sarah Swett has devoted the past three decades to slow narrative projects involving yarn. Her work, particularly her incredible tapestries which are internationally acclaimed, travel the world in books, magazines and exhibitions. Sarah is passionate about her work — as she says “This work infiltrates my dreams, builds my biceps, thrills me to the bone and drives me to tears. When I was seven I turned scraps of yarn into a magic carpet. I am still at it.” Please visit her website at www.sarah-swett.com to see her stories in tapestries – pictures of one moment coming alive in fiber. She has written a book “Kids Weaving” and she was featured in “Knitting in America”, Melanie Falick’s book on America’s leading Artisans. Sarah spins and dyes her yarns that are then transformed in narratives. As Sarah herself describes “the design worth pursuing is not a design at all but love made manifest in color, texture, image. It is a second captured in cloth, an unfolding story, a small miracle.”
Stephannie Tallent lives in Hermosa Beach, CA and has been knitting on and off for the past 30+ years. Several years ago she began self-publishing her knitting designs and is a tech editor for magazines and indie designers. Her first book “California Revival Knits” is to be published this winter by Cooperative Press. When she is not designing, knitting, tech editing or working as a veterinarian, she gardens (native plants and vegetables), hikes, and beachcombs. Stephannie blogs at www.sunsetcat.com . You can find her on Ravelry as “Stephcat”.
Gladys We loves color and finding ways to showcase the beauty of handpainted yarn. She’s been a knitter since her mom taught her for her Brownie badge, a few decades ago, and an obsessive knitter since she discovered online knitting communities and blogs. She can be found on Ravelry as “wenat” and her free pooling patterns are online at http://yarnfloozies.blogspot.com .
Andrea Wong learned to knit Portuguese Style from her mother when she was 7 years old growing up in South America. She came to the USA in 1991 and since then she has been knitting avidly, designing and teaching. For the last 8 years she been teaching Portuguese Style with the yarn tensioned around a knitting pin on the shoulder. Andrea has taught throughout the United States at retreats, knitting guilds and shops. She has produced 3 DVDs and self-published her first book: Portuguese Style of Knitting – History, Traditions and Techniques. More information is available on her website – www.andreawongknits.com.
Jean Wong is a NAC certified knitting instructor trained by the rigorous Japanese Nihon Vogue Knitting Association. The certification took four years and allows the certificate holder the privilege to teach others to become instructors. Her wealth of experience includes over 20 years of teaching, and her patient ways are an encouragement to any knitter. Have you ever seen a pattern that you really liked, but either couldn’t find the yarn the pattern called for or wanted to use a different type of yarn with a different gauge and didn’t know how to make the adjustment? With Jean’s courses, you can now break free and use yarns of your choice. Jean’s Nihon Vogue course offers techniques that also produce a professional finished look. Her step-by-step instruction will enable both beginner and master knitters to customize projects to fit. Currently in Vancouver, Canada Jean teaches 4 levels of instruction courses of varying degrees of difficulty along with a number of year-round certificate courses that, upon graduation, will equip you to teach these techniques. Jean has a DVD, Knitting with Jean: Professional Finishing Techniques, and more information is available on her website www.knittingwithjean.com.