Workshop leaders

Verity Treloar

Verity started to crochet as part of a desire to be creative and to make things that would be useful. Having learnt the basic stitches, she was keen to start experimenting with colour, texture and design. She likes to keep things simple and straightforward so that she can enjoy the process of making. Her background is in education and the arts so having the opportunity to share the creative simplicity of crochet is a joy!

 

 

 

Gabby Dexter                                                 

Gabby has always loved the fibre arts, going around craft fairs and admiring the wonderful, often life-like felted creations on display, but she always thought it was the sort of craft that was not for average, every-day people. That was until she saw a felted pumpkin on a parenting website that got her thinking - 'well, I could do that!' So she did. 

From that point on felting became her absolute passion and she devoted herself to learning as many different techniques as she could. She is entirely self-taught and has become something of an expert at understanding fibres and those that work best for felting. You can find her fibre reviews, helpful felting guides and her own felt work on her website Flippity Felts.

Felting for Gabby has been a life changer - it's an inexpensive craft to take up and is incredibly creatively rewarding.

 

Debbie Judd

Debbie's had a life-long love for creating and has gone through many forms of crafting over the years. Sewing, embroidery, quilting, smocking, but knitting has stayed with her the longest. She loves the variety of colour, texture, pattern and overall diversity of the craft. There is virtually nothing that cannot be made from, or covered by knitting! She is very much looking forward to sharing her skills with people in the Exeter area.

 

Laura Wood

Laura is passionate about working with wool. She believes felting is a lovely way of making pictures. She has been making felt for the last six years and loves to pass on her knowledge to enable others to experience the joy of creating something lovely out of wool. The merino fleece fibres that she uses come in the most wonderful colours. It has been likened to painting with wool. The pictures have great texture and depth and are really fun to do.

Ethel Hillier 

Ethel can't remember when she learnt to knit - everyone just did in the cold north of Scotland, where the wind came straight from Siberiawinter and summer. By year 6, they were knitting fingered gloves and turning sock heels in lessons.She began knitting Shetland lace about 5 years ago as a change from Fair Isle knitting and discovered all the lace traditions of Northern Europe. What a feast! She thought Estonian lace the prettiest she had ever seen. The story of her love of lace knitting goes on from there and she just loves to share something so lovely with everyone.

 

Ali Lucas

Ali is currently studying a Foundation Fine Art degree, and will convert to a BA next year. She gained a Level 3 qualification in Fibrecraft, which was largely felting. She loves felt! Not only is it forgiving and easy to master as a beginner, it can be as complex and refined as you want to make it. The wool is the foundation. Beyond that it can be interpreted with fabric, embroidery and other techniques. The trick is to master the initial skills, then be led by your imagination.

 

Elizabeth Noon

Throughout her life, Elizabeth has been involved in one form of handcraft or another, including embroidery, patchwork, sewing, paper-craft and most recently, knitting. As a New Zealander she has a soft spot for working with merino/possum yarn, and has a bit of an addiction for knitting shawls, wraps and blankets. She is excited to be joining the team of tutors as she has really enjoyed attending workshops at Wool on the Exe, learning from other passionate crafters as well as her fellow class mates.

 

 

 

 

Anna Dervout 

Anna is a real knitting addict who is not afraid of trying new things in knitting. She opened her blog Along avec Anna (in FR and ENG) in 2013 to share her creative journey, show what she was making, and to help people learn with her photo tutorials and videos (on youtube). Recently, she started to design knitting patterns, especially for children for the moment, but women patterns are planned for the next few months. She's helped a lot of people in their knitting journey, and is always happy to see what they can do with a bit of help and reassurance. Her favourite technique in knitting is colourwork/fair-isle, as you really get to play with the colours. Anna is a smiling and enthusiastic person, with good communication skills. 

 

Terri Bate

Terri Bate is 'tutleymutley' on Ravelry: textile artist, knitter, spinner, teacher, designer, painter, illustrator and cartoonist.   She was born and still lives in Devon, UK (albeit having lived in Wisconsin, Wales and London in the in-between years).  She has worked on the buses and as a midwife, but her passion is knitting, yarn-making, and enthusing about colour and texture.   Terri is now retired from the day (night?) job to follow her dream and concentrate on all things textile.  To date, this has included  organising knitting retreats; designing knitting patterns; teaching beginning to advanced  knitting; teaching spinning to beginners; demonstrating spinning in schools and at local Fairs and Shows  and running knitting and spinning clubs locally. She learnt to knit as a child, and to spin about 15 years ago - and is still learning. Terri finds she gains as much from students as she gives - teaching is a two way process!

Claire Chamberlain

Claire had been crocheting for 6 years and enjoys lots of different crafts but her main passion is crocheting. She is a mum to 2 boys, works part time and runs a small craft business specialising in crocheted items. She uses crochet as a way to relax, clear her mind and get to a happy place! She's looking forward to passing on new skills and techniques through her knowledge of crochet.  

 

Pam is a Fashion and Textile designer who loves to create. She was born in Monterrey, Mexico and now makes her home in Exeter. She has been working as a designer for more than 4 years and is using all her creativity to create hand made products with different techniques; pattern making, sewing, weaving, macrame etc. keeping the creativity awake, Pamela just loves to create! At the moment, she is working on growing her small craft business named “Onda” which means ~ weave in English. This is her passion and she enjoys learning something new everyday. Weaving is a way to relax, meditate and inspire herself to create more. 

She is taking next step which is sharing what she knows about the loom weaving. She has been teaching weaving in Mexico, now is time to share this in Exeter which is very exiting for her!

 

Sam is passionate about crochet and has been learning different techniques for over ten years. She first taught herself from a book, a most frustrating experience, and as a result, loves to help others in a relaxed and fun way to learn how to 'hook'.  Sam is particularly interested in cable and Tunisian crochet techniques to add colour, texture and dimension to her work.

 

 

Judith has been crafting since the age of ten, when her mother taught her to knit dish cloths. She progressed to sewing her own clothes and then taught herself to embroider and crochet.  She loves to try out new ideas.  Judith is a qualified Teacher in IT but has also turned her hand to teaching crafts to local groups just for fun. She loves bright colours especially the wonderful multi-coloured yarns now on the market.