DOROTHY AKIYAMA is one of the most innovative, freelance artists in the knitting world; she does not consider herself a designer, but rather a “creative knitter.”  She does her designing “hands on” at the machine playing with texture and stitch innovation.  Anyone who has met Dorothy knows she is a sheer delight and has many innovative techniques to share, especially on the bulky machine.

JC BRIAR a self-confessed "technique freak" and "skill junkie," she dabbles in all kinds of knitting, but has a special fondness for textured knitting and novel construction techniques. If it involves lace, cables, or seamless construction, it's sure to catch her eye. JC, shares her enthusiasm by teaching at shops, fiber festivals, and online through Needlecraft University.  Regardless of the topic, she aims to build confidence by expressing concepts clearly and concisely, and by presenting skills and ideas in a digestible progression.  When not teaching, JC brings clarity to knitting patterns as a freelance technical editor. jcbriar.home.comcast.net.

JULE CASTNER has enthusiastically taught children and adults all levels of knitting crochet and art classes since 1972.  Jule has a BA in Textile Design from the University of Washington.  She learned to knit in elementary school and is known for her extensive knitting, crochet and color knowledge. She has the ability to clearly instruct from the simple basics to the most complex techniques.  Jule says, "Soon after learning the basics, I began my design career, quite by accident--while I was attempting to read a pattern! You will currently find Jule teaching at Hilltop West on Queen Anne and Hilltop East in Bellevue.

SANDEE CHERRY, owner of Sandee’s Kwik Knit – Sandee’s life long passion for designing and knitting began when she picked up her first pair of knitting needles at the age of 7.  She has been machine knitting for the past 23 years and has traveled extensively throughout the United States and Canada teaching seminars and workshops.  Sandee has written 42 books, and is now producing CD’s making it easier to watch and learn along with her.  The Sandee’s Kwik Knit series of books are known worldwide along with the ease of her knitting techniques which she shares in her classes.  You will find her garments are classy and comfortable yet very easy to knit.  After meeting Sandee you will find her love of teaching and sharing is what brought her back to the industry after losing her business in a fire a few years ago.  Sandee and her husband R.C. live in Moweaqua, IL; they are the parents of two children and grandparents of 4. www.sandeeskwikknit.com.

SUSAN DIRK was taught to knit by her mother at the age of six.  Over the years she has experimented with a number of fiber arts techniques, specializing in lace, Fair Isle knitting and felting.  Her ten years experience working as a photographer at the Seattle Art Museum has brought a fine color sense to her fiber arts work.  Currently, she is the instruction manager and knitting designer at Hilltop Yarn West.  She teaches knitting to adults and children at both the Queen Anne and Bellevue stores.  Susan loves to inspire her students to knit out of the box.  She is also a former President of the Seattle Knitters Guild.

SARAH ETCHISON began machine knitting in 1977.  About a year later she began teaching on a Toyota knitting machine. Sarah taught at the Knitting Machine Center in Seattle and Everett for about 20 years, and has been a freelance instructor for nearly 30 years. Sarah enjoys playing with texture and experimenting with the capabilities of all the machines.  She considers herself an 'enabler' in that she teaches other people to realize their design ideas on the knitting machine.  Sarah is self confessed software junky, and became enthralled with Creation Six, Design-A-Knit and Co chenille Design Studio software.  She has incorporated these tools into her teaching and knitting.

DARLA FANTON a needle arts teacher and designer for more than twenty years, she is intrigued by specialty crochet techniques of the past. She derives great joy in giving these nearly lost arts new life for today¹s fiber fanatics to experience. Her credits include magazine articles, leaflets by publishers such as ASN, Leisure Arts, and Jeanette Crews, as well as 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.

H. MORGAN HICKS is passionately interested in textile history and fine arts, and this is reflected in his artistic sense when he puts fiber to knitting machine, needles, hooks, or loom to create beautiful, useful fabrics.  As a Seattle-based Silver Reed knitting machine dealer, he provides instruction and consulting in machine knitting, specializing in fabric design techniques.  He presents entertaining and inspiring fiber arts workshops throughout North America and onboard cruise ship tours. He’s published over 50 articles and numerous garment designs in U.S. and Canadian knitting periodicals, including Knit Words, Cast On, and Machine Knitters Source.  After college and locating to Seattle, he opened Sweaters by Design (1983), released lines of custom men's and women's knitwear, enjoyed a career as an instructor at the Art Institute of Seattle, and was the founding president of the Seattle Knitting Guild (1984) and the Crochet Guild of Seattle (2004).  He is the creative force behind 18 Design Compendium Disk Sets, and the Mosaic Knitting Companion CD.  Most recently, Morgan was interviewed for and appears in the DVD, "Real Men Knit".  sweatersbydesign.com.

HELEN KOSHAK is known as a creative knitting instructor and is the co-owner of Newton’s Knits in Anaheim, California.  Helen began designing men’s and ladies knitwear over 20 years ago.  As a professional designer, she created hand and machine knits that were produced domestically and overseas.  After her sons started school, Helen became involved at Newton’s Knits working with her husband Norman.   Together they combine her love of design with his expertise of twisting and dying to create unique yarns.  She loves to share her knowledge of yarn, stitch, and garment creation and to assist others in creating unique knitwear.  www.newtonsknits.com.

KAREN KRAJZYNSKI teaches textiles at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. She is a studio artist at the Palo Verdes Art Center, and teaches Fiber Arts for Seniors at Garden Grove Unified School District. Karen has also done consultation work and been featured in Tri Coast Studios Art of Knitting DVDs. She loves to teach and share her love of fibers.

CAROLE KUHN is a retired high school French, English, and Russian teacher with a BS in Education, A M.E. in Education, A Specialist Degree in Education, and a PhD in Education.  She is the treasurer and business manager of AKD (Association of Knitwear Designers).  After knitting over 75 garments, she needed something to slow her down.  That's when she discovered Modular Knitting, now she is addicted to Modules.  Carole specializes in modular squares, triangles, shells, circles and pinwheels.  Five of her modular vest patterns have been published in INKnitters magazine.  Last September, she held a 6-day workshop in modular knitting at the John C. Campbell Folk School.  Her latest creations are modular swatches or covers for redesigned purses.  Carole's modular designs and purses were exhibited at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio.

JAN McMAHON calls The Spinning Ewe Farm in the mid Willamette Valley of Oregon home. She has been raising award winning natural colored sheep for 20 years. Her sheep are selected for color and fleece type designed for the hand spinner. She has been a hand spinner for 30 years and a machine knitter for 15 years. She enjoys the challenge and satisfaction of making textiles from her raw fiber. www.spinningewe.com.

MARY ANNE OGER, author-designer, from Thunder Bay, Canada is a creative, self-taught machine knitter, well-known for her classic, wearable designs and her knack for adding common sense and humour to machine knitting. She is adept in textures and great finishing techniques which can be used by all knitters, any gauge, and all machines. Mary Anne's original designs have been published in the various machine knitting magazines over the past 15 years and with over 170 seminar and workshop credits all over North America, her popularity and teaching skills are undisputed. Beginning publishing in November 1994, Mary Anne has set high industry standards for quality work with her books and patterns. Currently, she is the editor/publisher of 'KNITWORDS', a quarterly magazine, for all machine knitters, distributed world-wide. Celebrating 10 years of publication, featuring patterns, articles and advertising for the specialized machine knitting industry; 'KNITWORDS' provides an important link for the hobbyists, designers, dealers and suppliers. www.knitwords.com.

BONNIE PIERCE is an internationally renowned free-form fiber artist, designer, author, exhibitor and bullion/roll stitch specialist. Her current works include items in five "On a Roll" books, Crochet! Magazine, Annie's scrap crochet series, Leisure Arts, American School of Needlework and several other hard back books. Bonnie has exhibited her free-form crochet and won awards in Israel, Australia, Wales, Chicago, Lacis Lace Museum in CA, Craft Adventure and Big E in Massachusetts. Bonnie has taught classes at the Seattle Knitting and Fiber Arts Expo, Lacis lace museum in Berkley CA, the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and at Yarn Garden in Portland Oregon.  Bonnie has exhibited freeform garments in Lacis museum's international display of free-form crochet.  Her free-form garments were modeled in the Crochet Guild of America's Chain Link fashion show in Oakland in July 2005.  Bonnie was named Interweave Press Piecework magazine's Crocheter of the Year. www.elegantcrochet.com.

NADINE RITCHEY began machine knitting in 1989 on a Passap E6000.  After 5 years she just had to have a Brother knitting machine and G-carriage.  In 2004 she became the owner of The Knitting Machine Center in Corvallis, Oregon.  Nadine teaches on most brands of knitting machines and has combined Design-A-Knit into her lessons.

TERRI SHEA designs knitwear from Seattle, WA.  Her work has been seen in Knitter's Magazine, Cast On Magazine, as well as books such as Big Girl Knits and Rainbow Knits for Kids.  Terri spent the year 2006 studying Norwegian mittens and is the author of "Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition".

JUDY TAYLOR has been spinning, knitting and hooking rugs with yarn for two decades.  She wrote the only book on the market today on the craft of Nantucket Rug Hooking ("Hooking with Yarn").  She owns a farm in Auburn, Washington, where she raises Jacob Sheep, Angora Goats and lavender and herbs.  You can view her rugs and other products at www.littlehouserugs.com.

TATYANA TCHIEOVA is originally from Moscow, Russia and has an engineering background, but knitting has been her passion for more than 20 years.  After moving to the US eight years ago she started teaching knitting and crochet, as well as designing patterns for knitted clothes and accessories.  Tatyana's patterns have been published by several yarn companies and knitting magazines. Currently she is working at Hilltop Yarn in Seattle and Hilltop East in Bellevue which are trendy yarn stores.  Her knitting motto is that every person is unique and beautiful, and knitted pieces should reflect that.

YVONNE UTLEY has been machine knitting since the '80s, and she has been teaching and designing for over 15 years. Her operating knowledge of both the Studio/Singer and the Brother/Knitking knitting machines help her speak both “languages” when teaching. She has owned a retail yarn shop, created patterns and given workshops in Nevada, Colorado and Washington. Her currently focus is on designing garments for the wholesale market. Yvonne's work is best known for her flowing skirt patterns and the use of colors and textures in her designs.

LAURIE WHEELER is the owner/designer of Camano Made Handspun & Designs. Her talents in hand spinning, crochet & needle felting, have won numerous accolades. Her latest sock patterns are featured in the 2007 Crochet a Day Calendar. Laurie has over 28 years of experience in crochet, and has been a hand spinner for six years. "Whimsy, and free flow creativity are important, life's too short."

KAREN WHOOLEY learned to crochet at the age seven.  In 1999 she started designing and selling patterns at the urging of another well known crochet designer and in 2000, she opened her own business, and began publishing patterns under the name Crochet Legacy. She also has many patterns published through Annie’s Attic, The Needlecraft Shop and American School of Needlework.  Karen has 33 years of crochet experience and teaches all levels of crochet. Visit Karen’s Website: www.crochetlegacy.com