WEBS FALL 2008 TEACHERS

WEBS’ TEACHERS-IN RESIDENCE

LISA ABEND was taught to knit and crochet by her grandmother when Lisa was 5 years old and she's loved the fiber arts ever since. Lisa's been an avid student of color since her days at Parsons School of Design. She has won two national crafts competitions with her cloth dolls and has had her beadwork jewelry exhibited and sold in galleries in the Hamptons and in Westchester, NY, and has extensive experience as a costumer. Lisa continues her work of almost 30 years as a theater actress, life coach and artist, and loves living in Western Massachusetts right near WEBS!!!

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 then, 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. Working at WEBS is Pixie’s dream job.

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 known 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 daughter Cady do cartwheels across the floor. In addition to teaching at WEBS, Leslie Ann has gone back to college to get her teaching certificate for the “real” world.

CAROL BIRTWISTLE has been weaving and teaching for more than 20 years in Ohio, Michigan, California, Massachusetts and Florida. Her studies of fiber structure and color theory have taken her to the Cleveland Institute of Art, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Currently, she is exploring the various ways in which computer design facilitates her 20-shaft weaving. Carol teaches classes and workshops which focus on the multiple ways in which structure, yarns, sett and color interact to form the finished product.

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.

GAIL CALLAHAN has been involved with fiber most of her life as a quilter, weaver, knitter, crocheter, and spinner, but she is in love with dyeing. As well as dyeing several lines of fiber for WEBS, Gail works two days a week in the store. The rest of her time is spent in her studio dyeing yarn for her own business, The Kangaroo Dyer, and generously sharing her knowledge of dyeing with friends and colleagues. You can recognize Gail in the store by her hands - we never know what color they will be!

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.

ANNIE FOLEY learned how to knit after her first son was born in 2003 and has been obsessed with knitting ever since. She spends so much time at WEBS that they named a store sample bear after her son, Quinn. Inspired by Elizabeth Zimmerman’s approach to knitting, Annie empowers her students to think about and understand what they are knitting and gain the skills necessary to adapt and move beyond following a pattern. With a Master’s degree in Consulting Teacher of Reading and a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education, Annie has the tools necessary to help students learn and grow in their knitting in a comfortable and positive way. Becoming as obsessed with knitting as Annie is not required, but is strongly encouraged! Annie is fearless in her knitting and has explored color work, lace, cables and steeking. Teaching classes at WEBS is a way to incorporate two of Annie’s favorite things - teaching and knitting. Now, if only she could incorporate chocolate...

ERIN HOLMAN has been knitting - almost constantly - for 9 years. She is also a fledgling spinner and dabbles in crochet. She loves sharing her passion for yarn with others, chatting in her knitting group, teaching at WEBS, even asking strangers on the street, “Did you make your sweater?” Originally from Minnesota, Erin, along with her husband and their cats, now lives in easy biking distance from WEBS (and has the yarn stash to prove it!). We welcome Erin back after a recent stay of several months in Germany where she kept in touch with all things knitterly by logging onto Ravelry and making the acquaintance of some German knitters. Willkommen zuruck, Erin!

KATE JENKINS began weaving as a hobby 30 years ago when she lived on a farm and raised sheep. She went on to work as a production weaver for a designer of hand woven chenille clothing. Today she designs her own line of woven scarves. Kate’s trademark is vibrant color and varied texture. She loves to experiment with new materials and techniques, from weaving with novelty yarns to weaving jewelry to making polymer clay buttons. She currently teaches at several craft schools in New England.

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, daughter, a very large dog and some chickens. Melissa can be found solving problems at our Thursday evening Knitting Drop-In class. Melissa’s first book, 2-at-a-time Socks, was published last December.

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 essays and reviews published in magazines and journals which include American Craft, Ceramics Monthly, Handwoven, and Under The Sun.

BRIGITTE OSTRANDER has studied and practiced many art forms. She tried to learn to knit, but just didn’t catch the fever. Then one day Brigitte signed up for Gail Callahan’s Needle Felted Goddess class and fell in love with felt. She has elevated needle felting to a fine art form, creating likenesses of friends and family as well as fanciful creatures and holiday ornaments. Brigitte has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in Interior Design from UMass Amherst and was employed in her field until the birth of her two daughters, Emma and Chloe. Brigitte is currently a free-lance interior designer and decorator.

BARBARA PARRY a hand spinner, weaver, knitter and shepherd, lives on her 220 acre sheep farm located in Shelburne, MA. When not caring for her flock, she can be found in her studio designing and dyeing yarns for her business, Foxfire Fiber & Designs.

KATY WIGHT has been teaching at Webs for 6 years and has designed several patterns for Valley Yarns. 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.

GUEST TEACHERS

SUSANNA HANSSON grew up in Sweden in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Like all other Swedish girls, she learned to knit in the fifth grade. What she learned did not inspire - brown garter stitch slippers. The teachers focused on mistakes rather than on effort and creativity. After her initial introduction to knitting, she took up needles a few times in her college years, but didn’t begin knitting again in earnest until after she had moved to America, and then Melbourne, Australia in the mid 1980s. Back in America in 1989, she was introduced to the Seattle Knitters’ Guild, began working at a yarn shop, and started teaching classes. Now, with more than 15 years of teaching experience, what she enjoys most is teaching and mentoring others. All of her workshops are grounded in her love of color, technique, and attention to detail.

GALINA KHMELEVA, owner of Skaska Designs and author of Gossamer Webs, The History and Techniques of Orenburg Lace Shawls and Gossamer Webs, The Design Collection, has earned the reputation as one of the most respected and knowledgeable lace knitting instructors in the country. As a former clothing and costume designer who worked with the ‘aristocracy’ of St. Petersburg’s music and theatre society, Galina was a pioneer in breaking down barriers in the ‘new’ Russia to allow Russian women the opportunity to achieve ownership status in private companies. As the principal student of Orenburg’s lace knitting elite, Galina brings the classic style and revered traditional knitting techniques of Russian lace to her classes. Her unique, inspiring, and fun-loving teaching style has made her the guru of lace enthusiasts across the U.S. As an added bonus, Galina’s classes are an unforgettable cultural experience.

KRISTIN NICHOLAS is the author and illustrator of several best-selling knitting and stitchery books. For 16 years, she was the Creative Director of Classic Elite Yarns. Her latest book, Kristin Knits, combines colorful knitting and embroidery. Check out her website, www.kristinnicholas.com and her blog, getting-stitched-on-the-farm.blogspot.com.

CLARA PARKES’ love affair with yarn began at the age of 12. Since 2000, she has been leading knitters on a weekly yarn adventure through her online knitting magazine, Knitter's Review, www.knittersreview.com.. Her book, The Knitter's Book of Yarn, further helps knitters understand where their yarn comes from, how it's made, and how they can more confidently intuit what it wants to become. She lives on the coast of Maine in a farmhouse full of yarn.

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.