MEET KARLA ALVEY, PROGRAMS CO-CHAIR 2025 – 2026
Karla is often seen at meetings registering members for Guild events. She describes her duties as being the “workhorse behind the scenes,” making sure event details such as workshops are taken care of so attendees will have an enriching, seamless experience.
Karla was raised in rural Missouri. Her mother was a passionate and very talented sewer. Karla learned to sew before she started school and by middle school was designing and sewing her own clothes. Her mother taught herself to knit from magazines then taught Karla when she was in high school. Due to her confessed impatience, knitting was not as gratifying as sewing since it took much more time to create a garment.
Karla enjoyed a career in garment design, construction, and manufacturing. After graduating from Woodbury College in Los Angeles, she worked at St. John Knits for over seven years. As her husband got transferred around the country, she held various garment industry management positions. On a personal level, hands-on crafting has always been important to her, but she was conflicted because those crafts interfered with her obsessive reading. In the early 2000’s, she combined audiobooks with crafting and was able to begin seriously knitting again. She watched “Knitting Daily” on DVD’s and discovered YouTube tutorials.
Until she joined the Guild in 2023, her knitting journey was solitary. After retiring, she took some classes from Karen des Jardins who introduced her to the Guild. Karla was unaware there were so many communities of knitters and that they are so welcoming and generous. When she joined the Guild, she checked the box stating she was willing to volunteer and was scooped up by the Programs Committee, learning about the vastness of the international knitting community. One of her favorite benefits of interacting with our guests is learning about new yarn options and sources. Karla knits everything: sweaters, blankets, wall hangings, hats, scarves, gloves, and socks. Due to her fashion background, she favors making garments.
An amazing example of her passion for innovative construction methods and stitch detail is the wall hanging pictured below, “Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Steve Plummer from his World of Illusion Knitting. She used two colors of Caron’s Simply Soft for this work measuring 39 by 51 inches. It took her about a month to complete it.
Say hello to Karla at the next meeting, as she looks forward to meeting all of you.
— Tania Marshall
