Our Magical Teachers

TANIS GRAY
A graduate of RISD, lives in Fairfax, VA with her green Mechanical Engineer husband, young son and newborn daughter. Having worked at Martha Stewart, HBO, Focus Features, in the art department in the film and television industries, and a 4-year career as the Yarn Editor at Vogue Knitting and co-editor of Knit.1, she has been working in the creative field for many years.
Tanis has over 450 published knitting designs, and her work has been featured in many major publications and books worldwide, including 12 covers. She also edits and photographs other knitting books, plans and executes social media for numerous yarn companies and teaches advanced knitting often in and around the Metro DC area. Tanis has her own regularly-featured TV spot on PBS’ Knitting Daily TV with Vickie Howell.
Check out her website at www.tanisknits.com for more info.


Melissa is the author of several bestselling knitting and crocheting books. Recent titles are Cables Untangled, Continuous Cables, Color Knitting the Easy Way, Mastering Color Knitting, and Stashbuster Knits.
One recent book is Knitting the Perfect Fit, published by Random House/Potter Craft in August 2012. It is a designer’s exploration of how to use fully-fashioned shaping to create figure flattering sweaters.
The Knit Stitch Pattern Handbook was released in late 2013 and is a dictionary of Melissa’s favorite stitch patterns.
As a freelance designer, she’s worked with leading ready-to-wear manufacturers and design houses in NYC. In addition, most American yarn companies commission Melissa to create designs to promote their new and existing yarns each season.
She’s been a featured guest on numerous television shows, is a popular guest blogger, and is the host of several Leisure Arts knitting and crocheting DVD’s. Nationally, her workshops are popular with crafters of all levels.