KDO 2024 Teachers
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.
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.
Judy Gelzinis Donovan
Judy Gelzinis Donovan is an award-winning wearable art designer and fiber artist who has been practicing her craft for over 35 years. She has won many awards for her art wearables including Best of Show at the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Wearable Art Competition, 2nd prize in the 2018 Stitches East Student Fashion show, Excellence in Surface Design in the Philadelphia Guild of Handweavers’ Celebration of Fibers exhibition, and Most Innovative Design at the 2016 Pacific International Quilt Festival. She designed for 3 invitational Bernina Fashion shows and 4 Fairfield Fashion shows and for a Philadelphia opera company. She has taught for Stitches at Home and for many Mancuso Quilt Festivals, both online and in-person. Most recently, she has joined the teaching staff at Red Stone Glen Fiber Arts Center. Judy is also a weaver, spinner, dyer and beadwork artist, who knits every day of her life. A former art & museum librarian, she lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two Siamese cats. She is on Instagram as judy.gelzinis.donovan.
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.
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.
Bristol Ivy
Bristol Ivy is a knitting designer, teacher, and author from Bangor, Maine. Her work has been published with PomPom Magazine, amirisu, Quince & Co., Making Magazine, and her own eponymous pattern line. She has taught at such events as Squam Art Workshops, Edinburgh Yarn Festival, and Vogue Knitting Live, as well as yarn shops worldwide. Her recent books, Knitting Outside the Box and Knitting Outside the Box: Drape and Fold, both with PomPom Press, explore her lifelong commitment to breaking rules and finding beauty in unexpected places. When not knitting, she’s sewing, running, watching far too many British murder mysteries, and baking a mean loaf of oatmeal honey bread. Find her online at bristolivy.com and on Instagram and Twitter as @bristolivy.
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.
Ravelry: Designs by Lavanya Patricella
https://www.instagram.com/lavanyapatricella/
Ellen Rubin
Ellen is a co-founder of Luv2Knit & More and the Creative Director of Therapeutic Crafters on Call (TCC). Trained as a scientist, she teaches the therapeutic benefits of knitting and crochet to help alleviate stress, anxiety, PTSD, drug and alcohol addiction, and social isolation. In addition, she teaches adults and children of all abilities how to knit and crochet. She has taught in settings as diverse as yarn shops, hospitals, elementary schools and physical therapy graduate students. One of her first initiatives was teaching knitting to expectant mothers on hospitalized bed rest. Further, she worked with nurses facing "compassion fatigue" to incorporate knitting into their coping skill set. Ellen has had many other engagements including working with boys’ and girls’ scout troops, children with emotional needs, autistic children and adults, visually impaired individuals, teenage foster care kids as well as veterans and cancer patients.
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.
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.
https://www.ravelry.com/people/Ruinwen
https://www.instagram.com/vixenpath/
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 Instagram @weaverknits and find her patterns in the Weaverknits shop on Ravelry.
Myra Wood
Myra Wood is an internationally known fiber artist, designer, author and teacher. She teaches a wide range of classes in knitting, weaving, crochet, embroidery and beading specializing in all things creative. Her online classes are available at Craftsy.com. Myra is the author of Knit in New Directions, Creative Crochet Lace, Crazy Lace, Crazyshot, Crazyshot Companion, and Crazyshot Wearables along with numerous published patterns in books and magazines. Myra has been a guest instructor on numerous episodes of Knit and Crochet Now, Knitty Gritty and Uncommon Threads and Knitting Daily on PBS, HGTV and DIY Network. More info at myrawood.com.
Come join us for KDO 2025 - September 26 & 27, 2025!
