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| Susan B. Anderson Susan B. Anderson has been knitting close to 30 years now. She is the author of 5 books: Itty-Bitty Hats, Itty-Bitty Nursery, Itty-Bitty Toys, Spud & Chloë at the Farm, and the upcoming release Topsy-Turvy, Inside Out. She has taught knitting workshops (including Vogue Knitting LIVE) and has toured all over the United States. Susan has recently added two online courses on Craftsy.com to her more than 40 instructional knitting videos on her YouTube channel, which have enjoyed more than 1 million viewings. Susan’s blog, susanbanderson.blogspot.com, recently won the About.com Reader’s Choice award 2012 for Favorite Knitting Blog/Website. Her designs have appeared in Knit Simple, Interweave Knits, Parents, Knitting Magazine, Knit Circus, Petite Purls, Knit and Crochet Now!, Women’s Weekly, and in a variety of compilation books. Susan lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin, where she loves spending time with her four kids and husband, running, nature hikes, cooking, reading and, especially, knitting. | |
| 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 around the country, 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 handknit sweaters, Michael Bastian by Josh Bennett, are available in stores now. For more info and other patterns, visit www.JoshBennettNYC.com. | |
| 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 he is currently developing his first collection of couture art-knitwear, to be translated into a collection of handknitted garments for fall 2013. Visit his new blog, wrongsidefacing.blogspot.com for updates. | |
| Beth Casey The owner and creative force behind Lorna's Laces since 2003, Beth Casey is an artist's artist. She and her crew provide the yarn community with beautiful colors, fabulous yarns and generous smiles. Always on the lookout for inspritation and ideas, Beth is contantly dreaming up something new, from colorways and yarns to partnering with your local yarn store to bring interesting products to stitchers everywhere. | |
| 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, including 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. | |
| Rebecca Danger Rebecca Danger is a knitting pattern designer living in Bothell, Washington, with her husband, Mr. Danger, their son, Presley, and their two pugs, Abbey and Lucy, plus a whole menagerie of knitted toys. She blogs at rebeccadanger.typepad.com and has a monster of an Etsy shop at dangercrafts.etsy.com. Rebecca believes that knitting is a lifestyle, not just a hobby. She started knitting rather obsessively and writing patterns of her original toy designs in February 2009. Since then she has self-published about 20 patterns, released 3 free patterns, written patterns for several yarn companies and books, and has authored her own book, The Big Book of Knitted Monsters, published by Martingale & Co. She feels quite proud that all of that knitting in high school and college has led to something more than just frowns and discontented looks from teachers. | |
| 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 of being 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. | |
| Ragga Eiríksdóttir Ragga is an Icelandic knitting instructor, designer, and entrepreneur. After earning a university degree in nursing and spending 10 years in sales and marketing, she decided it was time to let creativity take over and invest all her time and energy on projects related to knitting. She now owns and operates knittingiceland.is and works full time as an instructor, designer, and knitting tour guide. Ragga's firm belief is that knowledge liberates the knitter. That's why she loves to motivate and enable knitters to think outside the charts and beyond the patterns. Ragga's sound knowledge of knitting techniques and laid-back teaching style has earned her a reputation as a wacky, wonderful, and wise instructor. | |
| 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. | |
| Maggie Jackson President/Designer; Company - Maggiknits, Inc. Maggie Jackson was brought up on a small dairy farm in Northern Ireland where at six years old she was taught to knit and began her journey from quiet farmer's daughter to award-winning international knitwear designer! She was trained as a Fashion designer and did ready-to-wear for 25 years, selling to Nordstom and Neiman Marcus in the US as well as having her own retail shop in Ireland. Today, Maggie supports the Maggiknits Collection, showing at Vogue Knitting LIVE and Stitches, doing fashion shows, workshops, book-signings, and International and National retreats, with the aim of sharing her knowledge and encouraging knitters to think outside the box! Also telling an Irish yarn here and there with her own Irish sense of humor! Check out her work at www.maggiknits.com, www.maggiknitsretailgalleria.com, and www.youtube.com/maggiknitsdesigns | |
| 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 in Interweave publications. | |
| 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 recent titles include Mastering Color Knitting and Stashbuster Knits (Potter Craft), as well as numerous publications and DVDs from Leisure Arts. | |
| 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 as well as articles on couture knitting techniques have appeared in Vogue Knitting and Interweave Knits, 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. |
| Patty Lyons Patty Lyons decided to leave her previous life as a Broadway stage manager in 2005 to follow her passion and work in the knitting world. After managing a local yarn store, in 2008 she joined Lion Brand Yarn to help create the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York City, where she served as the Studio Director until 2013. Patty now teaches nationally at guilds & knitting shows around the country such as Vogue Knitting LIVE, Knit and Crochet Show (the official show of TKGA and CGOA), and STITCHES. A certified knitting instructor, Patty focuses on helping her students see the “why to,” not just the “how to.” She specializes in sweater design and sharing her love of the much-maligned subjects of gauge and blocking. Patty’s designs and knitting articles can be found in Creative Knitting and Knit ‘N Style magazine. According to knitwear designer Melissa Leapman, “Patty Lyons has done more to promote the pure love of knitting in New York City than anyone I can think of. Her enthusiasm for the craft is surpassed only by her dedication to quality education. The industry is lucky to have her.” Patty loves to knit, crochet, and spin, and she has even dabbled on the knitting machine. She is currently attempting not to get sucked into another yarncraft, but weaving is looking pretty interesting. Patty lives in Brooklyn with her husband, a room full of yarn, and her rooftop garden. | |
| Brandon Mably Brandon has been the manager of the Kaffe Fassett Studio in London for more than 18 years and a regular contributor to the design collections for the internationally distributed Rowan Knitting, Patchwork and Vogue Knitting magazines amongst other publications including his book Knitting Color (Sixth&Spring) and Brilliant Knits (Ebury Press, UK, and Taunton Press, USA). | |
| 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. | |
| Patty Nance Patty is a lifelong knitter who loves to teach and loves knitters of every skill level. Her knowledge, expertise, and creativity allow her to help new knitters from their very first cast-on, as well as intermediate and advanced knitters needing help with projects. She recently published her first book, Bargello Knits, which showcases her revolutionary new way to use variegated yarns. She has been published in Knit Noro Accessories, Knit Simple Magazine, Knitter's Magazine, and with yarn companies including Universal Yarns, Cascade Yarns, and Prism Arts. | |
| Laura Nelkin Laura Nelkin lives in upstate New York, where the sunny season is short and there is plenty of time to be indoors and knit. Though she has a degree in apparel design, she took to knitting 7 years ago and hasn’t looked back. Laura is currently enamored with lace, and incorporating beads into it, so most of her designs lean in this direction. She also has a passion for knitted jewelry and has been exploring creating wearable pieces. Laura travels often to teach these techniques and more at workshops around the country. When Laura is not designing or knitting, she is whipping up yummy feasts with her family, gardening, riding her bike, and taking time to play! | |
| 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. | |
| 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 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. Her Craftsy class, Custom Cabled Pullovers, launched earlier this year. A knitter since the age of 7, Carla has had a career in the hand-knitting industry spanning more than 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). | |
| 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 iPhone/iPad app called KnitSpeaker. | |
| 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” means to knit. | |
| Cully Swansen Cully Swansen is the grandson of master knitter Elizabeth Zimmermann and son of knitting designer Meg Swansen. Cully writes patterns and edits books for Schoolhouse Press, a business founded by Zimmermann in 1958. Cully edited Elizabeth's garter stitch designs for the book Knit One Knit All and produced Knitting with Two Colors, which includes his take on centering a color pattern. One of Cully’s first original designs, a cabled hat and sweater, was published in Vogue Knitting in 2010. His latest work is the Circular Stranded Surprise Jacket, a variation of the iconic Baby Surprise Jacket his grandmother designed for him. Cully teaches at Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp and has become a go-to-guy to answer technical questions at Schoolhouse Press. | |
| Ysolda Teague Ysolda Teague is a Scottish designer who has published popular knitting patterns in Twist Collective and Knitty, as well as three books in her Whimsical Little Knits series, a pattern collection and resource book Little Red in the City and an accessory collection in collaboration with Fyberspates, Saturday Treat. 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. | |
| Mary Beth Temple Mary Beth Temple designs in both knit and crochet—and sometimes both at the same time! Her patterns and articles have appeared in a wide variety of books and magazines, and she is the lead designer for Hooked for Life, LLC, which is available online and via your local yarn store. Mary Beth is the author of the humor books The Secret Language of Knitters and Hooked for Life: Adventures of a Crochet Zealot as well as two crochet home-decor booklets for Leisure Arts. She hosts the weekly crochet podcast Getting Loopy (www.GettingLoopy.com) and loves to teach, both online and in real life. | |
| Juju Vail Juju studied fashion design in Canada and ran a knitwear business that sold hand knits across North America. An MA in textile design brought her to London more than twenty years ago. She is a busy designer with her finger in many pies (yum, pie!)—she writes craft books on many subjects! She loves to research and explore new techniques. Juju loves color, texture, and elegant layered styles. She works at the well-known London knitting shop Loop, where she writes patterns, blogs, teaches, photographs and sells lovely yarn. She recently co-published the book Juju’s Loops with Susan Cropper, reflecting her style of knitwear. Juju is a continental “picker” and believes herself to be the world's fastest knitter but hasn’t proved it yet. | |
| 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. | |
