Denise Balvanz

Denise has been knitting, crocheting and sewing since she was a little girl. Over the years Denise has taught many others to knit, crochet and sew and loves to be able to share what she knows about the crafts with others. For 25 years, Denise was doing custom dressmaking from home while her 8 young children played. Her children wore a lot of my creations as they grew up!

Sewing took the back burner and knitting and crochet took over Denise's life when she was asked to teach classes at the local yarn shop. Writing patterns for those classes was the start of her design career. A local acquaintance later offered an opportunity to work for 3+ years in her business as an importer/distributor/translator of a Norwegian yarn and pattern line. During that time, Denise was able to spend two weeks in Norway learning about the Norwegian knitting traditions.

Much like Norway, surviving the cold winters in Iowa takes a lot of warm hand-mades. Denise's love of fiber crafts has allowed her to interact with many wonderful people over the years and she counts it a privilege to be able to share what she's learned and to continue to learn with all of you!