WEBS Summer 2008 TEACHERS

WEBS’ TEACHERS-IN RESIDENCE

Beth Altimari Parsisson learned to knit from her grandmother at age ten. At a loss for how to teach her, since Beth is left-handed, her grandmother sat in front of her and had her mirror every step. After years of transposing patterns and graphs, Beth now knits with either hand, but teaches right-handed. In the last twenty five years she has become a more serious knitter,  adding multi-stranding, fulling, and patternless techniques to her repertoire. Beth runs other classes in and around the Northampton area and teaches all ages over nine.

Pixie Benoist, WEBS’ Education Manager, holds a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education and Technology and retired in 2003 after 32 years as a high school French teacher.  She is a native of Northampton and even has a street here named after her- no, it’s not “Pixie Street”!  The first step on her fiber journey was learning to crochet as a child.  Later, as a teenager, she learned to sew and made all of her own clothes and, later, those of her two daughters.  Pixie learned to knit and make bobbin lace in the late 60s while living in France.  She learned to weave at WEBS in the late 70s so she could make a baby blanket for her son. 

Leslie Ann Bestor has been knitting for twenty years, which began with a passion for knitting socks. She became more adventurous, continuing to develop her knitting skills and eventually established her own design and wholesale garment business know as Carpe Yarnum. Several of Leslie Ann’s designs have been published in magazines including Interweave Knits and Machine Knitters Source. Leslie Ann holds a BA in Biology and spends a lot of her “spare” time watching seven-year-old Cady do cartwheels across the floor. This semester, Leslie Ann will be teaching here at WEBS and going back to college to get her teaching certificate for the “real” world.

DORI BETJEMAN was struck by knitting fever more than 20 years ago.  Over time, her interest became increasingly practical -- she loves doing the math and learning (endlessly) yet another technique to successfully construct a knitted item.  She enjoys working in the store and teaching at WEBS and is the knitting instructor at The Hill Institute in Florence, MA.  While her studies tend to technical matters, her stash is finally organized -- more or less!  Dori can be found in the store on Fridays.

CHERYL BURKE hasn’t stopped knitting since she picked up a pair of needles seven years ago.  She loves using yarn to explore color, texture and all sorts of patterns.  Cheryl also enjoys spreading the contagious joy of knitting to friends, family and anyone else who shows an interest!  A graphic designer by day, Cheryl has a degree in design from the Rhode Island School of Design.

SARA DELANEY’S Memere (Grandmother) taught her how to crochet at age seven and to knit at age nine.  After years of inundating her family and friends with scarves and patchwork blankets she embarked on an epic quest - a twin sized blanket to take to college.  The blanket was finished after eleven months - three days before she left for school!  In the rush to pack and start her adult life, all her needles and hooks were left behind.  In 2002, after six years of marriage and two munchkins, she picked up her needles and hooks again and hasn’t stopped since.  Her musings, works in progress and finished projects can be found at her blog - ChickenBetty.wordpress.com.

MELISSA MORGAN-OAKES was taught to crochet, tat, and sew at an early age by women who encouraged her to work without commercial patterns. Her award-winning sewn and crocheted children's garments occupied much of her spare time during her children's early years. Looking for new inroads in textile and fiber art, Morgan-Oakes taught herself to spin and knit, designing patterns for her handspun yarns as she went. She brings the perspective of a self-taught knitter to her classes.  A registered nurse and former home-schooling mom, she now teaches and designs patterns for WEBS’ Valley Yarns and lives in beautiful Western Massachusetts with her husband and nearly grown children.  Melissa can be found solving problems at our Thursday evening Knitting Drop-In.   Melissa’s first book , 2-aT-a-Time Socks  was published last fall by Storey Press. 

SCOTT NORRIS is a weaver who makes tablecloths, bath towels, and other household textiles, often woven in hand-dyed linen.  He is also a writer, with articles and reviews published in magazines that include American Craft and Handwoven.   Most recently, his profile of the potter Michael McCarthy appeared in the February, 2008, issue of Ceramics Monthly.   His essay, "The Remnants of Old Pots," is forthcoming in the Summer, 2008, issue of Under The Sun.

BARBARA PARRY  found her passion for fiberwork over a decade ago.  Founder and creative vision behind her business, Foxfire Fiber and Designs, she produces her own yarn line form the wool of the sheep that she raises on her farm in Western Massachusetts.  When Barbara isn’t tending her flock, she is at work as a production dyer in her studio or teaching fiber arts classes.  Her hand-dyed fiber and yarns have been featured in Wild Fibers magazine, the Knitters Review Online and in Lisa Lloyd’s new book, A Fine Fleece.  Her handspun skeins have appeared in Spin-Off magazine.  She chronicles life on her farm in her web log: Sheepgal: Notes from a Shelburne Shepherd (www.sheepgal.typepad.com).

CIRILIA  ROSE is called the Human Search Engine by WEBS co-workers because of her extensive knowledge of on-line knitting resources.  Her grandmother Irene “Nana” Rose taught her to knit at age 7 and she remains an avid student of design, technique and the socio-historical aspects of the craft.  She is currently a graduate student at the UMass Amherst where she hopes to complete a thesis on the feminist implications of modern domesticity.

KATY WIGHT learned to knit a few years ago, and, since then, a day hasn’t passed without her picking up her needles to create something new and amazing.  She enjoys creating her own patterns and using unique combinations of colors, fibers, and textures as well as non-traditional materials in her projects.  When Katy isn’t knitting she designs catalogues and direct-mail for a small local publisher.

WEBS’ GUEST TEACHERS

AMY BARRIE started doing needlepoint at the age of 10, and while at the University of Vermont, she began to knit.  She says she made so many Icelandic sweaters, she could do them in her sleep!  A few years ago, she discovered rug hooking and has been (pardon the pun) “hooked” ever since.  After working for years in the financial industry  as a Technical Writer, she decided to embark on a creative journey and now runs Lincoln Farm Designs, which specializes in unique rug hooking designs.  Rug hooking allows her to create her own designs as she works and gives her the freedom to experiment along the way, not only with designs, but with fibers as well.  Her designs have been featured in the Boston Globe and she has exhibited her work at the Old Deerfield Craft Fair.  In addition to teaching at WEBS, Amy teaches at fine yarn stores in the Boston area.

JASON COLLINGWOOD learned to weave in his father’s workshop.  He started his own studio in 1986 and since has woven nothing but rugs-- over a thousand to date.  Jason spends three to four months every year teaching, mainly in the United States.  To learn more about Jason and his wonderful rugs, please visit his very unique website : www.rugweaver.co.uk.

JUDY PASCALE, a native of Connecticut and a life-long knitter, launched her career as a professional knitting instructor and designer in the early 1990s.  She has sold her unique knitwear under the name The Judith Collection both privately and at juried shows.  For several years, she was employed by a yarn shop where she taught knitting classes and assisted numerous customers with their knitting and finishing problems.  She is now exclusively teaching knitting and design classes with the emphasis on customizing desired fit.  She has taught at XRX Stitches Conventions, The National Needle Arts Association Conventions and the Knitting Guild of America Conventions.  Judy is an active member of the Nutmeg Knitters and the Soundview Knitting Guild in Connecticut and the Big Apple Knitting Guild in New York.

MIHOKO WAKABAYASHI grew up in Yokohama, Japan, and graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto, where she majored in education.  She learned traditional weaving with a 4-harness loom in Michigan.  Later, she learned the Saori style of weaving in Japan.  In 2000, Mihoko moved to Worcester, Massachusetts where she opened a studio in her apartment and began to teach Saori handweaving.  In 2004, she and her husband opened a weaving studio on Highland Street.  She is the first Saori teacher in the US offering regular classes for the public.