Denise Bell and her husband Chris run Lost City Knits. She is the designer behind two books: Ultima Thule: Knitting Patterns Inspired by the Shetland Islands and Deep Roots: Patterns Inspired by the Tallgrass Prairie in Kansas. Denise designs and teaches primarily in the lace and colorwork traditions

Along with these two books, Denise has designed lace shawls, skirts, colorwork vests, sweaters, and other interesting garments.

Her teaching experience includes events from coast to coast and border to border at large conventions, small retreats, guilds, and yarn shops. Denise’s goal is to encourage students at all levels to be intrepid and eclectic in their knitting adventures.

Irene Blanck designed her first applique quilt in 2007. More than 100 designs later, she brings a love of color and streamlined techniques to classes in handpiecing and all aspects of applique.
You'll find Irene's designs in her book Focus on Applique (Quiltmania) and quilt magazines in the UK and US. Irene joins us from Melbourne, Australia.

I have been quilting for the last 30 years and enjoyed and learned all techniques, from machine piecing, English Paper Piecing, Foundation Piecing and Needleturn Applique. I started designing my own applique quilts in 2007 and was asked to teach my first quilt. I haven't looked back since then.

I try and run my classes as sit and sew sessions where we have a fun and relaxing day, chatting with friends as well as learning new techniques or perfecting on learned techniques. I am now expanding into prepared edge applique as well as my version of "template" applique. I teach all the shortcuts that I've learnt over the years - mostly from making mistakes along the way and having to re-do sewing over and over.

I have taught extensively in the USA, Europe and Australia. During the last year, with the restriction of travel, I decided to try my hand at Zoom classes. After spending a LOT of time learning how to do this I started offering lectures and workshops via zoom. Most of the workshops are 3 hours long and have turned out to be just as much fun as "live" workshops. I teach hand sewing, needleturn, prepared edge and "template" applique, foundation piecing and machine piecing workshops.

Carissa learned to knit and crochet when she was 23 years old and started recruiting friends and family shortly thereafter. She began teaching in earnest in 2017 through local yarn shops and pivoted to virtual classes in 2020. During the pandemic, she took up weaving as well and more recently, dipped her toes into the world of spinning too. Her designs have been featured in Knitty, Pom Pom, KnitCrate, New Directions in Sock Knitting, Star Wars: Knitting the Galaxy, as well as numerous self-published patterns. Much like her yarn stash, her handknit sock drawer runneth over.

Molly is a founding partner of Hands on Knitting Center in Redlands, CA. In the 11 years, Molly has become the in-store expert on helping students fix mistakes, adjust patterns, and learn to let go of the pattern and make what the knitter wants. She loves sharing her passion for all fiber arts but nothing makes her happier than teaching how to simplify complicated techniques.

People claim that she is patient but she just believes anyone can learn anything as long as they want to. Living in the Inland Empire of SoCal, where it is over 90 degrees much of the year, Molly has also chosen to become a plant based yarn enthusiast and enjoys sharing her enthusiasm and knowledge with anyone who will listen! Like most people, Molly was warned against knitting with cotton or other plant based yarns when she first began to knit. But realizing that we cannot wear wool most of the year in SoCal, she decided to learn about how to be successful with plant based yarns - after all, people have been working with cotton over 6,000 years and linen over 9,000 so it had to be possible... Molly is also a designer and has had designs published in Love of Knitting and on Ravelry. She teaches in-store and at local guilds and schools.

Prior to opening HOKC, Molly worked in the retail industry as VP of Sales for Le Creuset running the retail chain of more than 40 stores. As VP of the Friedman Group she taught sales and management all over the world for big and small retailers. And just prior to opening HOKC, Molly was a Leasing Agent with Craig Realty Group learning skills that came in handy for negotiating a lease! Molly lives in SoCal with her very patient husband and very silly dog.

Veronique loves to share her passion with other quilters/embroiderers. She joins us from Australia, where she has been a pattern designer and teacher in needle-turn appliqué and hand embroidery for the past 10 years. Her projects have been featured in Today's Quilter magazine as well as Quilter's Companion.

Kira Dulaney, the designer behind Kira K Designs, has been teaching fiber arts classes and hosting crafty events in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond since 2002.

As a teacher, her focus is on providing valuable information in a stress-free environment, and supporting students through the learning process.Kira K Designs are original knitting and crochet patterns featuring clean lines and intriguing details that are both interesting to make and easy to wear.

After many years teaching knit and crochet, Deborah Jarchow discovered weaving and her love of fiber, texture, and color came together. Since then, she has worked full time as a weaver and artist. Now, Deborah focuses on teaching on rigid-heddle looms and making weaving accessible to as many people as possible.

Deborah's work has been exhibited at galleries and museums across the country, and she has won numerous awards and written articles for national publications. Her work has been commissioned by churches and is in many private collections. Since 2004 she has been an artist-in-residence, teacher, and weaver at Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo, CA.

She travels extensively to share her weaving enthusiasm and expertise and  loves helping Makers discover the joy of weaving.

For more about Deborah, go to deborahjarchow.com

Curiosity, exploration, and an ever-expanding plan for world domination are the name of fiber-artist Kim McBrien Evans' game. Her knitwear is designed to fit and flatter every body. This has led her to explore how home sewists and knitters can create clothing that fits, celebrating the beauty of inclusive design.

Her lifelong love of color, texture, and pattern prompted Kim to transition from working artist to textile maven. She lives and works in the woods of Central Ontario, Canada.

Yoriko Oki — dyer, weaver, knitter, and overall fiber art enthusiast — comes to us from Vancouver, BC, Canada. Her mission is to inspire and empower fellow fiber artists through her work so they can continue to create and have fun.
A self-described “forever work in progress,” Yoriko admits to being a slow learner. Although she enjoyed working with yarn and fiber as a small child growing up in Japan, surrounded by the rich history of textiles, her path to get to where she is today was not straightforward. After training and practicing in architecture, she was a freelance translator. Later, she rediscovered her love of textiles while earning a degree in Fashion design. Now she looks forward to finding out what will unroll in front of her eyes next!

Best-known as the innovator of the stacked-stitch technique, especially the Fox Paws pattern, Xandy Peters began by designing footwear, then turned to knitting to explore textiles and surfaces without the limitations of factory production. Xandy continues to challenge our ideas of hand-knit fabric, sharing the results in patterns and workshops.

Xandy has been published in magazines such as Vogue Knitting, Twist Collective, Knitscene, Knitty, and Pom Pom Quarterly.

Linda Pietz's medium of choice is fiber. With a BFA and teaching credentials in both Fine Arts and Arts & Crafts, she has extensive experience designing needlework, writing articles, and teaching — even designing rug-hooked portraits of 44 of the presidents!

Linda teaches at various venues across the country including Sauder Village’s Rug Hooking Week and the Shelburne in Vermont.

Jennifer Stern has a background in pattern design and drafting, fit, and construction. She loves to teach, especially fitting and sewing techniques for knit and woven fabrics.

Her pattern line focuses on designs with easy-to-follow instructions and fitting options.

You'll find jeans, a cup-sized fitted shirt, a unique tee, and more in her collection. She loves to work with commercial knit (tricot-type) fabrics and has designed her Easy-to-Fit-and-Sew Collection of patterns specifically for them.

She shares a wide variety of sewing, serging, fitting, and construction techniques via her J Stern Designs site on the YouTube Channel, with over 100 video tutorials. Additionally, she teaches online at craftsy.com and patternreview.com. For more about Jennifer go to jsterndesigns.com

When Ann Weaver is not traveling to teach or exploring thrift stores and estate sales, you will find her in West Baltimore, where she works as a freelance editor and writer and runs Plied Yarns. Mending, dyeing, sewing and piecing—she uses all her skills to give her finds new life.

Ann sees knitting patterns in container ships, Tom Waits lyrics, Moby-Dick, classic cocktails, and the work of artists like Josef Albers and Mark Rothko.

You can follow Ann on Instagram and find her designs on Ravelry, where her username is weaverknits.