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Teachers
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Barbara Assejew is a graduate from Vilnius University (Lithuania) in Social Science, moved to US, studied at FIT (NY) pattern making and Parsons School of Design Fashion design. She is working in the fashion industry in NY, and has experience in costume design.
Barbara knits, sews, crochets, felts, hand paints fabrics with natural dyes and embroiders; she grew up with the ideology that you shouldn't spend money on something that you could make. Disheartened by the idea of creating waste and environmental damage, Barbara opened Amberstudios.Etsy.com, where she sells sustainable clothing and accessories for “consciously hip” customers. Barbara try to upcycle/reuse/reclaim fabrics, overstock and low-impact materials for her collections. She strikes for eco-couture in “reincarnated” fashion. It reminds me of a line from an old Paul Simon song: “one man's ceiling is another man's floor..." |
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Marge Connelly is a self taught knitter who has been at it for over 30 years. She has made at least 75 prayer shawls using this pattern and some not using this pattern. Marge teaches knitting and crochet most Saturdays at the Coraopolis Public Library to all comers (free classes). She has been teaching children and adults to knit and crochet for at least 20 years and loves the ecumenical service that comes with a Prayer shawl ministry. Having gone to all of the Bedford Springs Knittreats, she knows most of the attendees and is willing to help with problems during free time.
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Dalis
Davidson notes that "Bright, rich color is a
large part of my life". She raises a small flock of sheep
and uses their wool mostly for spinning. She hand-paints a
variety of other wool and mohair yarns in deep, saturated
colors, with the colors blending from one to the other. Dalis
also makes a line of felt and fused glass jewelry, and creates
fused glass buttons to complement her yarns. She lives in
a beautiful countryside setting with a cottage studio on her
farm, Dancing Leaf Farm, in Maryland. |
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Barbara
Grossman is the organizer of the Annual Pittsburgh
Knit & Crochet Festival, as well as the "Knittreat"
fiber retreats. Self-employed her whole adult life, she has
been a yoga teacher for almost 20 years and has been dabbling
in the fiber arts field for about 10 years. Her daughter Sarah
taught her to knit when she was in the first grade at the
Waldorf School, which is where the very first Pittsburgh Knit
& Crochet Festival was held. “Although my knitting
skills are certainly not accomplished, needle felting has
been a favorite of mine for about 6 years." Barbara says.
"Fiber has a special appeal to me, and I love the feel
of it, the texture and the colors.” She uses gems, fiber,
fabrics, recyclables and old jewelry to make one-of-a-kind
accessories; necklaces, bracelets, and purses. She is pleased
to be a teacher at the Knittreat, and to be able to share
her ideas and techniques. She is a member of the Fiber Arts
Guild of Pittsburgh, and hopes to be able to fulfill her passion
for fiber through the classes at retreats she will be organizing
in the future. |
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About Claudia McClean
My muse tells me that you teach what you know and what you know is what you are passionate about. I am passionate about working with yarn, thread, fiber.
My mother was a Home Economics major in college, and she taught me all the “womanly arts” of thread; Knitting, crochet, sewing, crewel work. We only missed needlepoint, which has since become a joy to me. As a girl I was designing my own sewing patterns. My own college focus was on Fashion Design & Merchandising. I worked in the textile industry in Greensboro, NC while I was in college and continued upon graduation.
My life has taken its many turns, marriage/divorce, sickness/health, moving, reinventing myself. I have been a hairdresser, tailor, accountant, stock broker, fraud examiner. And the joy of my life today is to find myself surrounded by yarn, color and wonderful people who, like me, want to make things.
I started dyeing yarn in 2003 in the basement of my rental house. The joke is that the basement had white carpet, yes, wall to wall. In May 2005, Claudia & Co was formed, doing business as Claudia Hand Painted Yarns. Today, Claudia & Co. employs 4 people and produces 11 types of yarn in over 140 colorways.
I truly appreciate the support of all the knitters who have helped make my dream possible. Today, I live in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley overlooking the mountains to both the east & west of me. I work with some of the most beautiful people in the world. |
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About Bonnie Meanor
I come from a family of doing fancy work on both sides - sitting idly was frowned on. My mother taught me to sew as a preschooler to keep me out of her serious sewing (she'd thread a needle and give me scraps while she made clothes for herself, me and my sister). Being left handed no one taught Mother to knit or crochet, but both my grandmothers crocheted all the time. At seven I insisted on putting lace on the edge of Woolworth's finest pillow cases that I'd embroidered.
By the time I was eleven, I was over pillow cases and made my father's sisters show me how to knit. This, I decided, was really fun and fortunately Aunt Emily lived in Ann Arbor, so I saw her about every 6 weeks for guidance - learning such useful things as you couldn't just keep repeating rows one and two of a cable pattern if you wanted to have it twist. I wanted to take a knitting class in high school, but my father wouldn't hear of it - one learned that sort of thing at home! I did knit during lunch hour in high school and also did a lot of knitting and helping new knitters while at U of Michigan. I've given up sewing and use crochet just for finishing now, but I knit every day.
After a Masters in Teaching, working in special education administration and raising 2 children, I came full-time to my love of yarn and knitting. I worked in several yarn stores and at Rainbow Mills designing and teaching. Then I put it all together, opening my own yarn store, Bonnie Knits, from which I retired after almost 20 years. I take classes whenever the opportunity presents and avidly read knitting books and the wonderful magazines that are now available. I will have to live for a very long time to use all the yarn and ideas that I have for my knitting.
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Kathy
Zimmerman, an accomplished knitter, teacher, and
nationally recognized knitwear designer, is the owner of Kathy's
Kreations, a yarn shop specializing in quality handknitting
yarns and accessories. Her designs are currently featured
in KNITTER'S, Knit Simple, Interweave Knits and Vogue
Knitting magazines. Kathy is a freelance designer for
Classic Elite Yarns, Fiber Trends and Nashua Handknits. She
is best known for her designs featuring textures and cabled
stitchwork patterns. |
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Please inquire: pghknitandcrochet@gmail.com or call Barb: 412.963.7030
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