Laura Zander talks Jimmy Beans Wool, software engineering, and smart watches.

Shira Blumenthal is the Brand Ambassador for Lion Brand Yarns, and a fifth generation member of the brand-founding family. Shira travels the country to spread her anti-bullying campaign, #HatNotHate, and stars in the YouTube series Tea with Shira.

Taiu Landra, along with mother Maie and daughter Kersti, is the owner and creative voice of Koigu Wool Designs. For decades, Koigu has supplied top-quality handpainted merino yarn and exquisite knitting designs to consumers across North America. Its unique, rich palette, as glorious as a painter's has ignited a passion for color and quality in the knitting world.

Norther Ireland-born Maggie Jackson has been in the knitting business for over forty years with MaggiKnits, specializing in designer knitting kits and mainly natural yarns designed with her own signature look.

Debbie Bliss has spent over 30 years building an international yarn and design brand. She is recognised for her classic and contemporary designs and use of bold and beautiful colour palettes. Her yarn is adored by a loving community of knitters. Debbie cares deeply about creating pattern collections that complement the qualities of each yarn she works with and designs which flatter all body types. She is also the most published knitwear designer, with over 35 books, 20 booklets and her own magazine and was recently awarded with an MBE in the Queen’s 2015 Birthday Honours List for her services to hand knitting and the craft industry.

Erika Knight is a renowned knitwear designer and respected consultant to the yarn and fashion industry. Erika has a unique interpretation of craft: her mission is to simplify and communicate her insight and passion for knitting and crochet with accessible yet enticing projects in order to inspire everyone to experiment and, above all, enjoy crafting. The author of numerous acclaimed knitting and crochet books, Erika has lectured at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, as well as leading art institutions and universities.

Laura Zander is the co-owner of leading online yarn and fabric retailer Jimmy Beans Wool. Laura and her husband Doug quit their dot-com jobs in San Francisco and founded the company in Lake Tahoe, and it has been named one of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the US. She has been invited to the White House for a forum addressing the American Jobs Act, where Jimmy Beans Wool was recognized as a notable Nevada business.

Sandy Black is a professor of fashion and textile design and technology at the London College of Fashion. She curated the touring exhibition The New Knitting and is the author of numerous publications including Knitwear in Fashion, Fashioning Fabrics, and Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox. She is the founder and coeditor of the journal Fashion Practice: The Journal of Design, Creative Process & the Fashion Industry. 

Nicky Epstein is a prolific designer who goes from high fashion to whimsical fun with great ease and an innovative thinker that embellishes traditional knitting techniques and creates new, revolutionary ones. She has authored numerous bestselling and award-winning books, in both fashion and resource  genres, that are “must haves” in knitters’ libraries. You can find her kits and samples for sale at www.nickyepstein.etsy.com.

Margaret Stove is a leading expert of hand knitted superfine lace. Examples of her work are found in many galleries and private collections throughout the world. A passion for knitting and later designing lace led Stove to explore techniques for spinning lace yarns. Stove teaches lace knitting and spinning internationally, and her line of New Zealand Merino lace yarn and patterns are distributed in the United States and throughout the world.  

Julie Weisenberger is an internationally renowned knitwear designer and teacher known for her elegant, modern fashion sense and her unique commonsense method to knitting tailored, seamless sweaters that are as enjoyable to make as they are comfortable and flattering to wear.