Christina Wilkins

Christina Wilkins

Christina is a long-time needle arts enthusiast.  She was taught embroidery, cross-stitch, and basic knitting as a child.  After spending years occupied with needlepoint, she finally turned her attention to knitting a few years ago and a new obsession began. 
Always in search of a challenge, Christina began designing her own knitwear patterns and several have been featured in themed kits provided by Woolgirl (http://woolgirl.com).  Recently, she was commissioned by Curious Creek Fibers (http://www.curiouscreek.com/) to design a series of lace shawls showcasing their beautiful hand-dyed silk and wool lace weight yarns. 
Christina’s classes will feature a variety of her individual designs for shawls, scarves, and socks.  Enrollment for one of her classes is $35.  For a schedule of classes with Christina, please visit the calendar or send an email to justdotchristina@gmail.com.  She is also JustdotChristina (http://www.ravelry.com/people/justdotchristina) on Ravelry.
More of Christina’s knitting adventures can be viewed at her blog site:  The Feisty Knitters (http://feistyknitter.blogspot.com/).  She also shares her passion for cooking at JustdotChristina (http://justdotchristina.mu.nu/).

Ana Clerc 

Ana Clerc

Ana Clerc has been elbow deep in fiber arts since being taught to embroider when she was three.  This was followed by lessons in crochet at 5, knitting at 8, and sewing at 10. From a long line of needlewomen, Ana was one of those children who needed to keep their hands busy, and nothing has ever changed. 

 Though a native Texan (growing up in Houston and Galveston), she lived for 14 years in the Midwest and discovered what wool was really for.  This sudden exposure to cold reinvigorated an already strong interest in knitting and crochet.  This, combined with a love for pure color theory, led to some really warm and colorful experiments.  Ana went on to further her love of color and imagery studying Theatre and Film at the University of Minnesota.

Ana moved back to Texas in 2000, and has been busy ever since.  She currently crochets, knits, sews, spins yarn, designs needle and hook cases, designs knitting and crochet patterns, and embroiders.  She has made a vow this next year to improve her embroidery, learn needle felting, and learn to quilt.

 Ana is thrilled by learning and loves to spread that thrill to others.  Her lessons are full of information, both on the technique and the history behind it.  Ana acknowledges and tries to foster many different learning styles during her classes.  Teaching knitting and crochet for the last 8 years, following 6 years of teaching jewelry making, she is a patient and adaptable partner in furthering new skills.

 Ana is the mother of 2 and wife of a really handy guy.  With the family, she is starting a letterpress card business on a 125 year-old press, as well as selling handmade items on the family Etsy site: http://www.needleandknife.etsy.com .  Lessons with Ana are $35, with discounts for blocks of 5 lessons.   Private lessons are available with a flexible schedule.  Ana can be reached via email: oceanofstitches@gmail.com  , via Ravelry (username: badgersmama) and more information on her exploits can be found on her blog: http://oceanofstitches.blogspot.com.

Allison Hoffman

Allison Hoffman

Allison’s craft pursuits started after her first son was born and she started scrapbooking.  Life got in the way and she looked for a more portable creative outlet that would take up less space.  After seeing the word “amigurumi” and googling, Allison was literally “hooked” on crocheting!  Self-taught, she finally picked up the correct methods and started writing her own patterns and selling them online in her etsy shop, http://www.craftyiscool.etsy.com.  After writing and publishing a pattern for a Conan O’Brien doll, the I’m With Coco facebook group spotlighted her work and soon lil’ Coco was all over the blogosphere, including spots on Entertainment Weekly’s pop culture blog, and Perez Hilton’s fashion gossip blog, Coco Perez.  Pee-Wee Herman came soon after, with a tweet and facebook mention of her Pee-Wee and Chairry dolls by the man himself!
While Allison’s main focus in crochet is designing dolls, she also loves working with color and texture creating blankets, clothing, and accessories.  Allison loves the speed of crochet and its ability to create 3-dimensional objects with so much character.  She hopes others will find out the joy of crochet along with her.  Her patterns are available on ravelry (alliecat30) and her etsy shop, http://www.craftyiscool.etsy.com , where she sometimes sells her finished toys as well.  She also blogs at http://craftyiscool.blogspot.com .

Debbie Seale Kubena

Debbie Seale Kubena

Deb received her first pair of yellow plastic knitting needles and a skein of blindingly yellow acrylic yarn from her Nana when she was 7 years old. Despite mastering the knit stitch, the short attention span and the bigger desire to play baseball won out in the end.   Picking it again without missing a beat in college, she self-taught the basics , but again, the distractions of school and young adulthood left little time to pursue hobbies.
In 1988, Deb took a class from Suzann Thompson that changed her life.  Her first project was a mostly (gulp) yellow cardigan, modeled after an Oakland A’s athletic sweater, with her 6 year old son’s favorite player’s number knitted in.
Today, Deb has been a nurse in the newborn nursery at St. David’s Medical Center for 32 years.  She has taught many of her co-workers to knit and heads up a weekly knitting group of newborn nurses every Tuesday at The Knitting Nest.
Deb loves to work one-on-one with new knitters to get them started on their adventure.  Private classes are available with flexible scheduling during the week.  Email her at dskubena@hotmail.com, or call at 826-6422 to schedule your class.  Private classes are $35/hr with discounted rates available for a block of 4 classes.