Last year was such a huge success with our authors we decided to bring them back.  We would like to thank Merritt Books for organizing this event again this year!

Schedule of Events

Here are some of the authors who will be signing and speaking at this year's festival:

Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne - Mason-Dixon Knitting: Outside the Lines
~ Kay Gardiner learned to knit as a child, but put aside her needles for 20 years to obtain a law degree from Columbia, become an Assistant United States Attorney in Manhattan, and start a family.  Lucky for us, she returned to knitting with a vengeance.
~ After stints in the New York publishing world, Ann Meador Shayne returned to her hometown of Nashville to edit BookPage. She has since chosen to devote her time to her family -- and knitting.  Kay and Ann met on an online knitting message board years ago and their correspondence has grown into a close-knit community of more than 150,000 who regularly log on to www.masondixonknitting.com.

Joan Tapper with photography by Gale Zucker - Shear Spirit: Ten Fiber Farms, Twenty Patterns & Miles of Yarn.
~ Joan Tapper was the editor of the award-winning Islands magazine for thirteen years and before that was founding editor of National Geographic Traveler.  She is currently a contributing travel editor for the Santa Barbara Magazine and writes features about people, arts, and culture for a variety of other national publications.
~ Gale Zucker is an award-winning location photographer whose photos have appeared in Smithsonian, Newsweek and Woman's Day.
You can visit the authors online at http://shearspirit.typepad.com/

Lynne Barr - Knitting New Scarves
~ Lynne Barr has held hand-knitting workshops in the U.S., taught machine knitting to factory workers in Haiti, and designed sweaters for upscale boutiques.  With her husband, she designed and produced a commemorative sweater for L.L. Bean and co-authored tow books: Sweaterscapes of the North Country and Sweaterscapes of the American West.  Barr lives in Maine.

Stephanie Pearl McPhee - Free Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again
In addition to Free Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlo Wrties Again, Stephaine Pearl-McPhee is the author of Yarn Harlot, At Knit's End, Knitting Rules!, and Casts Off.  She maintains a popular blog at www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ fromher wool-filled home in Toronto, Canada, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Hannah Fettig - Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for the Ones You Love
~Hannah Fettig knits, sews and designs knitwear in Portland, Maine.  Her first book Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for the Ones You Love is available by Northlight Books division of F & W Publications. She is currently working on her second book with this publishing company. She has created designs for The Fibre Company & Nashua Handknits.  Her work also appears in One Skein Wonders.  Visit her website, www.knitbot.com, to read about her adventures in knitting and download individual patterns.

Janet Bristow and Victoria A. Cole-Galo - The Prayer Shawl Companion
~ "As our world unravels bit by bit in various ways, countless circles of compassion are knitting it back together again, one stitch at a time," from The Prayer Shawl Companion.  Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Prayer Shawl Ministry with founders Janet Bristow and Victoria A. Cole-Galo, authors of The Prayer Shawl Companion: 38 Knitted Designs to inspire and Celebrate Life. Come draw inspiration for creating beautiful, meaningful shawls whether for joyous occasions or for those in need of comfort; learn about the symbolism of different stitches and patterns; find out how to create a shawl ministry of your own.  The authors will share how Shawl Ministry grew from the two of them knitting shawls for friends in need to a vibrant online community of charity knitters connected to over 2000 prayer shawl groups worldwide.  (This is a talk, NOT a hands-on workshop)

Melanie Falick - Weekend Knitting, Knit: A Personal Handbook, Kids Knitting and Knitting in America (published in paperback as America Knits).  Coauthor of Knitting for Baby.
~ Melanie has over 400,000 books in print.  She is the former editor-in-chief in Interweave Knits magazine and the current editorial director of STC Craft.  Falick lives in Dutchess County, New York.

Andrea Berman Price - Knitspeak
~Andrea Berman Price is a Washington, D.C. based project manager employed by government agencies and nonprofit organizations to organize complex programs.  A lifelong knitter, she also teaches knitting workshops in the D.C. area.  She holds a BA in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts and an Ed.M from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Marion Edmonds and Ahza Moore - When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters: An Emergency Survival Guide.
~ Marion Edmonds and Ahza Moore met in a coffee shop.  First eyeing each other's knitting; they advanced to talking and viewing each other's stash. Similarily unemployed, they decided to create a business using their great passion for knitting and their company KnittingTogetherNYC, was born.  They began by learning to teach together and developing knitting toys and other items.  Once of the first yarn stores they visited together was Joelle Hoverson's shop, called purl.  It was love at first sight and Ahza and Marion taught there for serveral years.  Ahza knit the tiny sweaters that hang on her front door and the knitted Rare Bears first made their appearance in the store's front window. Both contributed several designs for Joelle's first book, Last-Minute Knitted Gifts.

In 2007, Ahza moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and now teaches knitting privately and at the wonderful LYS, Village Wools.  Marion and Ahza are discussing the next incarnation of KTNYC, perhaps, KnittingTogetherEastAndWest.  Marion continues to teach privately and to work on special projects for purl as well for her own private clients.  Beginning students are their special interest and the mission of KnittingTogetherNYC is to teach as many people to knit as possible. With more that 125 years of knitting experience between tehm, they have introduced over 300 students to the joy of knitting so far.

Kathryn Dunn - Beautiful Sheep: Portraits of Champion Breeds
~For those in the know, sheep are the stars of the huge annual agricultural shows, as they parade their polished hooves and oiled horns. Swathed in fleeces expertly trimmed and coiffured to accentuate their finer points, "Beautiful Sheep" is a testament that skillful shepherds can create unique and living works of art. There are a great many breeds of sheep, that for centuries provided income from their wool--thus today's versions are able to produce long heavy fleeces. Likewise, those sheep used primarily for their meat were bred and developed to graze the harsh upland and hill territories well-suited for those climates. All of these breeds are showcased, as never before, in the pages of this collector's item. No longer will the gentle ovine be reduced to catch phrases about "the black sheep of the family" or "the wolf in the sheep's clothing"--but now can be appreciated and admired as stunning creatures. A beautiful pictorial of sheep--arranged by breed, with geographical and historical information to complement the images--immaculately presented as stars of the catwalk, the best of the show. The result is an unusual and totally charming book.

Doris Chan - Amazing Crochet Lace and Everyday Crochet
~ Doris Chan began crocheting when she was 8 years old. She spent 20 years working in broadcast radio in New York City, Philadelphia, and South Jersey, crocheting on the side. In 2002, her original crochet shawl appeared on the Lion Brand Yarn Company website, and she became a renowned designer almost overnight. Since that time, her revolutionary crochet garments and accessories have appeared in publications such as Family Circle, Easy Knitting, Crochet Fantasy, Crochet!, Michael's Arts and Crafts magazines, Interweave Knits Special Crochet issues, Leisure Arts, and various other booklets, and in several books, including the Lion Brand "Just" series.  She is an active member of the Crochet Guild of America.

In the course of my crochet odyssey I have designed many garments and accessories for yarn companies, magazines and books.  My own title, Amazing Crochet Lace (Potter Craft, 2006) and Everyday Crochet (Potter Craft, 2007) were a wonderful opportunity for me to tell-all about my crochet ideas, my occasional angst and my modus operandi of top-down, seamless construction.  I am a proud professional member of the Crochet Guild of America and also belong to The National NeedleArts Association.  You can find me lurking at Ravelry.com, Crochetville.org and on my blog, doriseverydaycrochet.blogspot.com.

Judith Durant - Never Knit Your Man a Sweater* (*unless you've got the ring!)
~Judith Durant is the editor of the best-selling One-Skein knitting books and the author of Never Knit Your Man a Sweater* (*unless you've got the ring!). She is also a founding editor of Interweave Knits magazine and a contributor to Interweave Knits, Beadwork, and Piecework magazines.

Schedule of Events

For more information about these authors please visit Merritt Books Sheep and Wool Festival's dedicated page on their website!