Our Teachers

Laura Barker is a life-long knitter, former engineer, and math teacher. She combines the best of those experiences in her favorite career, knitting design and education. Her designs feature innovative construction with clear instruction.

She is the author of Mitered Entrelac, Knitting Entrelac Around the Corner, and has published patterns in Knitter’s Magazine, Knitty.com, Interweave Knits, Vogue Knitting, and Malabrigo. Her work may also be found at www.CathedralKnits.com and on Instagram, Ravelry and FB as Cathedral Knits. She is a founder of the Capitol Hill Knitting Guild.

Jill learned to knit at the age of 10. After a teen-years break, she re-learned and began knitting passionately. Five years as a yarn shop owner honed her design and teaching skills. She is co-author of A Knitter's Gallery of Mitered Squares: 45 Unique Designs in Color, Texture and Lace.

Five years as a yarn shop owner honed her passion for designing and teaching. Jill has been an instructor at STITCHES events, Knitter's Day Out, Knitter's Connection, Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Show, and many shops.

Her designs can be found in Knitter's Magazine, Cast On, and Knitty. She is co-author of A Knitter's Gallery of Mitered Squares: 45 Unique Designs in Color, Texture and Lace.For more about Jill, go to http://www.thebeanknits.com/ .

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.

Florencia Campos Correa, an industrial designer from Chile, founded Ullvuna with the purpose of inspiring and promoting creativity. Her teaching focuses on crochet and pin-loom weaving

Florencia is, an industrial designer from Chile, founded Ullvuna with the purpose of inspiring and promoting creativity. Her teaching focuses on crochet and pin loom weaving.

She designs patterns, books, kits and video tutorials Her book "100 pin loom squares" has been translated to 7 languages.

Hand sewing with her grandmother taught Sandra Chandler the magic of transforming fabric into art. Recycled denim is her favorite material. Her handsome quilts feature myriad tones of well-worn jeans in simple patchwork shapes.

I love to hand stitch using the traditional Japanese Sashiko and Boro embroidery styles and incorporating them as a decorative feature into my designs. The concrete, repetitive nature of this work frees my imagination provides many opportunities for happy accidents and grace to influence the finished product.

My core materials for quilting are thread and fabric, however, I often employ recycled denim, yarns, dyed fabrics and stamps to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. I hold a B.S. in Clothing, Textiles and Design from Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.

Recently, I discovered modern quilting: simple, crayoned patchworks that resonate deeply with my fiber work. Inspired and invigorated by a renewed sense of continuity, and awed by the mystery of how creation occurs, my process allows me to explore visions to enable my creative work to evolve and grow.

Denim is my thing! So, if you didn’t know I am in love with all thing’s denim. So if you look through my portfolio you can see a collection of my work in denim. I am featured in an international magazines, Simply Moderne’ which is published in Paris. I have a dress and articles featured in Altered Couture which is published by Stampington and I am featured in Quiltfolk, a quarterly magazine.

Lily Chin has been involved in some aspect of the fashion industry since age 13. Both a knitter and crocheter, she has extensive experience in the yarn industry — designing, instructing, and authoring 8 books. 

She has created looks for the New York Fashion Week runway collections, was named a Master Knitter by Vogue Knitting, and has been cited in media across the U.S.

Lily has lived in New York City all her life.

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.

Artist and designer, Alexandra Davidoff blends textures, colors, cultures and techniques to create unique pieces of wearable and decorative art. Her knitwear designs appear in Vogue Knitting, Noro magazines and books, Malabrigo books, Knitter’s Magazine, Creative Knitting magazine, Designer Knitting magazine and 60 Quick Knits books. Plus she is working with a number of yarn companies and online websites.

Alexandra has been teaching knitting classes and workshops in United States and internationally. You can find her among the teachers at Vogue Knitting Live! STITCHES, Hill Country Weavers Retreat, DFW Fiber Fest and many other virtual and in-person events.

Before becoming Indie Knitwear Designer, she was designing garments and accessories for Cold Water Creek and Soft Surrounding. She got her Fashion Designer degree from The Art Institute of Dallas. Alexandra leaves and works in Dallas,Texas.

Rosanna Diggs is a Washington based fiber artist who loves teaching others how to embroider. With over two decades of needle arts experience, she now teaches and offers a full line of embroidery kits. Rosanna is also a mother of three and loves adventures with her family.

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

An avid knitwear designer, dyer, and embroiderer, Phyllis Bell Miller's travels (84 countries and counting!) are reflected in her designs. As a teacher with degrees in fashion and design, Phyllis creates tools that simplify and improve the design process for everyone, regardless of medium.

As a child, Phyllis Bell Miller learned to sew, embroider, and crochet from her mother, who was assistant to one of Washington, D.C.'s leading designers.

Recently retired as professor and head of Mississippi State University Fashion Design and Merchandising program, Phyllis is a former Singer Sewing Teacher and also taught as a Fulbright Scholar at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the University of Mauritius in Port Louis. She is author of AutoCAD for the Apparel Industry, the world's first book on applying generic CAD software to the fashion industry. In addition, she developed the ApparelCAD, Instant Designer International, and Display Shop software, for which she holds more than 30 copyrights.

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.

Kavitha and her family moved to Northern California from India in 2015. She had just then decided to become a SAHM. She had worked as a Wireless Communications Engineer before that and knitting and crochet were her hobbies. While raising her two kids in a new place, she found that designing was a good way to intersect her fiber hobbies and math skills. She started self-publishing around 2016 as CraftDoodling Designs and continues to explore fibers and techniques in her work. She loves reading, sketching and long walks.

English-born Catherine Redford learned to knit and sew as a child. After moving to Illinois, she found quilting, and it became a passion. An award-winning quilter, Catherine now has two DVDs and two books, Modern Machine Quilting: Make a Perfectly Finished Quilt on Your Home Machine and Butterfly Stitches.

Five years after taking her first quilting class, she began to teach. An award-winning quilter, active member of her local guilds, and popular teacher at local and national levels, Catherine also co-founded the Naperville Modern Quilters Guild. An author, frequent magazine contributor, and guest on Quilting Arts TV, Catherine has two DVDs and a book on modern machine quilting techniques, Modern Machine Quilting: Make a Perfectly Finished Quilt on Your Home Machine, and new book on, Butterfly Stitches from C&T, coming out soon.

For more about Catherine, go to catherineredford.com.

Esther Rodgers of Jazzturtle Creations is a fiber artist and teacher who stays on the cutting edge of yarn design, constantly creating new textures with innovative spinning techniques. As a felter, weaver, dyer, and knitter, Esther brings a broad perspective to how yarns can be used creatively.

Esther heads Woven Heart SAORI Studio. She is known for her creative art yarns and her unique fiber preparation. She loves to design and spin concept yarns from an inspiration and tell stories with her yarns. Esther is also a SAORI weaver and creative knitter which gives her the perspective of how these extra special yarns can be used. She challenges herself by creating garments and other items out of her yarns and woven cloth.

Esther is very conscious of where her fiber comes from, sourcing her wool from local and friendly farms, directly from wonderful shepherds with happy animals.

Esther is an enthusiastic and patient teacher; possessing both national and international teaching experience. She loves to challenge her students to embrace their design elements rather than “mistakes” and to learn from each new spin.

Esther has 2 streaming videos, Expressive Weaving on a Rigid Heddle Loom and Coloblending the Spectrum, along with 2 downloadable videos, How to Spin Art Yarn and Carding and Combing Wool for Color Progressions. She also has a Craftsy class on Fiber Preparation for Spinning. Esther is a regular contributor to PLY, Spin Off and now Handwoven magazine.

You can find Esther’s workshop schedule, peruse her tutorials and general chatter or make purchases at www.jazzturtle.com.

Gayle Roehm is a former management consultant who has traveled throughout the world and lived in Japan. She speaks Japanese and loves knitting Japanese patterns and designs. She is best-known in our world as the translator of many Japanese knit and crochet books into English.

Gayle now devotes herself to knitting and other fiber arts. She teaches nationally 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 at a fiber arts gallery.

She published the first information in English about Japanese patterns in 1997, she prepared the Japanese section for the book Knitting Languages, and she has translated patterns for Diakeito Yarns/Sunrise Fibers.

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

Harry Wells is a retired university professor who has pursued knitting and teaching the craft professionally since 2010. He enjoys designing knitwear for men and accessories for both men and women. His aesthetic emphasizes texture and linear flow.

He teaches a myriad of classes geared for knitting conferences and fiber festivals. His extensive experience in classroom presentation and course preparation makes for an organized and engaging learning experience.

His designs have been published in knitting magazines and can be found at https://www.ravelry.com/designers/harry-wells. Check out his knitting blog and website at www.goodforaboy.com