KDO 2025 Teachers

Mell Bolen

A very long-time knitter, I've also designed and written patterns. My inspiration comes from travels around the world and all the art, architecture and textiles I've been lucky enough to see firsthand. As a job, I ran university study abroad programs and taught courses so I've also learned how to help students learn. Always love sharing information and the two way exchange of knowledge between students and teachers. 

Zakirah Boyd

I'm Zakirah Boyd owner of Hooked on Kirah. I have been crocheting for almost 10 years and recently started my own crochet business. I love teaching people the skill that helped improve me into a person I can be proud of.  

Jacqueline (Jackie) Brown

I am an avid knitter and lifetime crafter. I began my knitting adventure more than 30 years ago. So much so, that I joined the Knitting Guild of America and started attending meeting regularly at a local chapter. This led me to enroll in TKGA’s Master Knitting Program. I have passed Level I, Level II and am working on Level III.

As this love relationship continued to evolve, it took on various outlets. In 2014, I became a Certified Knitting Instructor and a certified Crochet Instructor in 2021 by the Craft Yarn Council. I supplemented my knitting training by attending Stitches East, Vogue Knitting Live (NY), TKGA Conferences and other knitting workshops. In 2019, I started working at my local yarn shops servicing customers, teaching classes, and giving private lessons. I teach at local Knitting events and have published several reviews in TKGA’s K2TogNewsletter.

Mackenzie Bytof

Mackenzie Bytof is a fiber artist in the Central PA region. She has worked on fiber arts for over 30 years, starting at a very young age with crochet. She works on projects that consist of crochet, knitting, hand-dyeing (both synthetic and natural dyes), spinning, and recently weaving. She has worked in education since 2010, serving the Pennsylvania schools as a Speech Language Pathologist.

Valerie Ciliberti

Valerie Ciliberti has been knitting and crocheting for many decades and is a TKGA Master Knitter. Recent interests include mosaic and overlay crochet, but she also loves to knit socks, shawls and doll clothes. She was an active participant in Afghans for Afghans and the Welcome Blanket Project. She studied Fine Arts at Temple University and later worked on interface and graphic design for computer-based training programs. Valerie is a long-time resident of Philadelphia and belongs to the Liberty Bell Knitting Guild and the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers where she teaches crochet classes.

Elizabeth Durand 

Elizabeth finally learned to knit at age 7, after years of trying, and never stopped. She is madly in love with sock yarn, but wanders frequently into DK, worsted, and nice thick Lopi. Elizabeth currently teaches knitting at Main Line School Night, a large adult education organization in Radnor, PA. She previously taught at the now-closed shop, Stash, in the Ardmore/Havertown area, where she learned to fix almost any mistake that can be made. She is a member of the Liberty Bell Knitting Guild and the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers.

Gina Giles

Gina Giles is a painter and fiber artist with a background in photography and digital art. Since her graduation from Moore College of Art & Design where she studied Photography and Digital Arts, Gina has honed into a very personal approach to artmaking that blurs the lines between her more straightforward two-dimensional pictorial style and her trail-blazing interpretation of fiber art. Drawing inspiration from her wide-ranging inner states and her peaceful communion with nature, Gina manifests a vibrant representation of her reality as an African American woman, feeling her way through adulthood and the nuances involved in one's personal take on femininity, empowerment, independence and vulnerability. Gina's masterful choice of color combinations and materials, often sourced during her daily errands, brings to expressive life faces and moods, nature and artifice. 

Tanis Gray

Tanis Gray Chang believes that we are stronger together. When we respect each other, listen, learn, and educate, we can lift each other up and thrive as humans. All are welcome here, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, age, religion, fiber/material choice, or crafting style.

A graduate of RISD, Tanis lives in Northern VA with her Mechanical Engineer husband and two children. She has been in the creative field for many years, including roles at Martha Stewart, HBO, Focus Features, Hungryman Productions, and as the Yarn Editor at Vogue Knitting/Sixth & Spring and co-editor of Knit.1. She has worked on projects with Warner Brothers, Lucasfilm, Tim Burton, and Disney.

With over 700 published knitting designs in her portfolio, and 16 published knitting books available, her work has been featured in many major publications and books worldwide. Learn more at www.tanisknits.com.

Lisa Haldeman

Lisa Haldeman is a local, self-taught fiber and polymer clay artist whose miniature dolls and whimsical wool creations have been displayed and sold at craft shows, galleries, and online stores for 20 years. She has taught classes at SPLAT Studio in Annville, Hope at Hand Ministry, Endless Mountains Fiber Festival, Landis Valley Museum and Local Retirement Homes. She especially loves helping people learn the fun and fulfilling craft of needle felting!  

Joy Jannotti

Lavanya Patricella

Lavanya Patricella is a fiber artist, knitting instructor and designer based in North Eastern Pennsylvania. She's been teaching knitting since 2010 across the United States and has published more than 100 original patterns since 2014. Her passion for her craft lights up yarn shops and inspires knitters, eager to learn and expand their creativity.

Http://lavanyapatricella.com/

Ravelry: Designs by Lavanya Patricella

https://www.instagram.com/lavanyapatricella/

Mariah Stanford

Mariah is an experienced knitter of 16 years, certified knit instructor and a licensed physical therapist.  She finds joy helping others with their craft and uses her experience in physical therapy to keep her students knitting comfortably. You can find her teaching in person at her local yarn store, and privately through her website, Mariahknits.com.

 Ann Weaver

When Ann Weaver is not traveling to teach or exploring thrift stores and estate sales, you will find her in West Baltimore, where she works as a freelance editor and writer and runs Plied Yarns. Mending, dyeing, sewing and piecing—she uses all her skills to give her finds new life. She loves inspiring and empowering students in her individualized, laid-back workshops.

You can find Ann on her website at https://www.aweaverknits.com/ and on Instagram @weaverknits.

Come join us for KDO 2025 - September 26 & 27, 2025!