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 - Secretary

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.

MELISSA MITCHELL - treasurer

Melissa was taught crochet by her Grandmother and Mother when she was a child. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Education and several other qualifications in music and training. Her career is in music but her passion, when the studio door closes, is crochet.

She Eco dyes her own yarn with eucalyptus and avocado from her property and enjoys sharing her vast knowledge with anyone willing to hold a hook.  She’s taught classrooms of children how to crochet as a form of mediation with some young crocheters now hooked for life.

Melissa is an advocate for lifelong education through the arts and is at the top of her field in her teaching practise.  She brings 35 years of teaching and learning knowledge to our Guild.

“Music is my life’s reason but crochet makes it shine”

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

Bio Pending

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

Bio Pending

Alison Phillips - Committee Member

Alison was taught to crochet at the age of 4 and hasn’t stopped since.

She has several decades of experience teaching at secondary level in Victoria, and is an accredited Train the Trainer in Victoria. 

Alison has also gained her Crochet Teachers accreditation with the Craft Yarn Council of America, and has attended several Crochet Guild of America Conferences.

She is currently teaching Beginner and Intermediate level crochet at the University of the Third Age Nunawading and Knox.

Jasmin Jones - Committee Member

Jasmin Jones is originally trained in fine art and fine jewellery and currently works in her own jewellery and crochet design label.

In 2014 she started to teach crochet and run workshops and during this time she developed a series of skill-based courses which she continues to teach.

Crochet has lead Jasmin on a myriad of journeys including large scale charity projects such as Viva Vittoria in Brescia Italy 2015 (an anti-violence against women project), to working with crochet collectives and yarn companies internationally.      

Jasmin’s crochet works and collections have been exhibited internationally in Shanghai, New York, Paris, Italy and Germany. 

There’re two areas of crochet that deeply motivate me, first is community work such as charity projects and craft activism. I love uniting with others be that at a local community level or globally sharing a common goal. Secondly is seeing crochet elevated and utilised in the areas of fine art, couture and high fashion, or in some other unconventional application.