KDO 2026 Teachers
Duke Akiba
Ravelry: duke-of-nikko
Jacqueline (Jackie) Brown
I am a passionate knitter, lifelong crafter, and dedicated fiber arts educator with more than 30 years of knitting experience. What began as a creative hobby quickly grew into a lifelong pursuit of learning, teaching, and sharing the art of knitting and crochet with others.
My journey in the fiber arts led me to become a Certified Master Hand Knitter through The Knitting Guild Association (TKGA), as well as a Certified Knitting Instructor and Certified Crochet Instructor through the Craft Yarn Council. I have worked in local yarn shops assisting customers, teaching group classes, and offering private instruction to students of all skill levels.
In addition to teaching at local knitting events and workshops, I have contributed published reviews to TKGA’s _K2TOG_newsletter. I continue to expand my knowledge and skills through advanced training opportunities, including attending Stitches East, Vogue Knitting Live, TKGA conferences, and numerous knitting workshops throughout the years.
Above all, I love helping others discover the joy, creativity, and confidence that comes through working with yarn and fiber arts.
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.
Instagram: @mackbytf
Elizabeth Durand
Elizabeth first tried to learn to knit at age 4, mastered it (after many attempts) at age 7, and has never looked back. It's just part of daily life -- and may even be more important than coffee. She always has a few pairs of socks on the needles, and blankets and sweaters and mittens are also high on the list. Teaching experience includes many years at KDO (most years since 2004) and Main Line School Night in Radnor (west of Philadelphia).
Ravelry: badInfluence
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 in the power of community—that we are stronger when we come together. By respecting one another, listening, learning, and sharing knowledge, we can lift each other up and thrive. Her classroom is a welcoming space for all, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, age, religion, fiber or material choice, or crafting style.
A graduate of RISD, Tanis lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, a mechanical engineer, and their two children. Her career spans decades in the creative industry, with roles at Martha Stewart, HBO, Focus Features, Hungryman Productions, and as Yarn Editor at Vogue Knitting / Sixth & Spring, as well as co-editor of Knit.1. She has collaborated on projects with Warner Bros., Lucasfilm, Tim Burton, and Disney.
With more than 750 published knitting designs, Tanis’s work has appeared in major publications and books worldwide. She was a regular contributor on PBS’s Knitting Daily TV with Vickie Howell and has taught popular online Fair Isle classes through Craftsy.
Tanis is the author of 16 acclaimed knitting books, spanning original collections and officially licensed pop-culture titles. Her debut, Knit Local (2011), won the Gold IPPY Award, followed by Capitol Knits, which earned the DAR American Heritage Women in the Arts Award. Her work includes titles such as Knitting Architecture, Wanderlust, Gradient Knits, Knitting Magic (Harry Potter), Knitting the Galaxy (Star Wars), Knitting with Disney, The Fellowship of the Knits (Lord of the Rings), and Gilmore Girls: The Official Knitting Book. She is currently working on two new books, releasing in 2026.
Her work has been recognized nationally with multiple first-place honors from the American Heritage Award and the National Women in the Arts Award.
Ravelry: TanisKnits
Instagram: @tanisknits
Threads: @tanisknits
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!
She especially loves helping people learn the fun and fulfilling craft of needle felting!
Instagram: @homespunfelts
Facebook: homespunfelts
Joan Hudyncia
Michael and Joan started their Sweet Grass Farm with registered flock Seven Hills Shetland Sheep in 2010 with a move to 45 acres of beautiful land in the Endless Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. Joan is now retired from veterinary practice and spends a lot more of her time enjoying all aspects of the sheep, from raising the animals to working with their wool as well as plant fibers. She enjoys spinning, weaving, knitting and dyeing, especially when it is with Shetland wool.
For many years Joan has organized yearly dyeing days for the county spinning and weaving guild, featuring indigo dyeing, natural dyeing and chemical dyeing on wool, cotton, silk and linen. She has learned Shibori Indigo dyeing in Idaho and more recently in Japan. It is her joy to share this love of color, particularly with her grandchildren!
Debbie Mancuso
Debbie Mancuso is the executive director and owner of the Fiber Arts and Textile Center (previously known as the Teaching Museum for the Fiber Arts and Textiles) in southern York County, PA., and has been dedicated to the fiber arts for over 30 years. A skilled hand-spinner and passionate instructor, she brings experience and a deep love for sharing her knowledge with hand spinners of all levels. Her practical approach and friendly teaching style will help you relax and enjoy this class.
Debbie also raises Border Leicester sheep, which are known for their exceptionally lustrous wool—a top-of-the-line fiber for spinning, knitting/crocheting, and felting.
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.
Ravelry: Designs by Lavanya Patricella
https://www.instagram.com/lavanyapatricella/
Mariah Stanford
Mariah is an avid knitter with nearly 2 decades of experience. She is a certified knitting instructor through the Craft Yarn Council, licensed physical therapist, budding designer, and the Educational Content Creator for Thread & Maple. She loves helping others grow in their craft and draws on her therapeutic background to help her students reach their fullest knitting potential. You can find out more about Mariah and her services through her website at mariahknits.com and on Instagram as MariahKnits.
Lisa Toppin
Lisa Toppin is a knitting instructor and designer who loves uncovering the “why” behind every stitch. Known for her approachable teaching style and deep curiosity about construction and technique, she helps knitters understand how history and craftsmanship intertwine. She teaches across the country and online, sharing classes that blend technical skill with creative confidence.
Instagram: @threeofskeins
Traci Verdin
My mom taught me to knit when I was 16. I have always been so grateful that she gave me this amazing gift. I adore knitting. There are always new techniques to learn or something fabulous to create. I started teaching over 20 years ago and it is something that has always brought me great joy. Seeing the craft through another’s eyes has helped me become a better knitter. For me, knitting is as much about the craft as it is about the community. We are all connected by the stitches we create.
Ravelry: ruinwen
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 Hospitality Manager at Creative Alliance 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 2026 - September 25 & 26, 2026!
