Jenny has been crocheting since the age of ten. In 2009 Jenny began designing and opened her pattern shop, Injenuity, on Etsy. Among her most popular designs are the vintage-inspired “Li’l Jackie Hat” and the “Seamus Scally Cap,” an innovative take on the classic flat cap. When she isn’t crocheting, Jenny enjoys reading and writing fiction. You can find her designs on the web: www.injenuity.etsy.com or www.ravelry.com/designers/jenny-allbritain. Or, search “Injenuity” on Facebook.
Brenda’s work has been published in Interweave Crochet, Crochet Today, Knitscene, and Your Knitting Life. She lives in a little house (with a lot of yarn) that she shares with her handsome husband and one naughty kitty. You can find her on Ravelry as Yarnville.
Rebecca’s been wielding the hook off and on since she was in junior high school. In recent years she’s joined the ranks of the crochet obsessed. Rebecca relishes designing hats, bags, cozies, shrugs . . . anything that’s fun, fast, and useful!
Annelies is the mother of two great sons, Vic and Arno, who are her inspiration. Her designer name is vicarno’s mama and you can find her at www.vicarnosmama.blogspot.com.
Sharon is an avid crocheter and freelance designer. Her designs have appeared in magazines such as Interweave Crochet, Crochet!, and Tangled. She also has designs in Oh Baby! Crochet (DRG, 2010) as well as designs in upcoming books by Cooperative Press and Storey Publishing. You can find her on Ravelry as stitchesandstones.
Donna was born in Seattle, Washington, grew up in California, and now lives in North Florida with her husband, Michael, and their dog, Shelby. At the age of eleven, her grandmother taught her to crochet pineapple sachets, but she soon found great pleasure in creating afghans. Her afghan designs are inspired by quilt patterns and a technique that produces a seamless, reversible blanket. She has published patterns in Crochet World, Crochet with Heart, and Warm & Cuddly: Afghans for All Seasons, Book 3. Donna’s most recent design patterns include afghans, shoulder bags, and table runners and can be found online at Knit Picks and Ravelry.
Laura discovered the joy of crocheting when she first picked up a hook in 2005. She likes the challenge of creating a new pattern and enjoys sharing her passion for the craft with her students. She teaches crochet classes for all skill levels at the Red Thread in Warrenton, Virginia. You can also find her online at www.ravelry.com/people/blacksheepcrochet.
Julie’s been crocheting since she was eight years old. She currently works with a community of knitters at Haus of Yarn in Nashville, Tennessee, and is continually inspired by the talent and creativity of the group. Accessories are her favorite projects, especially shawlettes, necklaces, and purses.
Janet adores luxury yarns and loves the challenge of creating accessories using just a skein or two. “Looping” off and on since the age of eight, she is happily caught up in this new wave of crochet enthusiasm and enjoying the ride. Her design work can be seen in Interweave Crochet, Interweave Crochet Accessories, Crochet!, Crochet World, and now in this wonderful book. Her pattern line is available to the wholesale industry through Deep South Fibers.
In business at the same location in Wheaton, Illinois, for eighteen years, Craftique/Never Enough Knitting specializes in knitting, quilting, and crocheting, originating many patterns in all these crafts. Jane is a retired teacher who takes advantage of her master’s degree in fine arts to develop new ideas and methods to assist customers in developing new skills.
Nancy is a widely published knit and crochet designer. Having taught herself to crochet as a teenager, Nancy admits she’s been “crocheting for decades.” She is a member and past president of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA). She lives on the Kitsap Peninsula of Washington State.
Bendy began designing full-time in 1999. She enjoys crocheting, designing, and crocheting her own designs. Her crochet books include Baby Shower Cakes, When Granny Meets Filet, Charted Picture Afghans, and a light murder mystery called Dying to Crochet. She hopes everyone enjoys her Lacy Pineapple Belt.
Yvonne designs and crochets all kinds of things: hats, scarves, clothes, curtains, rugs, dog sweaters, etc. Her grandma, Mema, was always doing all kinds of crafts, sewing, needlepoint, quilting, and crochet. She taught Yvonne to crochet when she was eight years old. Now she’s crocheting with her granddaughters, to whom she taught Tunisian crochet. Yvonne is a member of the Crochet Guild of America, NYC Crochet Guild, and the Harlem Knitting Circle. As a member of the NYC Crochet Guild, she worked on the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project. She loves to teach and recently started Brooklyn Crochet Connection, a fun, free intergenerational program geared toward passing on the skills, gifts, and talents of our elders to our youth through crochet. They meet at the Walt Whitman Library in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. You can contact Yvonne at www.brooklyncrochet.com.
A former instructor at Loop Yarn Shop in Milwaukee, Patricia is an avid knitter and crocheter. Inspired by natural fibers and yarns of all types, she turns to crochet to design quick gifts for family and friends. Projects include baby hats and sweaters, amigurumi, borders on dish towels, cowls, and scarves. Her crochet hooks are always as close as her knitting needles.
Sylvie is an avid crafter who started publishing her own knitting and crochet patterns back in 2005 under the name “Chez Plum.” Follow her yarny adventures in the French Alps via her blog http://chezplum.com/blog.
Tamara has worked for several yarn shops and currently has patterns on Ravelry and Craftsy. She loves the shape, size, color, and texture of knit and crochet, but loves her children and wonderful grandchildren more.
Judith has been up to yarny things for almost fifty years. Editor of the One-Skein Wonders series and author of several other books about knitting and beadwork, she can be found on the Web at www.judithdurant.com.
Robin Dykema began tweaking designs, which soon led to creating original designs, and she has more than thirty to date. She is thrilled to be included in this book. “I learn something new with every new design — whether it starts as a vague idea or a more complete image.”
Edie likes to crochet, knit, sew, teach, design, write, and edit, not necessarily in that order. She is the author of four best-selling crochet books, Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs, Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, Around the Corner Crochet Borders, and The Crochet Answer Book. She is on a mission to make crochet patterns as understandable as possible to as many crocheters as possible. Edie is co-editor of Crochet One-Skein Wonders.
Diana, owner and designer for Lowellmountain Wools, LLC, a farm shop with sheep in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont that offers classes in knitting. She is a member of the Knitting Guild Association and is a knitting instructor at The Old Stone House Museum.
Melody is a self-taught designer, specializing in crochet and jewelry designs, and sometimes combining the two. A native of New England, she spends her days at a bookstore and her nights creating new, original ideas.
Ellen stitched more than eighty afghans before beginning her design career in 2004. She has now sold more than two hundred designs and been published numerous times in many crochet magazines including Interweave Crochet, Crochet Today, Crochet!, Crochet World and Inside Crochet. Her designs have been shown on the PBS show Knit and Crochet Now! Her two books are Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workbook and Learn Bruges Lace. You can follow Ellen on her blog at www.gocrochet.com and as GoCrochet on Twitter and Ravelry.
Affiliated with Shall We Knit? in Waterloo, Ontario, Beth is an elementary school supply teacher in southwestern Ontario. She is also a lifelong learner who enjoys sharing her discoveries with others. In her spare time she teaches crochet at her local yarn shop and designs many of her patterns as teaching tools to introduce the crafter to new techniques in a clear and (she hopes!) relatively painless way. Her work can also be found in the Fresh Designs crochet series (Cooperative Press), Crochet! magazine, and online via Ravelry.
Sarah has been stitching since she was a wee girl, and she loves to design. She is continually inspired by nature and always trying something new. She can be found at www.asarahgrieveproduction.com.
Pam shares her passion for knitting and crochet through teaching and designing. Her designs have been published in Vogue Knitting, Knitting Socks with Hand-painted Yarn, One + One Hats, and independently as Knits with a Twist. She lives in Connecticut where she is rarely seen without a hook or needles in her hands. For more information visit www.pamgrushkin.com.
Sara Kay designs crochet and knitting patterns for the modern crafter. See her designs at www.sarakayknitandcrochet.com. She lives with her wonderful husband in central Illinois.
Ryan’s designing crochet patterns started as an act of financial desperation. However, making the step into professional crafting has brought a greater love for the work. Visit him at Blazing Needles, www.blazing-needles.com.
Laura is a lifelong crocheter and knitter who enjoys working with color, pattern, and texture. She hopes to outlive her yarn stash but says, “I may have to live forever!”
Akua Lezli began crocheting at age twelve and creates wild hats for herself and her friends in New York City. Her participation lapsed until she reconnected with dimensional crochet in the late 1990s and soon after found freeform. Her crochet designs have been included in the Crochet 2010 and 2011 calendars, Interweave Crochet, Knit Picks IDP, Sanguine Gryphon, and Tangled magazine. Her crochet patterns are available on Ravelry, Etsy, Craftsy, and DaWanda. An Associate Professional member of the Crochet Guild of America, her crochet blog is www.zencrochet.blogspot.com. Her fiber love extends to hand papermaking. She also creates using glass, wire, words, and sound. A NEA award-winning poet, her work is included in several groundbreaking collections.
Adrienne is a self-taught crochet artist who designs, creates, and felts handmade slippers. As a mother of four, she has a lot of toes to practice on. Adrienne’s other slipper styles can be found at www.handmadebyade.etsy.com.
Mike eats, sleeps, and breathes fiber arts. While he has crocheted since he was young, machine knitting is his growing passion, and he just can’t get enough. He has made it his mission to enlighten others on what machine knitting is all about. He works an office job by day, and is often seen wearing a suit on the commuter train and pulling out his crochet. It never fails to get a comment. Mike is glad to help educate anyone who wants to know, and is just as eager to learn from others. Watch for more from this budding designer.
More of Erica’s designs can be found on her website at www.fiddleknits.com.
Justyna is a designer, mother, and wife from the oldest town in Poland. She tries to keep her designs cute and useful at the same time. Visit her at www.cuteandkaboodle.com.
Since she could never manage to follow crochet directions without changing something (for the better, of course), Nirmal decided it was time to create her own patterns. You can find more of her work on Ravelry under the name nirmal.
Barbara started the conversion from hobby to profession many years ago when she knitted model sweaters for Deb Newton. She then worked as technical director at JCA Knitting Yarn division for about nine years and is currently doing freelance technical work while also working a “real” job as a lab tech at a local hospital.
Susan is the owner of K1C2, LLC. Her knitting and crocheting patterns have been published in major magazines, and she is the author of four craft-related books, including Crochet Your Way with Gloria Tracy. Susan has invented numerous craft products and is a consultant to several major craft companies.
Stay-at-home mom of two, Susan started crocheting to make a monkey hat for Halloween and has been addicted ever since.
Caissa has been crafting her entire life, blogging at www.artlikebread.com since 2007, and crocheting since 2008. An educator by day, she’s also a proud member of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA). She sends love to her fellow Mount Holyoke alumnae.
Melinda is a self-taught crocheter who was inspired to learn from her great-grandmother. Her very first project was a christening set for her son’s baptism. After a house fire years ago, she still has the smoke-stained jacket as a keepsake. The Miller family is the Brady Bunch of their family tree, raising six children between them both. In the evening, Melinda loves to crochet while her husband, Craig, knits.
As a teenager, Dorian learned to crochet from her grandma. Originally from Alaska, she now makes her home in Colorado, where she enjoys crocheting and craft beer.
Anastasia is a contributor to the soon-to-be-published Fresh Design Crochet book series by Cooperative Press. Her crochet career began when she designed and produced a line of kids’ clothes and accessories for local boutiques. Catch up with Anastasia at www.anastasiapopova.com.
Deb loves to design crocheted patterns. She especially likes to create fun, quirky, and original dolls that are not always cute and cuddly. Her patterns have appeared in crochet magazines and craft companies such as Caron International, Mary Maxim, Herrshner’s, Joann’s, and Annie’s Attic. More of her designs can be found at www.craftydeb.com and you can follow her blog at http://yarn-or-fabric.weebly.com/crafty-blog.html.
Reneé has been designing professionally for more than five years. She crochets, spins, knits, and dyes in the heart of the Ozarks. Keep up with what she’s up to at www.crochetrenee.com.
Annalee has been a crocheter for more than forty years, and she especially enjoys creating new designs. Being newly retired, she is looking forward to having more time to read and sew as well. Surrounded by many fiber-creative women, Annalee hopes to now learn rug hooking.
Sandy is the multipublished author of dozens of crochet and knit designs and patterns. Her collections are favorites among handknitters and crocheters all over the world.
Melinda started at Storey Publishing in 2005 as an intern from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and is currently the associate production editor. In the eight years since she started at Storey, she has worked on every book in the One-Skein Wonders series and is ecstatic to have her very first design, the Fuzzy Tea Cozy, featured in this newest edition to the series.
Marcia is living proof to every crafter that you can do it! She has owned a yarn shop; sold the first design she ever submitted (to Plymouth Yarns); and has just started a new company called Sommerkamp Designs. Now if she could find someone to drive her car on her three-hour commute to her “real” job . . . just imagine what she could accomplish for her charity knitting group.
Janet is known by her friends and family for being crafty and creative. She has always loved crocheting and knitting, and loves doing so in her favorite spot in front of the fireplace. Recently she began to design her own patterns in the hopes of sharing her passions with others. Janet lives near Pittsburg with her husband and three daughters, where despite the cold winters, she dreams of sunny beaches and warm weather. See more of her creations at www.jspirik.etsy.com, or on Ravelry under designer jspirik.
A confirmed fiber fanatic since childhood, Gwen has edited more than two dozen books on crochet, knitting, spinning, weaving, and dyeing, and has contributed designs to several of them. She shares her passion for fiber in her book, The Knitter’s Life List (Storey, 2011). She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and blogs at http://theknitterslifelist.wordpress.com.
Lindsey is the crochet and knit designer behind www.poetryinyarn.com. From her home in Connecticut, Lindsey creates designs for Poetry in Yarn, magazines, and yarn companies. She loves yarn and has the growing stash to prove it. When she’s not stitching, Lindsey also teaches and does web design.
Kristen lives on an organic farm in Pennsylvania’s Cumberland Valley and has been designing since she was nineteen years old. Her designs have been featured by multiple magazines and yarn companies. She can’t function without crochet.
A third-generation crocheter, Deb began to design patterns as soon as she picked up a hook. When not answering phones at WEBS, Deb also enjoys jewelry making and karaoke.
Gail learned to crochet as a child, and was fortunate to be able to open a yarn shop in 1972 where she could pursue her passion for all things yarn and share that love of the art with others. After trying to retire in 2001, Gail reopened a shop in her new town where she continues to design and work with yarns and people every day.
Pam, a project editor at Storey Publishing, is happy to have a professional reason to carry around needles, hooks, and yarn at all times.
Susan’s babysitter taught her the basics of crocheting twenty-three years ago when she was seven years old, and she started crocheting professionally four years ago with The Silver Hook. Mermaids were her first amigurumi designs, and she is always working on new ideas and techniques for her patterns.
Birgit is a crochet designer from Copenhagen. You can find crochet tutorials and free patterns on her blog http://bynumber19.com.
Kennita is a freelance designer living in Manhattan, Kansas. She publishes her own pattern line, Wildflower knitwear, and owns a yarn shop, Wildflower yarns and knitwear. Check it out at www.wildflowerknits.com.
Andrea Lyn is a professional member of the CGOA and has designed patterns for publishers and yarn companies alike in both the United States and England. Her fiber arts work has been on display at Lafayette College, the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum, and Peters Valley Craft Center in Layton, New Jersey. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Glenn, and her cockatiel, Mendelssohn. Her website is at www.alvbfiberart.com and her blog is at www.thefiberforum.com.
The joy of fiber began for René when she was seven years old. After teaching her the chain stitch, Grandma offered to teach her more if she would chain the whole skein. She did and went on to crochet, knit, sew on a treadle machine, and embroider. In recent years René has enjoyed learning to quilt, tat, and spin. She is a member of TNNA, TKGA, and is published in Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders (Storey, 2008) and Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders (Storey, 2010), and has patterns available through Sporfarm Just for EWE, Wolle’s Yarn Creations, and on Ravelry under grannanmedesigns. René holds small group classes through Tea Time Knitters with Chocolate or one-on-one.
Jana has been crocheting for several years. When she couldn’t find a pattern she liked for a cute pair of gloves, her first design was born.
Myra is an internationally known fiber and bead artist, teacher, and author. She teaches a wide range of classes in crochet, knitting, beading, and embroidery, specializing in creative expression. She has appeared on a number of episodes of Knit and Crochet Today, Knitty Gritty, and Uncommon Threads for PBS, DIY, and HGTV networks and has published numerous crochet, knit, jewelry, and wearable art patterns in a wide range of books and magazines. Her books, Creative Crochet Lace and Crazy Lace are available on Amazon and through local yarn and book stores. Myra has been crocheting, sewing, and crafting since she was young and enjoys any opportunity to inspire others creatively. Visit her at www.myrawood.com.