About The Atlanta Knitting Guild

In 1985, Dream Weaver, a local knit shop, asked for interested knitters to join for a get-together. Five enthusiastic people surfaced and enjoyed the experience so much that they decided to meet again in other yarn shops in the city each month. When the originator needed to drop out, Whit Robbins took over this endeavor. She soon found her phone ringing off the hook with people calling eager to join, so she worked on pulling these interested knitters together into an organized group. She found a "free" place to meet (the library) and a consistent day and time every month, and put notices into each neighborhood paper in the city. On February 6, 1985, the first official meeting of the Atlanta Knitting Guild was held, and to everyone's amazement, 52 people showed up.

From here, everything just snowballed! The group found it had a wealth of talent and knowledge in its midst, and these members became its first speakers. Two nationally known published knitters, Maggie Righetti, Author of "Knitting in Plain English" was most generous in sharing her books and teaching as was Therese Gaffey, writer for various knitting publications.

In the years since it began, the guild has steadily grown to include knitters from the surrounding Atlanta Suburbs and all of North Georgia. We even have members from out of state. Our membership has grown to more than 250; each monthly meeting averages about 100 members in attendance.

The Atlanta Knitting Guild started out strong, and has maintained its strength as it has grown over the years because its members have maintained the original vision of Whit Robbins when the guild was started: we are constantly helping each other and reaching out to other knitters. It is really that simple.

Past hosted programs and or workshops with knitting design "superstars" include:
Beth Brown-Reinsel
Laura Bryant
Chris Bylsma
Lily Chin
Candace Eisner-Strick
Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer
Theresa Gaffey
Arnhild Hillesland
Barry Klein
Ginger Luters
Sally Melville
Lucy Neatby
Debbie New
Alice Starmore
Meg Swansen
Janet Szabo
Barbara Walker
Joyce Williams
Nancie Wiseman