JennY KING - President

Jenny’s earliest publicity cited her as having a terrier dog’s determination in the book  ‘Crochet for Fun and Profit’  by Darla Simms in 2000.

Jenny’s  50 year crochet history has seen her: crochet commercially, own a yarn store, self publish 13 pattern books, write 7 more,  design for magazines and books globally, teach all over the world, appear on TV teaching crochet in USA , winning International Crochet Awards  and being in an Australian crochet exhibition called “Hooked”  with her beaded crochet  designs. Jenny has had a diploma of teaching since 1981 and is a certified crochet teacher with the Craft Yarn Council of America. She is also a professional member of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) since 2001.

She has developed and trademarked her revolutionary design concept called Get Squared® And Kids Squared®. This novel designs concept has never been done before.

After teaching at the CGOA conferences since 2000 and the Stitches and DFW Fiberfest events in USA Jenny was determined to bring some of that magic to Australia. She is delighted to say that, thanks to this wonderful committee, her dream has been realised and now Australia has its very own Crochet Guild.

Lynda Tomkins - Treasurer

Lynda learned to crochet from her mother when she was a youngster growing up in Central Queensland. It remained a hobby for her as she pursued a career in accounting until 2014 when she decided a change was needed and crocheting and yarn became her focus.

Since then Lynda has been running Crochet Australia where she gets to play with yarn and crochet tools every day and drools over the many new patterns.  She also teaches crochet and runs regular crochet workshops.  Lynda also been conducting workshops at various craft events and is involved with the knitting and crochet committee of the Queensland Country Women’s Association.  She likes to crochet everything and has recently been turning her hand to designing garments.

Lynda has completed her Master of Advanced Crochet Stitches and Techniques with the Crochet Guild of America and is a Certified Crochet Teacher with the Craft Yarn Council of America. In her previous career Lynda also completed several Adult learning courses which have been valuable in teaching crochet to adults.

Lynda has a passion for passing on the skill of crochet to ensure this skill never dies.

Rhonda Bennett- Secretary

Rhonda is a Hairdresser by trade, ( 35 years), but is now an Internationally trained Fitting and Draping specialist. Also, a sewing & pattern drafting teacher. She has been teaching sewing since her late teens and expanded into fitting and pattern drafting 6 years ago with a newfound love for this side of the industry. Regularly travelling from Australia to USA to attend refresher courses in Fitting and Draping. This allows lots of crochet time!
Her two stitch repertoire, which she learnt at around 7 years of age, has been overtaken by many more stitches and garments, (not just a thousand rugs), since meeting and joining  a Jenny King crochet group about 10 years ago. Life changing, as the knowledge and friendships have grown.
Although she loves to sew, crochet is her go to most days for relaxing  and winding down, and anytime she  can stop still. Being a visual learner, much prefers to be shown rather than reading patterns.

LyNDALL REEVE - Membership officer

Lyndall originally taught herself to crochet from books and with help from friends and has been crocheting for over 20 years. 

She trained and received her Craft Yarn Council of America’s Crochet teacher certificate in 2010 and has been teaching and demystifying crochet pattern reading for her students ever since.

Lyndall has worked alongside Jenny King from Jenny King Designs and Prudence Mapstone at craft shows around the country, has taught at Yarn Glorious Yarn in Brisbane, and at retreats in Nundle NSW and on the Sunshine Coast QLD. Locally in her home-town of Murwillumbah NSW she has also taught at Jabiru Art & Picture Framing, Tied with String Studio, CWA Hall and more recently at Mill and Make.

The most exciting place she has travelled for crochet, is to America twice for the Annual Conference of the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA). During these events, she attends as many classes as possible to expand her crochet skills and knowledge.

She has studied under such professionals as Myra Wood, Melissa Leapman, Edie Eckman, Lily Chin, Robyn Chachula, Mary Beth Temple, Darla Fanton, Sharon Silverman, Marty Miller and Laurinda Redding.

Lyndall brings many years of experience volunteering and on committees, holding various positions. Lyndall has previously been employed in the positions of secretary, office manager, pay clerk, book-keeper and she currently fills all these positions in her family’s businesses, one of these is a cane farm.

I cannot imagine my life without crochet it is such an amazing stress reliever, I love the sense of comradery and joy that the crochet community brings to my life and all the wonderful friendships that I have made.

SANDI OWEN - COMMITTEE MEMBER

This craft of crochet will not die out with the sharing of knowledge and the splendid works so many people are doing.

Rachel Devitt - Committee Member

Rachel has been obsessed with Crochet since the age of 8. She taught herself at the age of 6 and 2 years later her Nan saw her struggling with tight stitches and gave her a few pointers. Suddenly knitting was out, crochet was in! Until 2014 Rachel had resisted the pull of Social Media and had only ever worked patterns from books. In 2014 she joined Social Media sites and made the Sophie's Universe. With renewed zeal for crochet her WIP pile quickly grew from 4-6 items to 25-30.

Rachel brings to the Guild over 20 years’ experience in Customer Service, experience in event planning, training, marketing and a passion for Australian yarn crafts and crochet in particular.

She believes crochet and the community that gathers around it are incredible for mental health and wellness. Rachel has worked in libraries for 15+ years and cares deeply about providing education and learning opportunities for all ages.

Mel Richards - Committee Member

Mel has over 15 years’ experience in Customer and Community information services. A full-time librarian by day, she also runs two of her own small hobby craft businesses in addition to being a committee member of the Guild.   She is a qualified Trainer and Assessor and teaches technology, runs readers advisory research and teen and children’s events.

Mel loves crochet, especially large and challenging projects and continues to learn new techniques every day.  As well as a crocheter, she is an artist, a jewellery designer, eco candle and soap maker, festival stall holder and a billion other craft things.  She is passionate about visual art, festival and market stalls, many different creative outlets, social media involvement and skill sharing.

She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in advertising on social media and outreach to the Guild.

Carolyn Healy - Committee Member

Carolyn began her working life as a Hairdresser, moved to a Customer Service Manager at Telstra and she currently working at a call centre in Maroochydore, Queensland.

Although Carolyn is working to earn a living, she is passionate about volunteering as well. This has brought her here to the Crochet Guild. Her forte is organising large fundraising functions, working with and belonging to many committees. She is driven by her love of seeing people getting together and enjoying each other’s company. Her experience has been with fundraising functions, Director of Qld Police Youth Clubs, Director Caravan Clubs of Qld, and many others. Carolyn’s experience with running large events has culminated with her leading the Crochet Guild Australia team to organise its Inaugural Annual Conference to be held in June 2021.

Although considering herself a novice crocheter, who feels a bit overwhelmed at times when conversing with the more expert crochet members of the Guild, she is passionate about encouraging others to learn and enjoy the company of others in the crochet community. Her motto is “You don’t have to be an expert you just need willingness to be involved.”

Carolyn is very mindful of the role craft and creating plays in everyone’s mental wellbeing. She believes that a sense of community combined with craft encourages positive mental health. It is her desire to be a part of the cure by helping to expand this community.

Crochet and Caravanning are her relaxation and they go together beautifully. She started crochet by chance having her first lesson locally. She enjoyed the subsequent classes, meeting with like-minded people on the Sunshine Coast and becoming involved in the crochet world throughout Australia while travelling . Since moving to the Sunshine Coast Carolyn discovered this group and she feels that it has helped enormously to expanded her world.

Carolyn has been happily married to Denis for 46 years and they have 4 children, 7 grandchildren, 4 step grandchildren, and 2 step great grandchildren. And she takes her Mum on outings every Sunday.