Kathryn Alexander is an internationally known textile artist – a spinner, weaver, dyer and knitter whose work is characterized by an abundance of color, richly textured surfaces, and whimsical designs. She and her work have been featured in several magazines including Fiberarts, Surface Design, Ornament, Spin Off and Knits, and in a number of books. When not spinning, weaving, dyeing and knitting, Kathryn can be found working in her flower and vegetable gardens or riding her horses through fields and woods that surround her small farm in upstate New York. See Kathryn's work on her website www.kathrynalexander.net.
Karen Alfke was taught to knit by her aunt who also taught her how to design knitwear. She is a full-time pattern designer and knitting instructor. Her goal with her teaching is "to create more independent knitters." To that end, she has developed a line of "Unpatterns," - tools for knitters to design their own basic garments as well as other patterns published under her 2nd Nature Design label and available at many yarn shops. Karen regularly teaches at Stitches, Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island, and at other shops in the Pacific Northwest. Karen lives in Port Townsend, WA and was quoted in Debbie McComber's novel "The Shop on Blossom Street." You can find out more about Karen and her designs at www.2ndesign.com.
Janine Bajus has always loved working with color, so when she saw sweaters knit out of lovely Shetland wool she knew that there was a lifetime of joyous exploration ahead of her. Her first design—Dragonfly River Vest—was included in the book Sweaters from Camp. Janine has exhibited her work in a presentation at the Seattle Knitters' Guild, where she also taught a mini-workshop on Fair Isle knitting. She has taught specialized topics—crocheted steeks, short-row shoulder shaping in the round—at Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp. She documents her design progress on her blog: www.feralknitter.typepad.com/feral_knitter
Pat Bruner was born with a pencil in her hand. Her formal training is in art (BA in Fine Art and Secondary Education) but spent her whole professional career in engineering as a mechanical and electronics designer and computer software instructor. Since retiring she's put her 50 years of knitting experience and lifelong work as an artist together with her work in engineering and now uses both sides of her brain to design knitted garments, teach knitting classes at elementary schools and senior centers, give workshops at conferences, and make presentations at local guilds. She's found that teaching eager knitters is easier and a lot more fun than teaching reluctant computer users! Her patterns have been published by the Skacel Company, Knitter's magazine and XRX publications.
Nancy Bush found her passion for traditional hand knitting via a degree in Art History and post graduate studies in color design and weaving in San Francisco and Sweden. She has worked as a free-lance designer and consultant to several yarn companies. She is currently Knitting Contributor to PieceWork Magazine. Her designs and articles have also appeared in Interweave Knits, Knitter's, Vogue Knitting, and Threads. She has taught workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Finland and at the Culture College in Estonia. She has been Knitting Guide on the Interweave Press Knitter's Journey to Scandinavia for a number of years. As a knitter, her focus has been on traditional knitting techniques and uses of ethnic patterns. Her specialty is Estonian traditional knitting. She is the author of Folk Socks (1994), Folk Knitting in Estonia (1999), Knitting on the Road (2001), and Knitting Vintage Socks (2005) all published by Interweave Press. Nancy is currently working on a book about Estonian Lace and owns the Wooly West, an online and mail order yarn business in Salt Lake City. www.woolywest.com .
Evelyn A. Clark is a Pacific Northwest native who learned to knit and crochet from her grandmothers. After leaving a marketing career for a simpler life, she was inspired to pick up her needles again by Elizabeth Zimmerman's empowering approach to knitting. Along the way she discovered a passion for lace knitting and enjoys sharing this addiction with others. Evelyn was the winner of the first Wild Fibers Magazine and Buffalo Gold contest. Her designs have been published by Fiber Trends and Leisure Arts, as well as knitting magazines and yarn companies. Her book, Knitting Lace Triangles was published by Fiber Trends in 2007. For more information, visit her website at www.evelynclarkdesigns.com .
Kathy Connelly first learned to knit in college while earning her BA in Fine Arts from the University of Puget Sound. She discovered Alice Starmore which inspired her to take her knitting to a more "geeky" level. Her Alice Starmore cardigan "Flying Geese" took the Grand Champion Prize at the Puyallup Fair in 1998. Kathy has been a fixture at Churchmouse Yarns and Teas on Bainbridge Island where she works and teaches regularly. She delights in converting "pickers" from "throwers" and feels incredibly fortunate to have a dream job and do what she is most passionate about as a profession.
Chris Conrad lived in Japan for 8 years and spent her last one and a half years there was spent studying Kakishibu with Masamichi Terada, the only kakishibu instructor in Japan. Upon returning to the US and frustrated with the unavailability of kakishibu and information, she started importing kakishibu and teaching. She is currently working on publication of a book about kakishibu. For more information see www.kakishibui.com.
Sue Ewens has been a fiber artist and teacher in the Seattle area for many years. Along with a mixed technical background of knitting, weaving and spinning, she brings her passion for teaching to the classroom. Known for her enthusiasm, she loves increasing students' skills while engendering awareness for their creative thinking.
Darla Fanton, a needle arts teacher and designer for more than twenty years, is intrigued by specialty crochet techniques of the past. She derives great joy in giving these nearly lost arts new life for today's fiber fanatics to experience. Her credits include magazine articles as well as leaflets by publishers such as ASN, Leisure Arts, and Jeanette Crews and her own pattern line, Designs by Darla J (www.designsbydarlaj.com). Certified by the Craft Yarn Council of America, Darla is a popular teacher at national conferences, local guilds and her local yarn shop where she is known for her patience and detailed instructions.
Susanna Hansson is a passionate knitter who originally learned to knit in the 5th grade in her native Sweden, where she still visits several times a year. However, her real knitting life began in the Southern Hemisphere in the late 1980's and then continued here in America, her adopted home. Susanna teaches at several Seattle area yarn shops and is a very popular instructor at regional and national conferences including "Stitiches". Susanna has researched many unique and historical knitting traditions in Scandinavia and those taking her classes will experience this wonderful combination of knitting techniques and legacy. Susanna designs patterns under the name "One of Susannas" that are available at many yarn shops in the Northwest. You can see her patterns and learn of other workshops she teaches at her website www.oneofsusannas.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 near the Market.
Janel Laidman has been spinning for the last 15 years and has participated in various fiber arts for most of her life. She is the owner and editor of Spindlicity.com, an online magazine about handspinning. Janel currently resides in Los Angeles where she runs Chameleon Colorworks, a dyeworks and fiber studio. Janel's first book The Painted Skein: A Colorwork Notebook for Spinners and Knitters, is due out in 2007. She has a master's degree in biochemistry and a knowledge of fiber and dye chemistry at the molecular level. Janel taught at SOAR 2007 and Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival 2007. Check out her website at www.chameleoncolorworks.com .
Carol Lansinger grew up in Seattle and has been knitting for 25 years. Her interest in skirts began in 7th grade sewing class when her first project was a skirt. She has been knitting skirts for 5 years and has designed some classic skirt patterns that are available through Churchmouse Yarns and Tea on Bainbridge Island where she teaches when she isn't working as a senior consultant for an auditing firm. Carol loves color, fabric, and fiber.
Anita Luvera Mayer is an internationally recognized weaver and versatile fiber artist, designer and author. She was first introduced to weaving in 1955 when her mother-in-law gave her a floor loom as a wedding gift. Her focus on weaving contemporary garments began in 1972 and she has focused the last 10 years of her work about women. Although she still weaves, her creative fiber work has evolved to include many types of innovative surface design techniques as well as incredible beadwork, embroidery, freeform knitting and crochet. Anita presents workshops and lectures throughout the United States and Canada. At the Winter Retreat Anita will be your guide in experimenting with many different and innovative forms of surface design.
Judith MacKenzie McCuin is a nationally known teacher, master weaver, spinner, and fiber artist from Montana. Judith teaches as only she can--- with depth of knowledge honed by years of practice, patience, creative informality, personal and historical 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 just published a book, Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning. If you take any of Judith's classes this year you will experience the history of each process as it has been performed through the years.
Syne Mitchell shares her enthusiasm for handweaving via her monthly podcast, WeaveCast (www.weavecast.com) . She has published articles in Handwoven and Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot. The only thing Syne likes better than cutting beautiful cloth off her loom is teaching people how fun and easy weaving can be!
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot, 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, misadventures and laughs surely follow. Her books, At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much, Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter, Knitting Rules!, and the latest Casts Off not only have knitters around the world laughing out loud but reveal the real truth about obsessive love of knitting and it's culture. Along the way, she imparts her unique perspective that clears up many a knitting mystery and provides straight forward solutions to problems. Most of all it is important to have fun and in Stephanie's world there are no mistakes only more opportunities to knit more. After all, "Knitting is not defusing a bomb!" Stephanie lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband, Joe, three daughters, and a large yarn and fiber stash. She knits, spins, writes, is a childbirth doula and has dedicated herself to support Doctors without Borders by enlisting knitters worldwide in raising a staggering $380,000 and counting.
Lucy Neatby has been a dedicated knitter for more than 20 years, constantly seeking to extend her range of techniques and experiment with many fibers. 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 12 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 feels it is important to teach more young people to knit and 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 passion is long distance cycling. Lucy has published her book Cool Socks and a series of DVD's called Knitter's Companion. Check out Lucy's very nautical website: www.tradewindknits.com
Philosopher's Wool is Eugene and Ann Bourgeois of Ontario, Canada. As farmers, Eugene and Ann started Philosopher's Wool in 1986 to improve the price farmers get for their fleece. Since then, Eugene and Ann, have become known throughout the knitting world for their innovative blends of hand dyed country yarns and their incredibly beautiful fair isle style sweaters, each a unique design and colorway. They sell their yarns and kits for the sweaters, each pattern requiring not more than two colors to a row. Throughout North America, they teach their two-handed fair isle stranding technique for knitting which they have featured in their book and video, "Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified". For more information go to www.philosopherswool.com .
Margaret Radcliffe returns to the Winter Retreat after an absence of several years. She lives in Blacksburg, VA and has applied her technical skills as an academic researcher and project manager to pattern design and teaching knitting skills throughout the US that have unraveled the mysteries of knitting for many a new and advanced knitter. As a designer, Margaret specializes in garments that look complicated but are easy to knit. She was taught to knit by her mother when she was 6 and has been designing handknit sweaters since 1983. In 1995 Margaret learned to spin, which gave her an increased insight into the structure and behavior of knitting yarns. Her talent and insight coupled with an ease of explanation has culminated in The Knitting Answer Book she published in 2005…a must for every knitting bag! She is currently finishing the manuscript for a second book. You can find Margaret's patterns and more information at www.maggiesrags.com .
Carol Robinson was trained in college to be a teacher. After raising her family, she decided that she wanted to return to teaching and subsequently taught yoga, aerobics, English as a second language and knitting. In 1996, she completed the teacher's class offered by the Yarn Council of America and now teaches knitting on a regular basis at community colleges and local yarn shops. Carol will be mentoring and teaching beginning knitters in a demonstration booth in the rotunda of the Pavilion near the Market.
Paula Shull is an award winning spinner with her work being exhibited in a number of juried shows and a sought after judge for fiber events throughout the west. She is a frequent contributor to Spin-Off Magazine and known as an expert on wool combing. Her articles have also appeared in Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot, a publication of The Handweavers Guild of America. For over 15 years, Paula has been teaching at major conferences and fiber events including SOAR, Northwest Regional Spinners Association, Black Sheep Gathering, Oregon Flock and Fiber, Conference of Northern California Handweavers and many guilds throughout the West. Paula lives in Oregon.
Karin Skacel, though not the inventor of the magical Feltpaper, is the leading authority on artfeltR. She was the first to experiment with Feltpaper and through trial and error has discovered many amazing possibilities using the paper as a base for felting. She is currently working on an artfeltR book and has been teaching classes and doing demonstrations throughout the United States for the last year. Prior to working with artfeltR Karin taught classes in clothing design, sewing, knitting, crochet, warm glass and pottery. She has been involved in the artistic crafts industry her entire life and is currently president of Skacel Collection, Inc.
Ruth Sørensen lives in Denmark where the women in her family were all knitting as a natural part of their life. She learned to knit at an early age sitting next to her grandmother. Later in her life working with textiles became her profession and she studied at a Danish Design School where her specialty subjects were weaving and knitting. Ruth has always admired the Shetland tradition and she traveled to the Shetland Islands to experience their yarns and knitting first hand. She is now meshing the Shetland Fair Isle traditions with her own Scandinavian tradition of color work in her unique designs and color knitting. Ruth is known for her latest work of designing with self-striping yarns. Her cardigan pattern knit with Kauni Yarn is being knit around the world thanks to the speed of light communication via the internet and blogs. Ruth will be teaching classes on designing and knitting with self-striping yarns and we are excited to welcome her to the US. You can see Ruth's patterns on her website at www.ruths.dk and read her blog at www.ruths-workshop.blogspot.com.
Una Walker is a feltmaker living in Southern California. She is seen on HGTV's "That's Clever" making a pair of felted and lasted shoes. She teaches out of her home studio as well as the LA and surrounding area. She travels in the summer selling her felted accessories at craft shows around the country. See Una's work and her blog at www.woolywalkers.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 15 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 5 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" and more information is available on her website www.knittingwithjean.com .
Myra Wood is a designer and teacher who specializes in all things freeform! She teaches a wide range of classes in freeform beading, embroidery, crochet and knitting and has appeared on several episodes of Knitty Gritty and Uncommon Threads for DIY network. Myra has been crocheting, sewing and crafting since she was young and enjoys any opportunity to inspire others creatively. She is also a moderator for the International Freeform Guild and coordinator for their annual shows. Myra is from California and more information is available on her website www.myrawood.com
