Debbie Macomber

Most everyone knows me as the writer Debbie Macomber.  What many people don't know is that I actually write books to support my yarn habit.  I learned to knit when I was around eleven or twelve.  No one in my family was a knitter but apparently I saw someone knitting and wanted to learn.  I pestered my mother all summer until she took me to a yarn store where the ladies there taught me the basic concepts of knitting.  The first thing I knit was a vest for my mother.  After Mom died and I was sorting through her things, I found that sweater, amateurish as it was she'd kept it all those years.  I've been knitting ever since.  My dream and one of my twenty wishes was to one day own a yarn store.  Because of my writing schedule I'm a silent partner in the shop but do on occasion work in the store.  I stop by at least once a day the six months I'm in Washington State and love every moment I can spend with my fellow yarn lovers.  I feel especially blessed to be partners with such incredible friends and knitters.

Sandy Payne

I have three passions in my life:  family, tap dancing and knitting.  After serving as a demonstrator for my ballet teacher, I soon became a teacher and choreographer and a well-known teacher of American tap dancing.  I have taught extensively all over the world, including Australia, Scotland, Canada and the United States.  I've been knitting since I was a pre-teen - the "older" kids in the dance company taught the younger children to knit so they could keep busy and quiet.   Knitting has led to designing and specializing in beaded projects.  Two of my original patterns have been published by Leisure Arts in Debbie Macomber's Knit Along series.  I take a creative approach to problem solving and have become skillful in repairing problems or damaged knitting.  I greatly enjoy spending time with my family and I am very involved in my grandson Dylan's life and education.

Joyce Greenfield

I have been knitting, sewing, quilting and crafting since I was a young child, starting off with knitting individual "fingers" to make gloves for my father.  Both of my grandmothers were accomplished knitters and I feel a connection through the generations when needles and yarn are in-hand. I like to knit small projects with fun fibers and designs, especially hats and accessories.  I'm also a voracious reader, I love to cook and putter in the garden, and I especially love to spend time with family and  my border collie, Georgie.  I'm a New England native who loves my adopted home state of Washington but I still long to someday return to the land of four seasons!

Toni Morgan-Peterson

I learned to knit and crochet when I was about 10 years old when my Mom taught me.  But I was involved with my dancing and school, so I didn't do much with it until I had my children.  I started knitting scarves, mittens and hats for them.  As they got more involved with their activities and I was working more, the yarn and the needles were put away.  When the children left the nest and I had more free time I brought out my tap and jazz shoes and started dancing again.  Then the grandchildren started coming along and the dance shoes were put to rest again.  With the encouragement and the help from my sister, Sandy and a co-worker, I dusted off the needles and bought new yarn and started knitting again.  It is so relaxing and gives me great pleasure to see what I've created.  And now that I've retired from being a hairstylist and I have more free time on my hands maybe I'll dust off those dance shoes too.