| Cookie A Cookie A is the author of Sock Innovation and Knit. Sock. Love. Her patterns have been featured in various print and online periodicals. She teaches intensive sock design workshops internationally. Visit her website at www.CookieA.com. | |
| Susan B. Anderson Susan B. Anderson has been knitting for the past 28 years and designing for about half of those. She has written four books, Itty-Bitty Hats, Itty-Bitty Nursery, Itty-Bitty Toys, and Spud & Chloë at the Farm. A fifth book is set for release in January 2013. Susan designs and curates the blog for Spud & Chloë (www.spudandchloe.com/blog) and also writes her personal blog (susanbanderson.blogspot.com). Recently, she filmed and released two online courses with Craftsy. | |
| Kate Atherley Kate is Knitty’s Lead Technical Editor and a seasoned designer in her own right. Her Cooperative Press book Beyond Knit and Purl has been praised for its “accessible” and “refreshing” approach to helping knitters expand their skills. Her designs have been featured in Interweave’s Sockupied, UK’s Knit magazine, Creative Knitting, and a wide range of books. She’s an experienced and popular teacher, teaching at shops and conferences for 10 years. She brings to her teaching a degree in pure mathematics and an analytical mind, ensuring her students learn not just the how, but also the why. Website: www.wisehildaknits.com | |
| Lorilee Beltman Lorilee 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. She looks forward to making her way from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to meet you in Chicago. | |
| Josh Bennett Josh Bennett grew up in Pennsylvania where he learned to knit from his grandmother when he was 8 years old. After moving to New York City in 2001 and knitting constantly for a couple of years, Josh worked at a yarn store on the Upper West Side that wrote custom patterns for its customers. Noticing the lack of menswear patterns being published, he took his pattern writing skills and set out to change that. He managed a couple of yarn shops in the city, honing his pattern-writing skills and building a private clientele that he still designs, knits, and writes patterns for.
He now designs the knitwear for Project Runway winner Irina Shabayeva, CFDA Award winner Michael Bastian, and GANT by Michael Bastian. His original designs can be seen in Rowan Magazine, Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, Knit.1, and Knit Local by Tanis Gray. He has taught at Vogue Knitting LIVE NYC & LA, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and countless yarns shops. Josh has a degree in Menswear Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
Josh’s own line of hand knit sweaters, Michael Bastian by Josh Bennett, are available in stores now. For more info and other patterns, visit www.JoshBennettNYC.com. | |
| Steven Berg He dresses like a rock star, adorned with a self-designed knit sweater made from cassette tapes, leather pants, and eye-catching jewelry! He describes himself as “loud and brassy.” His educational background extends from MCAD to Parsons to the Fashion Institute of Technology. His design career has taken him to all corners of the world, from designing fabrics in Hong Kong to consulting for Versace in Milan, Bill Blass in Montreal, and the urban Stacy Adams in Miami. His one-of-a-kind designs have also made him a hit with the A-listers of Hollywood, from Jennifer Aniston to Mischa Barton and many more. Steven brings his true passion for fiber arts home to Minneapolis, where he has created a Mid-Western mecca for visiting fiber artists, teachers, connoisseurs, and the next generation of “Glitter Knitters.” He is the owner of the Yarn Garage, in a circa 1911 Victorian building bursting with the latest yarns. His newest venue, StevenBe, in a turn-of-the-century restored firehouse, serves as a personal studio for all his creations and innovations and houses one of the most unique shopping and creative environments the fiber world has to offer. People come from all over to experience Steven’s personal advice and direction on their own “Steven inspired projects.” Quoting the master himself, “there are no mistakes, only variations.” | |
| Debbie Bliss Debbie Bliss has been designing knitwear for more than two decades. She is the bestselling author of more than 30 books on knitting design and has her own line of luxurious yarns, sold worldwide. She designed a line for Baby Gap and a line of little boys’ wear for Marks & Spencer. In 2008 Debbie launched her own publication, Debbie Bliss magazine. Her most recent book series is the award winning Design It, Knit It books. She lives with her husband, son, and daughter in London. | |
| John Brinegar John Brinegar has been involved with fiber arts since age 17. His work has been published in Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, and Crochet Today, as well as the collections of Tahki Stacy Charles and others. John has shared his love of teaching around the country, and is always inspired by his students. Visit his new blog, wrongsidefacing.blogspot.com for updates. | |
| Beth Brown-Reinsel Beth Brown-Reinsel has been teaching knitting workshops nationally and internationally for more than 20 years. Her book, Knitting Ganseys, has been deemed a classic. In 2010 she completed her first DVD, Knitting Ganseys with Beth Brown-Reinsel, and she is workingon a new DVD on color knitting. Her articles and designs have appeared in Vogue Knitting; Threads; Cast On; Interweave Knits; Knitting Traditions; Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot; and Knitters magazines. She continues to design for her own pattern line, Knitting Traditions, and to create video tutorials for her website. Find her online at www.KnittingTraditions.com. | |
| Nancy Bush Nancy Bush found her way to traditional knitting techniques and uses of ethnic patterns via a degree in art history and postgraduate studies in color design and weaving in San Francisco and Sweden. She has published articles and designs in Vogue Knitting, Knitter’s, Interweave Knits, and Threads. She has been the knitting contributor to PieceWork magazine and is currently a member of the editorial advisory panel. She teaches workshops in the United States and abroad and is the author of Folk Socks, Folk Knitting in Estonia, Knitting on the Road, Socks for the Traveling Knitter, Knitting Vintage Socks, and Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions, all published by Interweave Press. | |
| Chris Bylsma Chris retired from a career in marketing communications and advertising to pursue her artistic passions—knitting and texture play. She teaches workshops coast-to-coast for guilds, TNNA, conferences, shops, and in her hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. In addition, she has her own line of knitting patterns available through retail yarn stores. Her approach to knitting is that the process and end product should both be a joy, and she designs with that in mind. Chris is noted for her Crayon Box Jacket and inventive Ladder Scarf and Ladder Shawl. She encourages knitters to “color outside the lines,” where it’s more fun, and to think outside the box (she has occasionally been accused of actually not having a box). | |
| Lily Chin Lily M. Chin is an internationally famous knitter and crocheter who has worked in the yarn industry for more than 25 years as a designer, instructor, and author of books on knitting and crochet. She has created garments for the collections of designers from Ralph Lauren to Diane von Furstenberg. Her work has been on the backs of celebrities and super models. She was named a “Master Knitter” by Vogue Knitting. She is regularly cited in media across the US, include the Late Show with David Letterman, CNN, the New York Times and more. Lily Chin has lived in New York City all her life and has been involved in some aspect of the fashion industry since age 13. | |
| Nadine Curtis Nadine Curtis founded Be Sweet in 2003 while living in Cape Town, South Africa. Her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for socially conscious programs served as a catalyst for turning her fascination with local handmade accessories into a thriving business that supports artisans in developing countries. Be Sweet, a company with a conscience, has a mission to bring socially and environmentally friendly products to fashionable consumers—products that evoke an individual style and help support community development around the world. Nadine says, “I want to remind people to literally be sweet and to show compassion for their neighbors and those less fortunate.” | |
| Amy Detjen Amy Detjen was the “List Mom” of the original Knit List for more than four years, then started KnitU. She’s very proud to have been Meg Swansen’s assistant at Meg’s Knitting Camp for more than 15 years. Teaching knitting and helping people learn about their knitting options is something Amy is passionate about; she loves helping people solve problems. | |
| Candace Eisner Strick 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 desiging, 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. (www.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” mean to knit. | |
| Fiona Ellis Since graduating from DeMontfort University (England) with a degree in fashion knitwear design, Fiona has been designing professionally. Her work is much sought after, with sustained exposure in leading magazine publications such as Vogue Knitting and online at Twist Collective. She also designs for many yarn companies such as Universal Yarn and Cascade Yarns. Her original concepts have been pirchased by major fashion houses in London, Paris, and New York, and she has many requests for personal appearances and workshop instruction at international conferences and guilds. She is the author of Inspired Cable Knits, Knitspiration Journal, and Inspired Fair Isle Knits. | |
| Nicky Epstein Beloved knitwear designer Nicky Epstein has gained worldwide recognition for her abundant creativity, groundbreaking sense of style, and informative workshops. She has authored numerous books, including Cover Up with Nicky Epstein, Nicky Epstein’s Crocheted Flowers, Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Flowers, Knitting Never Felt Better: The Definitive Guide to Fabulous Felting, Knitting Beyond the Edge, Knitting Over the Edge, Knitting on the Edge and Knits for Barbie™ Doll. Her designs are featured in a regular column in Vogue Knitting magazine and her work has been in many other knitting publications, on television and at art exhibitions. She currently resides in New York City with her husband, Howard. | |
| Franklin Habit Franklin Habit is the author of It Itches: A Stash of Knitting Cartoons (Interweave Press), a regular contributor to Knitty, and proprietor of The Panopticon (the-panopticon.blogspot.com), one of the most popular knitting blogs. He travels widely to teach and speak about lace, colorwork, and the history of knitting. | |
| 0 | June Hemmons Hiatt June Hemmons Hiatt took the knitting world by surprise in 1989 with the release of her book, The Principles of Knitting. A lifelong knitter, she spent ten years researching and writing a book that was soon recognized as providing knitters with a new in-depth understanding of their craft. Unfortunately, the publisher failed to appreciate how important the book had become and let it go out of print. In the ensuing years, the book has regularly been on the lists of the most sought after out-of-print books, selling on eBay for $400–600 or more a copy. June undertook another ten-year effort to revise and expand the book, and Simon & Schuster, having recognized its significance and published a new edition with a fresh new design in February 2012. |
| Robin Hunter Robin has been knitting her whole life. She started making garments for herself in her teens and then explored sewing, tailoring, and millinery. Robin wants to teach knitters about fit and flattery and turn everyone into fashion stars! After working in the corporate world, she left to pursue full-time knitting design and teaching in the spring of 2010. See her patterns on www.patternfish.com, read her blog at knittingrobin.blogspot.com, and find her on Ravelry under the username knittingrobin. She's on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/robinknits | |
| Gudrun Johnston Gudrun was born in the Shetland Islands. She likes to incorporate traditional knitting techniques and patterns from Shetland into her designs, bringing them into a contemporary context. She also loves to design using seamless construction methods and is always adding new techniques to her seamless knitting skills. She has made a name for herself among a new generation of knitwear designers, using the Internet to directly interact with an international community of knitters. Gudrun primarily self-publishes her designs, but she has appeared in several prominent magazines online, including Knitty.com, Twist Collective and Knit on the Net, and is soon to appear in some Interweave Press publications. | |
| Erika Knight Erika Knight, renowned design consultant to the fashion and yarn industry, has lectured at the V&A Museum in London as well as other Leading Art Institutions and Universities. Contributor to Rowan Magazine and Regia Yarns, most recently Erika designed the Team GB formal wear for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and is currently working with the Craft Council in a number of talks and workshops. Erika has worked with design companies in Italy and the U.K, as well as “high street” brands in the U.K, US, South Africa, and Australia through her handknit label “Molto!” which was highly successful across the globe. Originally from a fine art background, she has worked on original concept, garment design, pattern, and print through to yarn design and production. Erika’s trend forecasting skills revived her passion for the hand made, and her ethos of minimalism and eco-design has created a unique interpretation of craft. Between private and public talks and workshops Erika Knight is working on her sixteenth book, in a selection of highly acclaimed knitting and crochet collections. | |
| Taiu Landra Maie Landra and her daughter Taiu are the owners and creative voices of Koigu Wool Designs. For more than a decade, Koigu has supplied top-quality handpainted merino yarn and exquisite knitting designs to consumers across North America. Its unique, rich palette, as glorious as a painter's has ignited a passion for color and quality in the knitting world. | |
| Melissa Leapman A popular teacher and prolific designer, Melissa Leapman is the author of several bestselling knitting and crocheting books. Her most recent titles are Mastering Color Knitting and Stashbuster Knits (Potter Craft), as well as numerous publications and DVDs from Leisure Arts. Her next book is due out in the fall of 2012. | |
| 0 | Catherine Lowe 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. |
| Trisha Malcolm Trisha Malcolm’s life in needle crafts began at the age of 4 and has spanned summers knitting, sewing, crocheting, and embroidering at the beach, months backpacking around the world, and academic years as a high school needlework teacher. An editorship at McCalls Needlework and Craft magazine led to a career in craft publishing, including her time as the Craft Editor at Family Circle Magazine Australia and other publications before she took over the helm of Vogue Knitting in 1997. Her role at the company has expanded in the ensuing years, to encompass Knit Simple magazine, a book publishing division (publisher of the Stitchionary series, Knitopedia, and more), custom publishing, and stitching-themed events. Trisha lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her son. | |
| Nancy Marchant 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, and Knitters, as well as a number of Dutch knitting magazines and is the author of Knitting Brioche, the first and only knitting book devoted exclusively to the brioche stitch. She maintains a website on the subject at www.briochestitch.com and teaches brioche knitting both locally and at large yarn shows. | |
| Sally Melville Sally Melville has published 6 books, and each is full of the kind of mostly simple, wearable pieces she loves to design. In addition, she has an extensive teaching schedule, traveling around the world and speaking to wonderful folk who can appreciate the perfect buttonhole, who love the textures and colors and techniques of knitting, who want to be more intuitive about their craft, and who know that life is about learning. | |
| Mary Jane Mucklestone Mary Jane is the author the popular new stitch dictionary 200 Fair Isle Motifs: A Knitter’s Directory. She is happiest when making something; she’s a hand-knitting designer who likes the process of knitting as much as the finished projects she makes. Not content to sit still, she travels the world to study colorful traditional knitting. With an extensive background in art, textiles, and the fashion industry, Mary Jane has a unique skill set to offer the world of handknitting. She is known for her colorful and inventive Fair Isle and colorwork designs, which have been featured in an impressive assortment of other books and publications. | |
| Deborah Newton For more than 25 years, Deborah Newton has designed for all the major craft and knitting magazines, for yarn companies, and for Seventh Avenue. She is the author of numerous books, including Designing Knitwear, which has been in continuous print for more than 20 years, and her latest, Finishing School. She lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island. | |
| Brooke Nico Brooke Nico began designing by sewing her own wardrobe, inspired by drape and color. She brought her talents to knitting almost ten years ago, first exploring modular construct then lace. Next, Brooke opened Kirkwood Knittery, a yarn shop in St. Louis. Brooke’s designs have been featured in several magazines, including Vogue Knitting and Debbie Bliss magazine. As a dedicated teacher, Brooke guides knitters through the intricacies of techniques to make their projects as polished as possible. | |
| Shannon Okey Shannon Okey, aka Knitgrrl, is the author of more than a dozen knitting- and fiber-related books as well as the publisher at Cooperative Press, an independent fiber arts publishing house. You can find her online almost everywhere as "knitgrrl." | |
| Shirley Paden As an internationally recognized hand-knitwear designer, Shirley Paden’s designs and articles have appeared in magazines such as Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Interweave Crochet, Knitters, Family Circle, and Knit It as well as in the collections of leading yarn companies. She has taught and lectured on various aspects of hand knitting and crochet locally, nationally, and internationally. In her book, Knitwear Design Workshop, she brings to life in print her most popular class, Knitwear Design, for all those who want to explore designing their own garments or altering commercial patterns. Shirley has been featured on HGTV and Knitting Daily TV as well as in designer interviews in the leading knitting magazines. The British magazine The Knitter has named her in its “Who’s Who in North American Knitting” list. She was the 2011 featured American Needlework Designer at the Danish Needlework Fair in Middelfart, Denmark. She is also the owner of Shirley Paden Custom Knits, located in New York City, where Shirley designs an exclusive line of custom knit clothing. | |
| Judy Pascale Judy Pascale, a native of Connecticut, 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. The second phase of Judy’s designer career combined knitting with beads. Using a non-prestringing technique and textured stitches, she has designed classes from small projects to garments. Her most recent phase is wet felting. This ancient textile process 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. | |
| Mari Lynn Patrick Mari Lynn Patrick has worked exclusively as a professional writer and designer in the hand-knitting and yarn industry since 1973. With thousands of designs in both knit and crochet in print, she has also written or translated more than 10,000 sized patterns from foreign languages, primarily in women’s fashion knitting and crochet. While working as the design editor for Caron/Columbia Minerva in the early 1970s, she designed leaflets for the company that sold more than 1 million copies. She has been actively involved with Vogue Knitting magazine since its reintroduction in 1982, both as a designer, instruction writer and editor, and writer of technical articles. | |
| Stephanie Pearl McPhee 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. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with assorted teenaged daughters and a long-suffering husband, all of whom have her outsmarted. Stephanie avoids housework, loves to teach knitting, and works very hard at both. She is the co-founder of Sock Summit, the world's only full-scale conference for sock knitters, and she plays hostess to Tricoteuses Sans Frontières/Knitters Without Borders, a worldwide group of knitters that 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. | |
| Kristen Rengren Kristen Rengren is a professional knitwear designer and author of Vintage Baby Knits, a bestselling book of knitting patterns for children. A longtime collector of vintage clothing and ephemera and a former vintage clothing dealer, Kristen’s work as a knitwear designer and author is inspired and informed by her vast collection of vintage knitting patterns, including thousands of patterns spanning from the 1920s to the 1950s. She has designed for Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, and several yarn companies, as well as for her own line of independently published patterns. | |
| Carla Scott Carla Scott is currently editor in chief of Knit Simple magazine and executive editor of Vogue Knitting International magazine. She has been working with Vogue Knitting since 1982 and has enjoyed hosting the VK Tours for the past 10 years. She created and edited the Vogue Knitting Stitchionary book series and is closely involved in the various knitting books published by Sixth&Spring Books. A knitter since the age of 7, Carla has had a career in the hand-knitting industry spanning over 30 years, working for various yarn companies, knitting magazines and book publishers in New York City. Carla lives in Manhattan with her husband and daughter (who is also a knitter). | |
| Jane Slicer-Smith Jane Slicer-Smith brings the style of her book Swing, Swagger and Drape and her practical experience to your knitting needles. Born in England and a BA graduate in knitwear design, Jane has designed for British, Japanese, and American hand-knit yarn companies, as well as for Debbie Bliss, who thirty years ago commissioned her first pieces from Jane. She now lives in Sydney, Australia, and is a regular visitor to the US. Through her labels Signatur Handknits & Signatur Knitting Kits, Jane retails ready-to-wear and made-to-measure bespoke garments as well as knitting kits, thus bringing a wealth of real-world knowledge and experience to her teaching. Her classes encompass techniques ranging from color and texture to the importance of understanding style and fit. All classes are supported by garments that demonstrate her use of color, technique, and styling. | |
| Adrienne Sloane Adrienne Sloane has been showing her work nationally for more than 20 years. A hand- and machine-knitter, she teaches sculptural fiber internationally and has also worked with indigenous knitters in Bolivia and Peru.
Her work has been published in Fiberarts, American Craft, The Surface Design Journal, and The Culture of Knitting, and she is profiled in Knitting Art. Her work is on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Goldstein Museum of Design, the American Textile History Museum, and the Kamm Collection. Sloane’s curatorial work includes “Beyond Knitting” and “Primary Structures” at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and “Textiles and Metaphoric Fibers” in Minneapolis. | |
| Leslye Solomon Having taught more than 20 years of sold-out classes at national and international seminars, Leslye Solomon is an enthusiastic, energetic, and empathetic teacher. Her classes include comprehensive sweater designing, hands-on sweater finishing, and easy-to-learn (or switch to) continental knitting. Leslye has published a number of sweater designs and editorials, and she has produced numerous instructional DVDs. Her well-photographed, studio-produced DVDs include the following titles: The Hand-Knitter’s Guide to Sweater Finishing, The Absolute Best Way to Learn How to Knit, The Hand Knitter’s Guide to Buttonholes and Bands, The Hand Knitter’s Guide to Making Socks, and The Hand Knitter’s Guide to Making Socks on a Single Circular Needle. Her recent project has been the completion an exciting new, patent pending, iPhone/iPad app called KnitSpeaker. | |
| Debbie Stoller Debbie is the author of the New York Times–bestselling Stitch 'n Bitch series of knitting and crocheting books. She is also the Editor in Chief of BUST Magazine. Debbie began knitting when she was only 6 years old, but it took 30 years before she actually learned to enjoy it. Once she became obsessed, in 1999, she started a Stitch 'n Bitch group in a cafe in NYC's Lower East Side, and it became the inspiration for thousands of Stitch 'n Bitch groups that have formed all across the country in the years since. She has written 5 books in the Stitch 'n Bitch series and has her own line of yarn, Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller. She lives in Brooklyn with one crazy cat, 2 weird dogs, and way too much yarn. | |
| Carol Sulcoski Carol Sulcoski is an attorney turned fiber artist: after the birth of her oldest child, she retired from the practice of law and began knitting in earnest. She is the author of Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarns and co-author of Knit So Fine (both Interweave Press). Her knitting designs and articles have appeared in Vogue Knitting, Knit Simple, KnitScene, St.-Denis Magazine, Knitty.com and other publications. Carol also creates hand-dyed yarns and fibers as Black Bunny Fibers, and she began her own pattern line in 2009. She lives with her family outside Philadelphia. | |
| Ysolda Teague Ysolda Teague is a young Scottish designer who has published popular knitting patterns in Twist Collective and Knitty, as well as two books in her Whimsical Little Knits series and her new pattern collection and resource book Little Red in the City. Her many other patterns are available on her website, www.ysolda.com, and in yarn stores. She lives and works in Edinburgh but loves to travel, especially when it means meeting the people who make her patterns. | |
| Julie Weisenberger Julie learned to knit in Europe and had a small sweater company in the ’80s selling to Nordstrom, Henri Bendel, Mark Shale, and a number of small boutiques across the country. Her main focus, however, has been on designing for and teaching hand-knitters of all shapes and sizes. A knitter should be rewarded with comments of “great sweater, where did you buy it?” as opposed to “you made your sweater, didn’t you?” Julie teaches every step toward that goal—flattering designs knit with elegant construction techniques using interesting yarns. For more than 20 years she has delighted in teaching knitters to enjoy the process of knitting as much as the end result. | |
