Board Officers and Committees

Volunteering with the Minnesota Knitters' Guild is fun and rewarding! Are you interesting in taking your membership to the next level? Check out our Volunteer page to learn how to get involved.

In accordance with our bylaws, our board terms are three years long and a member can serve two consecutive terms in the same role, except for the President and Vice President who serve one two year term.

 

Kathy Lewinski

President

(Term 1, Year 2)

Kathy has always been into crafts, but didn’t teach herself to knit until after college. She really got hooked while living in San Francisco when a friend opened a knitting store. To pitch in, Kathy started knitting up fun (and odd) things for window displays, as well as teaching classes. In the last couple of years, she has started designing her own knitting patterns (many of them available for free on Ravelry!) with toys and mittens being her primary obsessions.

 (presidentmkg@gmail.com) | katbaro

Kelly Amoth

Vice President

(Term 1, Year 2)

A visiting friend from Seattle taught Kelly the very basics of knitting (a twisted loop cast on and just the knit stitch) in 2008 before flying home. Turning to the internet (thanks knittinghelp.com!) Kelly taught herself through a lot of trial and error. Uncontent to keep knitting the scarf she’d started as her first project, she jumped into knitting a pair of striped mittens for her non-knitter, but very knitworthy, twin sister. Twelve years later the mittens are still in her sister’s glove box, and Kelly is usually horrified when she pulls them out and sees the mistakes she made using double pointed needles for the first time. Kelly loves knitting socks and is thankful for the many months of cold weather when she gets to exclusively wear her handknits.

 (vicepresidentmkg@gmail.com) | imkelliente

Kelsey Sorenson

Secretary

(Term 1, Year 2)

Kelsey learned the knit stitch from her grandmother in middle school, and filled in the gaps enough to make lots of scarves for quite a few years. She began expanding her skills in college and is always looking to learn more. Kelsey is drawn toward projects that are seamless or include stranded colorwork.   

Email Kelsey (secretarymkg@gmail.com) | kelseyanna

Rose Tobelmann

Treasurer

(Term 1, Year 3)

Rose learned to knit from her mother at the age of ten. She started knitting on the ends of small paint brushes. She continued to knit off and on through her teenage and young adult years and became a more avid knitter after taking a Norwegian sweater knitting class through community education. Today, knitting has become a passion and she knits for charity, herself, and her family her stash. She enjoys meeting other knitters and learning new techniques.

 (treasurermkg@gmail.com) | tobel

Sandra Wright

Programming Director

(Term 1, Year 1)

Sandra’s mom taught her to knit as a pre-teen. Together they knit slippers with pompoms, exclusively. She returned to knitting off and on in her adult years, taking classes at local yarn shops to build her skills. After joining a newly formed knit group back in 2013, knitting become a daily practice. Today a sweater, pair of socks, and a gift knit are always on the go, with way too many projects in queue.

 (programmingmkg@gmail.com) |

Betsy Preston

Service Director

(Term 1, Year 1)

Betsy never had patience for knitting, until she found herself spending a lot of time at little league games and waiting for the last kid to emerge from the locker room after swim practice. With her background in graphic design, stranded colorwork has a natural appeal. Not to mention the practicality of an extra layer of warmth. Betsy has recently begun publishing her original hat and cowl patterns, which are available on Ravelry.

(See our Service Knitting Page for more information about our current projects and donation process.)

 (servicemnkg@gmail.com) FingerpressArt

Nikky Heidel

Membership Director

(Term 1, Year 2)

Nikky was first introduced to knitting in 2012 when her visiting sister-in-law taught her the basics of casting on and the knit stitch. A few weeks later, she learned how to purl from her mother-in-law. From there, it quickly became a passion and she has taken on each new project with a desire to expand her skill and discover new techniques. She loves a good mystery (knit-a-long) and knits way more shawls than a single person can wear in a month. 

 (membershipmkg@gmail.com) | FroggyGirl72

Melissa Mintern 

Marketing and Outreach Director

(Term 1, Year 2)

Melissa has been knitting for 15 years. She loves socks and sweaters. She is a new member who hopes to use her marketing background to lift up the MKG. While she isn't local to MN, she really loves the atmosphere created by the Guild. Melissa and significant other Al enjoy traveling, wherein Al graciously offers to drive so Melissa can knit in the passenger seat.

 (marketingdirector.mkg@gmail.com) | oneoftheminterns

Kate Westlund

Social Media and Technology Director

(Term 2, Year 3)

Kate became enthralled with knitting when she was a young girl and saw a fellow young person knitting on a plane. She implored her mother to teach her everything she knew, which as it turned out was only casting on and the knit stitch. Once Kate learned to purl froma beginner's kit, there was no end in sight. Kate is the type of knitter who doesn’t always swatch, which is often obvious in her finished projects.

 (socialmediamnkg@gmail.com) | khwestlund

Janese Evans

Yarnover Committee Chair 

Bio to come.

 (yarnovermnkg@gmail.com) |

Anne Rojas

Librarian

Bio to come.

 (anne.c.rojas@gmail.com) | soxanne
 

Laura Haave

Great Guild Getaway Committee Chair 

Laura learned to knit in 2003 by taking a four-week class during MIT's annual January Independent Activities Period. The class project was a striped hat knit in the round, and since that time, Laura has been a big advocate of 1) helping other adults learn to knit for the first time, 2) hats as a manageable first project, and 3) circular needles for everything. She enjoys thinking about knitting and planning her next project almost as much as she enjoys actually knitting. Laura is highly motivated by knit-alongs and loves to knit in community.

 (laura.haave@yahoo.com) | Birdette

Jess Dahlberg

Newsletter Editor

Jess learned to knit in middle school and attempted (but never quite finished) a few garter stitch scarves. Years later, she picked up crochet with her best friend in law school and eventually fell back into knitting. Ever since then, she's been a daily knitter (commuting time for the win!) and has never looked back. She enjoys knitting gifts for friends and family and loves trying new techniques.

 (newsletter.mnkg@gmail.com) | Jvoigt02

 

For general inquiries, reach out to us at infomaster@knitters.org.