The People of Twisted
Emily Williams
Emily grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University, which is located in the southern section of the state hysterically known as “Kentuckiana.” College at Stanford University introduced Emily to the west coast and it stuck. Emily has two very spoiled French Bulldogs, Carat and Nugget, both of whom are quite tolerant of her crafting addiction. Other than knitting, sewing, and the like, Emily enjoys backpacking and playing with technology (habits acquired from her dad) as well as growing orchids and imparting common sense on the unsuspecting masses (habits totally the fault of her mom). Her flickr id is emilyshmemily and Ravelry name is also emilyshmemily.
Shannon Squire
Shannon grew up in the Midwest – Bedford, Ohio. After college at Ohio University, she roamed the country as a promotions and marketing coordinator and landed in Portland. Shannon lives in wedded bliss with her adorable and talented husband Stefan and their gorgeous and talented baby daughters Hazel and Astrid. Her flickr id is shannonsq and Ravelry name is shannon.
Adam – Director of Bow Ties and Tweed
Cleveland Ohio’s native son found his way to Portland after living in a variety of cities in gypsy like fashion for a number of years. Careers as a bartender, film editor and other such assorted bric-a-brac, helped him realize his true calling, making order out of chaos. Perhaps this is why when not on the floor at Twisted, he is teaching elementary school. He began knitting as part of a coping mechanism in grad school after being inspired by an eight-year-old he worked with. Since then his home has become nothing more than an obsessive fiber art studio with a bed.
Kat – Office Manager, Organizational Czarina
Kat was born and raised in Nashville, TN but lived in Portland, Maine for a number of years. She realized she was in the right city but in the wrong state, moved to Oregon and never looked back! She loves yarn, will knit anything, and is a budding designer. When she isn’t at the needles, she is likely off with her spousely-equivalent and their dog climbing far-off mountains or skiing down them. Otherwise you’ll find her in the garden of their cute little house in SE Portland. She also runs her own fabulous business, NW Garden Cart.
Marcia – Master of Gorgeous Signage
Marcia learned to knit from a neighbor down the street when she was a little girl (thanks, Jodi!), and she has been knitting ever since. She moved to Portland six years ago with her now-husband and can’t imagine being as happy anywhere else. She loves cooking, biking, playing Ultimate frisbee, and being outside whenever possible! Marcia bikes to Twisted (and anywhere else, for that matter) rain or shine, so take care near the bike lanes!
Megan – Crochet Queen
Megan grew up in the central coast of California and is studying International Studies at Portland State. She lives with her boyfriend and their black kitty Winslow, who is routinely treated like royalty. Her hobbies often involve the outdoors; camping, hiking, mountaineering, and skiing, but she also has a dirty obsession with TV, often of the science fiction variety (live long and prosper). She has kept a collage journal since she was in the 6th grade and has always been obsessed with crafts. Thanks to the kindness of some great friends she learned to crochet then knit, and hasn’t stopped since. Her ravelry name is megatronD.
Rachel – Class Coordinator
Rachel is an awesome gal with a fantastic sense of humor and two rad kids. She is Twisted’s class coordinator, and master of all the calendars and emails that entails. She is, however, paralyzed by fear when it comes to writing her bio and has forced us to write this sort of lackluster summary for her. She’s cooler than this suggests.
Sorren – Fastest Knitter in the West
Sorren has a Bachelor of Fine Art in painting, but after graduating from college she fell head first into her love for fiber. She loves to knit just about anything and has a passion for spinning as well. Her sweet little family includes an adoring husband, a pug named Pepper, and baby Virgil makes three. If she’s not at work or knitting, she is probably on a long walk or sitting in a park daydreaming.
Taunia – Pan-Crafting Guru
Taunia lives on a little urban homestead in Montavilla with her dear husband, 3 kiddos, adorable pup Penelope, 4 chickens and 2 cats. She learned to knit from her momma when she was 10, and loves to knit with wool. She also loves to garden, cook, ride bikes, milk goats, eat good food and coffee, the smell of juniper and sagebrush. She has been called picky, but prefers “discerning”. Someday she hopes to live on a little farm with a sheep or two, which she will shear, spin the wool and knit into a sweater for herself.
Vivian – Office Manager, Resident Photographer
Vivian knits, spins, photographs, plays in the dirt and cooks endless amounts of food with the help of her son and soon a new daughter on the way. You can witness her spinning and knitting exploits at spindleshanksknits.blogspot.com where she tries to make her life look glamorous, idyllic, full of good lighting, and free of stray fibers.
Anne Berk
Anne Berk was certified by The Knitting Guild of America as a Master Knitter in 2003. Anne especially enjoys teaching about techniques that improve the quality and appearance of handknits. She has been a knitting instructor since 1998. Anne has designed for ShibuiKnits and Simply Shetland, and taught “Argyle Socks” at Sock Summit 2009. Her original pattern booklet “Shibui Argyle” is available from ShibuiKnits, and Interweave released her instructional DVD “Inside Intarsia” in September 2010. She has written patterns and articles for many publications, including Piecework, Sockupied, and Twist Collective. Anne is also an optometrist in private practice in Portland, OR, is a distance runner, and a busy wife and mom. Find her online at annetarsia.com.
Debby Accuardi
Deb Accuardi has been crafting from the beginning with whatever project her mom brought home for her and her sister. More formal knitting lessons began in 1987 and spinning lessons in 1997. Deb loves learning and reading about different fibers, stitches, cooking, gardening and sustainability. She was one half of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks, but has gone back to her roots. She has been teaching all levels of knitting, spinning and cooking for many years. She blogs about all of this at An Omnibus, hosts the At the Kitchen Table podcast and recently published the 2012 Knitters Datebook. You will also find her periodically in her restaurant, Gino’s over in Sellwood.
Elaine
Elaine has been knitting seriously since 2001, and teaching since 2003. She loves socks, complicated stitchwork and lace. She also crochets and works with beads. Elaine enjoys helping people to learn to stretch their needlework skills, and loves it when people master things they thought they’d never do.
Julie
I teach Learn to Knit at Twisted. I’ve been knitting since I was a child—my mother taught me how to knit cotton dishrags. Of course, once she taught me the basics, I was off and running. My next project was a cable sweater. My favorite projects involve either cables or lace. I knit sweaters, socks, scarves, mittens, hats, and shawls.
Karen
Karen has been knitting for about 4 years. She discovered felting a short time after that, and then needle felting, and loves being able to paint with fiber! She is the proud wife of a great man and the proud Mommy of beautiful 11 year old twins. She just wishes there were more hours in the day to craft!
Karie
I was infected with the knitting bug after living in Chile in 2004 and saw amazing yarn spun by indigenous women (I still can’t believe I had never entertained my fiber bug before this!) and a friend introduced me to the joys of leg warmers. A passion was born when the first thing I ever knit was a pair of leg warmers on double pointed needles in the round. Nothing like running before you can walk! Even though I struggled with 5 needles at once, I trucked along and was hooked. Boy do I hate double pointed needles and was overjoyed to discover the magic loop.
I always have at least 4 to 6 projects working at once. Socks, a sweater or other such large item and several small projects. I like the ability to circulate through mindless and soothing stockinette and lace at any given moment. Every project teaches me something new about knitting and I always discover a tid bit about myself that has been lurking in the depths of my soul.
I have been beading for at least 20 years, making earrings, necklaces and bracelets with semi-precious stones. I took this gift to another skill while living in Chile. I found a silver smithing class taught by a local Mapuche indian. He taught us how to manipulate silver with fire, saws and other such applications. I was hooked! My hope is to expand on my metal smithing skills and combine it with my recent discovery, Art Clay.
I am working on altering the time space continuum so I can have enough time for all my hobbies!
Lee
Lee is a maker of things, doer of stuff, the woman behind leethal knit designs, the do stuff! leethal blog, and everything else on at leethal.net. She spends most of her time designing knit accessories and making yarn (both spinning and dyeing recycled wool), but also does tons of other crafty activities like print-making, sewing, embroidery, beading, and photographing it all! Lee started knitting in college, improvising from the beginning, always trying to find interesting construction methods, attempting to make things that she’d never seen instead of following patterns. She love challenging design concepts, quick projects, and colorful yarn!
Leila
Leila has been making clothes since she learned to cut with scissors. At first she glued with her babysitter, then sewed with her grandmother and with her father. Now she knits and sometimes spins, alone or in the inspiring company of friends and neighbors. She is also a scholar of the history of Japanese textiles and dress, which informs many of her designs. You can find her knitting and spinning in Portland OR, where she lives with her partner, their two children, and the occasional shoebox full of silk worms.
Leila’s patterns for hand knitting have been published by Interweave, Knitscene, Twist Collective, Embrace the Lace Club, and the Sanguine Gryphon. DekoBoko Design, her line of self-published patterns, often features spinners’ notes. She is a member of Portland Spineratti, and has taught spinning to anyone who’s shown interest, from a class of kindergarteners to individual adults. Leila has found that spindling in public (especially on a crowded bus!) is often even easier and more fun than knitting in public.
Linda
Linda Gettmann is a veteran crafts person who escaped from her corporate office in the financial services industry to have more time for her favorite hobbies: kumihimo jewelry, weaving, knitting, scuba diving, and photography. An avid fiber nut, Linda teaches kumihimo and rigid heddle weaving at the Madrona Fiber Arts Retreat in Tacoma, WA, the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby, OR, and at local guilds and yarn stores; and belongs to several weaving and knitting guilds in Southwest Washington and Oregon. She sells her creations at local art fairs and boutiques (like Twisted) under the name “Fiber Art Designs.” She is always on the lookout for new ideas, and enjoys teaching others and experimenting in the realm of fiber arts.
Michele B.
Michele has been knitting since her favorite aunt taught her when she was 16, but became a knit-fiend when she joined a knitting group, Ravelry and started knit-blogging in the past few years. She is particularly fond of texture (cables, lace, and entrelac) and loves teaching people how to be the boss of their knitting! You can view her blog at PDXKnitterati.
Michelle M.
Michelle is extremely shy. She is not married and has no children. She is not famous and has no plans to be. She is a reasonably good knitter, but less great at self-promotion. You can view her blog at Another Knitting Blog.
Natalie
Natalie Laderas-Kilkenny is an instructional designer by day and fiber-addicted needle artist & co-host of the Cloudy with a Chance of Fiber podcast by night. Her interests include Amigurumi toys, past and present pop culture and small dogs. You can read more about her adventures and misadventures with fiber on her blog: I am addicted. Natalie also teaches our super cool and super popular Tunisian Crochet classes.
Parna
Parna taught herself to knit and crochet when she was about 7 years old. Since then, she has also dabbled in a variety of other arts and crafts including sewing, beading, cross-stitch, stained glass, spinning, and others. She has received two levels of teaching certification from the Craft Yarn Council of America. Parna loves to knit sweaters and buy sock yarn. When she’s not knitting, Parna is a lawyer. Her legal practice includes advice, transactional, and litigation work in intellectual property (e.g. trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets), all aspects of internet-related law, and general commercial litigation. Parna’s other hobbies include making stitch markers, playing goalie on the most fabulous women’s soccer team on earth, and obsessing over Supernatural with Emily and Shannon. Her Ravelry name is myriadlane.
Sivia
Sivia loves knitting and all fibrey pursuits, and is internationally known for her gorgeous, popular, often beaded designs. As well as working at Twisted, she also teaches many classes here. Other than knitting and spinning, her favorite activities are reading, history, old music and films from the 40s, messing around with her camera, and plonking on the ukulele, not necessarily in that order. See her designs at: siviaharding.com
Star
When Star is not designing, she’s dreaming about designing. She’s also knitting, spinning, dyeing fiber, teaching, cycling, writing, doodling, walking, doing crossword puzzles, drinking tea, eating chocolate, stretching, contemplating the cruelty of existence, and exploring the great Pacific Northwest. For adventures in knitting, spinning and other odds and ends, visit: keeponknittinginthefreeworld.blogspot.com
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