Alie – finally fulfilled a longtime dream to own a knit shop. Good foil for her other job as an ER doctor at a trauma center! She learned to knit in college, hates to do a gauge swatch and loves to knit without patterns. She likes lace knitting and doing petit point. She finds it easier to start a project than finish it. She has 2 kids – Emma (10) and Ethan (7) – both knit (but never finish anything!)

Catherine – Catherine now works on the fringes of The Studio scene (computer work, trade shows, etc.)  She still has her own fiber arts business but is presently concentrating on portfolio/gallery work rather than high production for sales.  Beside knitting and crocheting, Catherine also created hand-dyed fabrics used for scarves and art projects.  Her present artistic focus is leaning towards felted sculptures and small art quilts, but has some larger sculptural works looming in the back of her mind.  When Catherine is not hard at work with Studio projects or fiber art she enjoys traveling, sweeping up cat hair from her 5 cats, and pouring her sweet husband a glass of Sunkist after a long day of graduate art classes!

Cindy (mother of Matthew) – learned to knit in 1994 while chaperoning a group of Girl Scouts from the USA on an internationl camping event in Norway. It is no surprise that her first project was a baby sweater. Prior to becoming the manager of The Studio she worked in various capacites for non-profit agencies here in Kansas City. She finished her MBA in 2001 and started pricing yarn for the shop shortly after. The profecy from her graduating class was that she would own a yarn shop. Well, they were almost right. She is the store manager and resident forensic knitter. She just authored a book due out in May of 2007, Kid's Knitting Notebook.  She has four important men in her life – husband, Marc and sons, Daniel, Andrew, and Matthew.

Dee Anne – walked into The Studio in Brookside 27 years ago and asked for a part time position. She was teaching kindergarden and needed something to do in the afternoons. Three children and many stitches later we are lucky enough still have her. Each summer she transfers to Wald Fireworks and works with her brother and sisters in the family business. She keeps busy blocking our customer’s finished needlepoint projects and passes them on the to finishers. She learned to knit in the 4th grade so now she is picking up the knitting needles again to learn along with our very fun customers. Needlepoint is still her favorite but she enjoys having a fast knitting project on hand.

Diane – is one of the “oldies but goodies” from the 63rd street Studio! She has dabbled in many needlearts over the years and has recently converted to knitting – specializing in “baby” items (even though she has no grandchildren yet). She loves them because they are small, finishable and provide opportunities to learn new things. When she is not working on one of her many unfinished projects she can be found biking, cooking, golfing, gardening or running.

Anna - Anna grew up in New Orleans, rich in art and culture, which influenced her love for art in all media.  She and her sister grew up sewing, cross-stitching and painting because it was too hot to go play outside in the summer humidity.  She studied metal design at KU and began working part time at The Studio to fulfill her love of fibers.  Anna has been knitting and crocheting for 5 years and loves knitting garments that are extremely fashionable as well as traditional.  She moved to KC after marrying Marcus in 2005.  They live near the plaza and frequently visit First Friday opeings in the Crossroad District

Sarah- Sarah's been a part of the weekend crew at The Studio since December 2004. Sarah's mom (Kathe, another Studio employee) taught her how to knit when she was 12. She didn't pick up knitting again until she was 14 and wanted to knit a baby sweater for her former school teacher. After that she was hooked and she's been knitting like crazy ever since. She loves innovative knitting designs, precious fibers, and vibrant colors. She also needlepoints and recently learned how to crochet. Sarah is currently a student at UMKC. When she's not studying, working, or knitting, Sarah enjoys hanging out with her friends at the Crave Café in Westport and teaching the Studio team new slang words

Mary K – is one of the newer additions to the Studio staff having joined just last fall. She's a retired lawyer/lobbiest but decided that with two teenage boys at home she needed to find some work AWAY... The transition from being a customer to helping them has been a lot of fun! She's been knitting and needlepointing for over forty years (that's a very shattering thing to see in print) and enjoys it even more now than when she was making sweaters for boyfriends in college. Her husband is great about wearing handknit things and her goal is to get at least one of the boys to actually wear something she's made. Her cats seem to enjoy "wearing" works in progress all the time.

Matthew – our store mascot – Born Nov. 4, 2002. Matthew now attend Border Star Montesori but loves coming to visit and see all his friends at The Studio.  We celebrate his birthday every year with a charity project for The Children's Place.

Melinda –Melinda, our resident comedian and inventory Queen is currently a student at Cleveland Chiropractic College.  Melinda also likes to knit hats and sweaters whe she's not training to run marathons or guiding whitewater rafteing tours.  She hopes to master the art of turning sock heels when school work slows down.

Staci – Staci has been knitting and needlepointing since college.  She was a great customer who visited 63rd street often and then fell into Nirvana when offered a job with The Studio.  She loves to combine fibers and pick color combo's.  Her latest passion is trying her hand at the re-introduced craft of crocheting.  Not to worry, her eye never wanders far from great knitting projects, and beautiful needlepoint canvases!  Besides cranking out lots of stitched items, she is kept busy with her college seeking senior daughter, her oldest sons social calander, and her youngest sons travels to national fencing competitions.  She also has become hooked on tandem bike riding with her husband, who is still patiently awaiting his sweater....stayed tuned!!!!

Helen–  Helen fell in love with needlepointing and The Studio when her daughter started kindergarten.  Since then, Hele has fallen i love with knitting as well.  Her daughter is now in college.  You can find some of Helen's treasures at www.vintiqueskc.com

Kim - our resident espresso junkie spends her time managing a coffehouse and preparing for Barista Competitions.  She has been knitting for 6+ years and has started to dabble in needlepoint.  You can catch her on weekends smelling fainly of espresso.  Kim also staffs the Studio Knit Flicks on the first Saturday of each month.

Lisa - Lisa used to own a needlepoint store in Wichita.  She returned to both knitting

& needlepoing while her oldest daughter

was pregnant.  She sells real estate when not knitting, needlepointing or babysitting. 

Jane--Jane spent so much time at The Studio that they decided to give her a job! Jane's had a needle in her hand since she was old enough to hold one--she knits, needlepoints, crochets and quilts. She also loves spinning (not yarn--on a bike!), yoga, travel and iced decaf soy mochas. Now that she has knit everything under the sun for her husband, two daughters, and every baby ever born to anyone she knows (or so it seems), she will be knitting for her grand-dog, Harry, a bichon who likes clothes.

And don't forget...

Kelly Kathy Altaye Laura Karen Kate Becky Marty