Sarah Anderson • Janine Bajus • Lorilee Beltman • Anne Berk • Jacey Boggs • Gwen Bortner • JC Briar • Chris Bylsma • Lisa Chan • Eveyln Clark • Lisa Daehlin • Brenda Dayne • Carson Demers • Amy Detjen • Donna Druchunas • Amelia Garripoli • Linda Gettman • Franklin Habit • Sivia Harding • Ilisha Helfman • Daniel Herrera • Mary Scott Huff • William Stewart Jones • Brian Kohler • Catherine Lowe • Judith MacKenzie • Susan Newhall • Clara Parkes • Judy Pascale • Stephanie Pearl-McPhee • Gayle Roehm • Candace Eisner Strick • Stephannie Tallent • Judy Taylor • Gladys We • Jean Wong
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 published by Interweave. With a fascination for spinning techniques and constructions, Sarah has developed an extensive “Yarn Library” which is now the new The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs out this fall from Storey Publications. Sara teaches spinners the techniques they need to improve their skills and lay the foundation for making 80 deliciously beautiful yarns. Sarah has taught at SOAR, Golden Gate Fiber Institute, Madrona, Shepherd’s extravaganza and for various guilds. She 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 feralknitter.com.
Lorilee Beltman is a former yarn shop owner whose experience providing answers for a steady stream of questioning knitters taught her the value of delivering an honest answer with kindness. Her designs have appeared in Interweave Knits, Sockupied, and Twist Collective. Lorilee’s continental knitting video is #1 on You Tube with well over half a million views. She happily sees no end to where your knitting curiosity can take you, so she enjoys helping knitters make new discoveries. When not traveling to teach at national events, she has enjoyed tent camping at nearly twenty National Parks with her all-boy family.
Anne Berk was certified by The Knitting Guild of America as a Master Knitter in 2003. She has been a knitting instructor since 1998. She has taught at Sock Summit, Madrona Fiber Arts, and Interweave Knitting Lab. Anne’s designs have been published by Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Shibui, and Twist Collective. She has contributed to several publications, including ColorKnits e-mag, Piecework and Interweave Knits. She is the author of 2 instructional DVD’s for Interweave, Inside Intarsia and Intarsia InDepth. Check out Anne’s website at annetarsia.com .
Jacey Boggs is known for her beautiful book, Spin Art: Mastering the Craft of Textured Spinning, her entertaining and instructive DVD Sit & Spin, for her monthly workshops around the world, and spinning textured yarns with a technical hand. She is regularly featured as an author in Spin-Off, is on the Editorial Advisory board of Handwoven magazine, and just can’t get enough fiber! She blogs at insubordiknit.com, home schools her three children, knits like a maniac, and eats way too many avocados. She just spun and knit her first lace shawl, ask her, she’ll be thrilled to show it to you.
Gwen Bortner is a Craft Yarn Council Certified Teacher, teaching at venues throughout the country. She is the author of the book, Entree to Entrelac. Her designs can be found in a variety of knitting magazines and through her business, Knitability, LLC. Education is probably the most important component of the Knitability business plan as all efforts focus on the company motto of “Taking Knitters to the Next Level”. Join Gwen’s challenge, take your knitting to new heights and check her out at knitability.com.
JC Briar is a self-confessed technique freak and skill junkie, JC has a special fondness for textured knitting and novel construction techniques. If it involves lace, cables, or seamless construction, it’s sure to catch her eye. She shares her enthusiasm by teaching at shops and fiber festivals and through her book Charts Made Simple. Find out more about JC at jcbriar.com.
Chris Bylsma retired from a career in marketing communications and advertising to pursue her artistic passion, knitting and texture play, at home in Madison, WI. Instead she is having a wonderful time teaching workshops coast to coast – and beyond – for TNNA, shops, guilds and conferences and has her own line of knitting patterns. She has also designed knit garments for the American Girl clothing line. Chris finds inspiration in nature’s colors and combinations, and her knitting designs reflect her pleasure in combining fibers, textures, gauges, and colors in ways that create fun, yet always wearable knits. Her website chrisbylsmadesigns.com showcases all of her designs and provides a list of sources for her patterns.
Lisa Chan is a master of all kinds of support spindles. As a 3rd generation fiber and wood artist, she has turned more than 2,000 support spindles of all kinds on her lathe. Whether a zippy Russian lace spindle or one of the long Tibetan spindles, Lisa knows how to make them and teach you to spin on them. She has fostered a community of spindlers that regularly meet together in Seattle and you can learn more about Lisa’s community and her spindles at grippingyarn.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 and a new ebook, Icelandic Lace. Her designs, patterns, and ebook are available at evelynclarkdesigns.com.
Lisa Daehlin is a knitting designer and opera chanteuse. She teaches in venues including the Studio Arts Workshop at Newark Museum, PS122 Gallery, and the American Folk Art Museum. A continuing education faculty member at The Cooper Union for seven years, she has the distinction of having been the first teacher of knitting and crochet courses at this historic institution. A sought-after designer of knitted and crocheted fabrics and objects, she freelances for the fashion industry and retail design. Her designs can be seen walking the streets of Manhattan, on the pages of Interweave Knits, Knit.1, Knit Simple, and Vogue Knitting as well as featured in the Lace Style and Bag Style books published by Interweave and in the upcoming books The New Tunisian Crochet and Vogue Knitting Ultimate Hat Book. Find her online at delisa.us and lisadaehlin.wordpress.com.
Brenda Dayneis the creator and host of Cast On, a podcast about knitting. Founded in 2005 on nothing more than Brenda’s desire to talk about her passion to people who get it, Cast On has evolved to focus on finding inspiration in the ordinary and using it to kick start the projects that matter most. Like knitting a sock, or saving the world. With “knitsibs” (Brenda’s brothers and sisters of the knitted cloth) in 72 countries worldwide, Cast On fans are some of the most passionate knitters on the planet. Collectively they have downloaded the podcast more than two million times. Brenda lives with her partner of thirteen years in the Welsh village of Llanteg, where the cider is strong, the people are friendly, and news travels fast. Find Brenda at cast-on.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.
Donna Druchunas escaped a corporate cubicle to honor her passions for knitting, world travel, research, and writing. She is the author of six knitting books including Arctic Lace, Successful Lace Knitting, Kitty Knits, and Ethnic Knitting Exploration: Lithuania, Iceland, and Ireland. She is a frequent contributor to Piecework and her newest offering is the Piecework DVD, Knitting Lithuanian Socks. She teaches in the United States and Europe and also offers online sock-knitting classes at Craftsy.com. Visit Donna’s website at sheeptoshawl.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 online 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 thebellwether.biz.
Linda Gettmann is a veteran crafts person who escaped from her corporate office in the financial services industry to have more time for her favorite hobbies: kumihimo jewelry, weaving, knitting, scuba diving, and photography. An avid fiber nut, Linda teaches kumihimo and rigid heddle weaving and belongs to several weaving and knitting guilds in Southwest Washington. She sells her creations at local art fairs and online at www.artfire.com/users/FiberArtDesigns under the name “Fiber Art Designs.” She is always on the lookout for new ideas, and enjoys teaching others and experimenting in the realm of fiber arts.
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, 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 is known for her exceptional beaded knits. Her work can be seen online on Ravelry, Patternfish, Twist Collective, Knitty, and her website at siviaharding.com . Her published work can be found in many books, print magazines, subscription clubs, and self-published patterns. She has been designing professionally since 2003.
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 book called Jazzknitting: An Introduction. She has worked as a Graphic Designer, Textile Designer and Toy Maker and currently is involved in making miniatures. For a more indepth look at Ilisha’s range of creative work, especially those using her JazzKnitting technique check followthethread.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 and 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.
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 maryscotthuff.com.
William Stewart Jones Bill is a retired professor of Theatre Design at San Francisco State University. He was the costumer for “Beach Blanket Babylon” for twenty years and did the costumes for the opening number of the 1969 Academy Awards. He is an experience tailor and pattern maker. Bill has been knitting for about fifty years, and enjoys cutting up his knitting to sew garments and teddy bears.
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.
Catherine Lowe is known for her original and unique construction techniques and her pairing of luxury fiber with elegant design. She has developed an approach to hand-knitting that rethinks the traditional technical and design vocabularies of the hand-knitter and translates the distinctive elements of haute couture dressmaking into refined techniques. Her designs have appeared in Vogue Knitting and in Interweave Knits. Her articles on couture knitting technique have been featured in Vogue Knitting, and she has been profiled in Interweave Knits, Knitting Lessons by Lela Nargi, and in KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting’s New Wave by Sabrina Gschwandtner. See all that Catherine has to offer at catherine-lowe.com.
Judith MacKenzie is a nationally known teacher, master weaver, spinner, dyer 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 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 that raises your skill towards excellence.
Susan Newhall taught herself to knit many years ago and found it perfectly absorbing. She designs patterns and teaches classes for Belfast Mini-Mills in Prince Edward Island, Canada as well as for local shops in Utah and on Ravelry. Susan invented Blended Intarsia and introduced it to the knitosphere knitty.com/ISSUEss11/PATTverdant.php almost two years ago. Since then, she has been teaching students how to knit colored light in classes and with her patterns. Also see Susan’s work at www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vitreous.
Clara Parkes’ love affair with yarn began at the age of 12. Since 2000, she has been leading knitters on a weekly yarn adventure through her online knitting magazine, Knitter’s Review. Dubbed one of “Knitting’s new wave” by Vogue Knitting, she is the author of The Knitter’s Book of Yarn, The Knitter’s Book of Wool, and The Knitter’s Book of Socks. She is also a frequent contributor to Interweave Knits and Twist Collective. She lives on the Coast of Maine in a farmhouse full of yarn. Check in with Clara and sign up for Knitter’s Review at knittersreview.com
Judy Pascale launched her career as a professional knitting instructor and designer in the early 1990s. After several years employed at a yarn shop teaching knitting classes and assisting numerous customers with their knitting and finishing problems, she is now exclusively teaching knitting and design classes across the country. Judy’s creative work and design has gone through several phases from knitting to combining her knitting with beads and onto wet felting. She has become fascinated with Nuno felting, an ancient textile process that remains vibrant and fascinating today, as either a Nuno scarf to wear or a decorative table runner or bowl to decorate your home. Creativity is endless.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a writer, mother, blogger, knitting humorist, and philosopher and the author of seven funny books about knitting, one of which spent a glorious week at the very bottom of the New York Times bestseller’s list. The real mystery is how Stephanie manages to knit, spin and weave when she is writing so many books. 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 is co-founder of Sock Summit, the world’s only full-scale conference for sock knitters. She has dedicated herself to support Doctors without Borders enlisting knitters worldwide into Tricoteuses Sans Frontières/Knitters without Borders. Together they have donated more than 1 million dollars to Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors without Borders. She keeps the blog yarnharlot.ca in her inestimable spare time.
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.
Candace Eisner Strick has been immersed in music and knitting for most of her life. Retired after sixteen years of teaching cello, she now concentrates on designing, writing, and teaching knitting. Her newest book, Strick-ly Socks, features a revolutionary and amazingly simple way of knitting socks. She is the author of six other books, has been published in numerous magazines, and has taught nationally and internationally since 1998. She is the creator of her own line of yarn, “Merging Colors”, and her own line of patterns under the name of Strickwear – strickwear.com . Candace’s students say they not only love learning from her classes, but thoroughly enjoy her sense of humor as well. Appropriately, “strick” means to knit.
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 sunsetcat.com . You can find her on Ravelry as “Stephcat”.
Judy Taylor is an award-winning rug hooker and craftswoman. She raises her own sheep and spins and dyes her own beautifully colored yarn at Edeldal Farm in Auburn, Washington. She learned how to hook rugs in 1993, after falling in love with handspinning wool from her own flock. With Nantucket Rug Hooking, she discovered the perfect union of the two crafts, spinning yarn and hooking beautiful rugs. You can see her designs at her website littlehouserugs.com
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 .
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 knittingwithjean.com.