Advent Calendar, Day 23: Nina Machlin Dayton

Meiju Knits Advent Calendar 2015, Day 23: Nina Machlin Dayton

(Photo by Nina Machlin Dayton Designs)

Last but not least I would like you to meet one of the persons behind Gift-A-Long event. She is Nina Machlin Dayton, creative, compassionate, empowering person who works countless hours to make this event possible. As a fellow knitter and designer, I feel very grateful that there are people who make this happen. She thinks that Gift-A-Long is a great way to give back to the design community and to the community of customers who support indie designers and what we do. 

Nina's designs are timeless, engaging and fun. Her portfolio is full of designs that would make perfect gifts.

Ravelry name: ninaknits

Designer name: Nina Machlin Dayton

Designer page on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/nina-machlin-dayton 

Nina tells about herself: 

I first learned to knit when I was 10 years old - just knit; not purl, cast-on, bind off, etc. After working endlessly on an enormous purple garter stitch muffler for my father I gave up. Then in my early 20’s I was dating a man whose mother and grandmother were enthusiastic knitters, and so, to get in their good graces, I asked them to teach me to knit. It was instant addiction. While that boyfriend didn’t last the knitting obsession did and 35+ years later is still going strong. My grandmother and mother were and are amazingly talented with any form of needlecraft, so maybe I come by the passion genetically.

I have been teaching and designing for over 30 years. I try to write my patterns with a clarity that makes them accessible to people at all skill levels - I believe that the best way to learn is to jump in with a pattern that you love, and I want to make sure that anyone can follow and make my patterns, even if they have never done a technique it uses before. I offer pattern support for all my designs and love to hear from people working on them.