Pam Winne

Pam’s love of all things fiber related began at a young age when her grandmother taught her to crochet. She went from crocheting potholders to designing her own granny square vests to wear while in Middle School. She learned to sew in High School, going on to create her own wedding dress.

About 30 years ago, she took a beginner knitting class, during which she knit her very first sweater. Wanting to learn more, she took a second class where she created another sweater, this one with 3 different colors of yarn, intarsia, and cables. That was the beginning of her love of knitting, and it has only continued to grow.

Pam went on to start a knitting group while living in Wiesbaden, Germany for 3 years. The knitting group was made up of other Americans (both female and male) stationed in Wiesbaden, as well as several German locals. While living overseas, she sought out yarn stores in each country she visited with her family so that she could purchase yarn as her souvenirs. Those yarn souvenirs were lovingly turned into a “Paris shawl”, a “Prague scarf”, an “Amsterdam shawl”, and so on. Each time she wears these items, it brings back wonderful memories of those past adventures.

Pam has won multiple awards for her knitting at the Chesterfield County Fair and the Virginia State Fair, including Best In Show, 10 First Place ribbons, 5 Second Place ribbons, and 1 Third Place ribbon.

Pam has taught many friends and family members to knit throughout the years. She is a Craft Yarn Council Certified Knitting Instructor and truly enjoys sharing her love of knitting with everyone who wants to learn. Be sure to join one of her classes so she can share her excitement for knitting with you!

We feel so fortunate at Dances to welcome this talented and passionate knitter and crocheter to our teaching staff. She is one of the former owners of the Knitting Basket on Grove Avenue in Richmond and currently works in IT. She has been doing handwork for decades and enjoys sharing her love of knitting and crocheting through her teaching.

Fiber art has been a part of Nicole’s life since she was a kid growing up on the eastern shore of Maryland. When she was about 10 years old her grandmother taught her how to sew as part of a 4-H group and she taught herself how to crochet as a teenager, but it wasn’t until she was looking to transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University in 2011 that she first discovered weaving. When she walked into the loom room she knew that she had to learn how to weave! It turns out that weaving was exactly what she was looking for and Nicole graduated from VCU in 2014 with a BFA in Craft/ Material Studies with a concentration in Fibers.

She has been teaching various weaving classes at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond since 2015 and taught Introduction to Textiles and Tapestry Weaving as an adjunct faculty member at VCU in the spring of 2019. Her favorite thing about teaching weaving is the passion that she sees in students when they discover just how amazing weaving can be.

Nicole is a full-time artist whose work is inspired by the correlation between how weavings are created, the formation of natural patterns, and the practice of storytelling. Her weaving style is rooted in traditional techniques with a strong focus on experimentation.