Marla DawsonA native of the Chicago area, Marla holds a BS in Education with a minor in Art Education. In 1984, she was certified by The National Needlework Association as a fiber arts educator. Marla owned her own yarn shop in Illinois from 1983-1987 where she taught all levels of knitting, counted cross stitch and needlepoint. After moving to Bloomington in 1988, she learned to weave and spin. Marla soon began working at Yarns Unlimited and teaching knitting classes for the shop. Over the past 18 years she has continued her own education through classes and workshops while teaching all levels of knitting, weaving and spinning. As an avid knitter for over 45 years, Marla enjoys passing on her love of the craft to new knitters and weavers.Marla sells her hand-woven and hand-knitted designs in many galleries and juried art shows in Indiana and Kentucky. Her work is available for sale at the Brown County Craft Gallery in Nashville, where she is an artist member and the Gallery Manager since 2005. To see her work, visit www.weavingbymarla.com.Robin EdmundsonRobin is a master dyer and a prize-winning fiber artist specializing in color. She has extensive experience teaching and lecturing on weaving, dyeing, color theory and creativity. She was a recipient of an Indiana Artist Grant by the Indiana Arts Commission. Robin's beautiful and unique hand-dyed yarns are available for purchase at Yarns Unlimited. For more information about Robin's designs, visit www.morenna.com.Carolynne GierynCarolynne holds a Master's Degree in Library Science from Columbia University but finds knitting a more sustaining and satisfying interest. She has been a knitter for over 45 years and has worked at Yarns Unlimited for the past 15 years. She has sold her work at Indiana craft shows for over 25 years and is an artist partner at By Hand Gallery where her colorful work is exhibited and sold. A non-stop knitter who never goes anywhere without her knitting bag, Carolynne is an incredibly productive knitter finishing an average of 15 to 20 projects a month! She specializes in two-color knitting and does an adaptation of Swedish Bohus technique in her knitted sweaters, which along with her socks and scarves, are a popular best seller at By Hand Gallery and craft shows.Andrea GoldenAndrea is an enthusiastic knitter who has a passion for all forms of fiber arts. She particularly enjoys teaching children for whom, she believes, handwork offers many benefits--from improving fine motor skills to encouraging the application of mathematical concepts. She is a homeschooling mother of two daughters, Grace and Emma, who are themselves knitters and fiber arts enthusiasts. Andrea teaches Kids' Knitting and runs Summer Fiber Arts Camp for Yarns Unlimited.Suzanne HalvorsonSuzanne began weaving in the early 70's at Valparaiso University. She has taught weaving workshops across the country for over 25 years. Most recently she taught at Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, and Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, in addition to teaching at Yarns Unlimited. She has created countless liturgical weavings for worship spaces across the country. Her weavings are exhibited and sold at By Hand Gallery in Bloomington, Weaving Southwest in Taos, New Mexico, and Penland Gallery in North Carolina. Her work has been published in Hand-Woven, Shuttle Spindle and Dye Pot and Weaving for Worship.Dee Mortensen
Dee Mortensen came to Bloomington as a graduate student and has been a resident here since 1984. She learned to knit as a child, but later picked up crochet after hearing how her great-grandmother always had a project at hand. She spent many years crocheting lace, but after taking a knitted lace class at Yarns Unlimited, she switched formats and hasn't looked back.
Jennifer PetersonJennifer holds a degree in Fine Arts and Art Education from University of Illinois. She is a multi-faceted artist who works with painting, ceramics, paper making, and jewelry design in addition to weaving, crocheting and knitting. She has received several commission of her work both locally and nationally and sells her knitted and crochet work at Etsy.com, a web-based store for arts and crafts. Jennifer specializes in knitted bags, felted and non-felted, as well as knitted and crocheted flowers, though her versatility seems endless. Visit www.sassafrasstudio.etsy.com or Yarns Unlimited to see her beautiful work! Katie PolitKatie, an opera singer, is also a passionate knitter who discovered her love for fiber arts when she realized that being a singer involved a lot of waiting around backstage. She learned to knit from a fellow cast mate while she was getting her Master's in Opera Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. Her fiber addiction followed her offstage, and she began immersing herself in projects and various classes at her LYS in Austin. Katie is now working toward a Performance Diploma in Voice at Indiana University and loves sharing her passion for knitting with other singers backstage and now at Yarns Unlimited. Her favorite things to knit are socks, purses and cute little animals.John SalamoneJohn Salamone earned his Theatre Arts degree at Eastern Illinois University with an emphasis on Costume Design and Construction. Near the end of his college days in 1985 he discovered spinning and weaving and has been spinning and weaving ever since. Although John uses different looms today to make his weavings for sale, he has a passion for Rigid Heddle looms. It's the first loom he purchased and truly enjoys working with them to this day. John loves teaching other fiber enthusiasts to start weaving with these wonderful looms. Kandy SchwandtKandy learned to spin in college and has spent the last twenty years participating in every kind of fiber production she can, from wrangling sheep for shearing to unwinding silk worm cocoons. She has studied with talented spinners from all over the world and recently began earning a Master Spinner certificate through Olds College in Alberta, Canada. She is fortunate to have grown up in a family of talented craftspeople who encouraged her love of fiber for sewing, weaving, knitting, and crochet, and to live with a partner who doesn't mind that the house has a fiber studio instead of a dining room. She also shares her home with seven rabbits, some of whom provide fiber for spinning. When she's not spinning, Kandy is an Art Director at Sunrise Greetings and a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator specializing in rabbits.Judith Smith-IlleWith a background in fine arts, Judy is a self-confessed technique junkie and a jack-of-all-trades knitter. She has been clicking the needles nonstop since she learned the art of knitting at Girl Scout camp when she was 10 years old. She is certified by Craft Yarn Council of America as an instructor and teaches a wide range of classes and skill-building workshops and designs, with the latest series being "Dancing With The Scarves". She has a passion for knitting socks, two at a time from the toe up with the Magic Loop method using one 40" long needle and loves teaching that class using a technique she developed and patented. Her goal is to inspire knitters to feel confident and creative with their knitting.Alison Stewart-GuineeAlison Stewart-Guinee is an artist with a lifelong love and fascination with the fiber arts. She currently teaches fiber classes and sells patterns designed for knitting classes and workshops. Several of her designs are featured in Wiley books including Charmed Knits, Not Your Mama's Knitting, Find Your Style, and Knit it Too! She is the author of the book Fairy Tale Knits, a collection of innovative whimsical knitted patterns for children. To learn more about Alison's multiple talents and creative ideas on knitting and other projects for your home, visit her website Knitting by Hand and follow her on her personal blog at Alison by Hand.
|