Stephen West (designer)

Stephen West is an American knitter, fashion designer, educator, and author known for his knitting patterns and strong use of color. After beginning to publish his own patterns in 2009 on sites like Knitty[1] and Ravelry,[2] West has also published a number of knitting books under his design brand Westknits. He owns a yarn store in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and in 2019 he launched a yarn brand called West Wool with his business partner Malia Mae Joseph.[3]

Stephen West
Born
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Alma materUniversity of Illinois, Academy of Theatre and Dance
WebsiteWestknits.com

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, West moved to Chicago as a teenager.[4] A trained dancer, he studied dance at the University of Illinois Department of Dance.[5] While in school he learned to knit and enjoyed it greatly. He later recalled, "I could always be found knitting between rehearsals, back stage and in between classes."[4] West then moved to Amsterdam to pursue a degree in choreography from the School for New Dance Development at the Academy of Theatre and Dance. While there, he continued knitting and creating patterns, acquiring more recognition for his designs.[5]

West regularly publishes patterns, leads knit-alongs, and shares photos on his Westknits Instagram, which had over 174 thousand followers as of April 2020.[6] He is also known for his sense of humor, eccentric clothing,[7] and creatively choreographed knitting-themed music videos.[8]

Works
  • Westknits at Home (2014) – ISBN 9780985299057
  • Westknits Bestknits 1: Shawls (2016) – ISBN 9780985131753
  • Westknits Bestknits 2: Sweaters (2017) – ISBN 9780985131777
  • Westknits Bestknits 3: Shawl Evolution
  • Hiberknitting (2019) – ISBN 9780985131791
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gollark: There seems to be a lot of arguing over having the federal government do or not do things to them based on ~zero actual evidence and lots of emotional appeals.
gollark: Oh, and the way you have to manually "file" taxes sounds bad.
gollark: Also whatever America is doing with guns.
gollark: Well, to clarify, I find many of the things the *federal government* does bee. Such as basically everything involving the NSA and its border control.

References
  1. West, Stephen (2009). "Colonnade shawl - Knitty: Fall 2009". Knitty. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  2. "Ravelry: Designs by Stephen West". www.ravelry.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  3. "Westknits". Westknits. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  4. Floris, Lise (2019-09-17). "'I pretended to be buying for my mum': Meet the men unpicking knitting's ultimate stereotype". ABC News. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  5. Merli, Melissa (2017-03-26). "Knit the big time: Stephen West". The News-Gazette. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  6. "Stephen West (@westknits) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  7. Page, Justin (2013-11-08). "How to Transform Woolly Sweaters Into Sassy Pants Called 'Swants'". Laughing Squid. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
  8. Zimmerman, Edith (2017-03-27). "Should We Be Wearing More Shawls? 17 Questions for Knitter-Designer Stephen West". Apartment Therapy. Retrieved 2020-04-01.
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