Artigianati.com

by Deborah Deasy

2010 Guest Teacher: Melissa Leapman

Knitting used to be a pastime for sweater designer Melissa Leapman of New York City.

"When you turn your hobby into your job, the last thing you want to do at 7 o'clock at night is sit down to knit," says Leapman, 47, prolific author of knitting books for Potter Craft, a division of Random House.

"I knit to test patterns and pattern ideas, but I don't knit sweaters and things," Leapman says. "My days of knitting gifts for family and friends are way, way over."

Leapman, a native Pittsburgher, may be the best known of more than 20 instructors booked for the 6th Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival this weekend at the Four Points Sheraton North, Marshall.

"I still have family and friends there," she says. "I'm looking forward to my visit."

Leapman, a 1980 graduate of the Winchester Thurston School, turned knitting into her livelihood after studying English and bio-chemistry at Mt. Holyoke College, and attending graduate school at Columbia University......

Read more at  -   http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_666222.html