Donita Westman learned to crochet from her mother as a child. She returned to crochet in college, then learned to knit in 2010 and has scarcely been seen without a WIP since. After declaring that she didn’t understand why anyone would ever waste time spinning yarn when there were so many beautiful yarns available, Donita ate her words, learned to spin in 2014, and can’t imagine how she stayed sane previously. In just a few years, she has spun over 18,000 yards of yarn and has more unspun fleeces than she cares to admit.
Drawing on her background as a teacher, Donita is an adamant reader, researcher and student, and has spent a lot of time with learning resources from Judith MacKenzie, Abby Franquemont, Maggie Casey, Amy King, Deb Robson and more. For the first several years as an avid fiber artist, Donita didn’t have any local fiber community, so her ‘knitting group’ was podcasts she could download and listen to on the go, such as The Knitmore Girls. After moving to Columbus, she found LYSs, knitting groups and joined the Central Ohio Weaving & Fiber Arts Guild, where she has served as the newsletter editor, webmistress, and co-chair of the educational programming committee.
Check out Donita’s 150K+ yards of finished objects on Ravelry or on Instagram, where there will also be gratuitous pet pictures.
A college friend, fellow crocheter and knit evangelist, Amy, insisted I must learn to knit. She was SO right.
My first knitting WIP was a cowl, from super bulky wool yarn and a pattern called Wham Bam Thank You Lamb! The name made me giggle, and still does.
My first spinning was a 2-ply, super bulky yarn in undyed ‘medium’ wool, which became a lovely cowl!
My first weaving was a kitchen towel from worsted weight cotton that I still have and use!
Time spent with friends while creating our fiber art of choice!
When I first learned to knit, I wrapped my stitches wrong, creating twisted stitches for every stitch. Twisted stitches don’t stretch like knit fabric. Some of my first knitting was hats for my then-fiance, now-husband, because he couldn’t find hats to fit his XL head. He willingly, and quietly, wore hats with next-to-no stretch or give for about a year before I realized they were all too small for him! I promptly knit him all new hats, as he had definitely proved his knit-worthiness!
Soundtrack by Marie Greene, Gemini by Jane Richmond, and a hat on the needles.
A baby blanket on my 32″ Ashford rigid heddle loom.
Merino/silk roving on my Tibetan spindle; Polwarth on my smallest cross-arm spindle; Texel on my e-spinner.
Anywhere I have to wait. A project bag in my purse makes me a patient waiter.
I love simple, classic pieces done in more modern colors!
A nice wool/silk blend gets me every time!
Practice every day!
I love seeing the lightbulb moment students have when they ‘get it’! Facilitating that is so rewarding!
Terri learned to crochet at the tender age of 5, and then again at 12 when it finally stuck. She learned to knit as a teenager, and again about 12 years ago when that finally stuck. Over the years, she’s shared her love of fiber crafting as she taught many friends and family to knit and crochet.
Susan learned to knit about 25 years ago while working on the foreign desk of a money management firm – she needed something to fill her time when she got out of work at 2pm and the rest of the world was still sitting at their desks.
Andrea grew up in an artful home, so it seems reasonable that she would choose fashion design as her field of study. However, upon graduating college in said field, she promptly went into the restaurant…
Beth began her love of knitting and crocheting when she was 6 years old and made her first sweater at the age of 7. Beth received a Bachelor Degree in Art Education from The Ohio State University where she...
Many years ago, Martha’s mother taught her to knit in an (unsuccessful) attempt to keep her quiet. Martha loves the soothing, meditative rhythms of knitting and is fascinated by its technical aspects. After more than…
