MEET HILDA COHEN, TKGA MASTER HAND KNITTER
In January 2026, our own Hilda Cohen was featured in K2TOG (The Knitting Guild Association newsletter) upon her certification as a Master Hand Knitter. This certification takes at least four years of effort and requires completion of three levels of study with written reports, swatches, and projects meeting exacting standards. Level 1 alone requires 18 swatches, 4 gauge worksheets, 24 questions, and a mitten project. Hilda started her journey in 2018 and, along the way, made argyle socks and designed and executed two original projects. One had to be a traditional Aran design and the other a traditional Fair Isle. Whew!
Hilda was born in Maine, grew up in Massachusetts, and moved to the Philadelphia area for work as a French teacher. After several years of teaching French in private schools, she changed careers and worked for a large retail organization for 25 years before retiring. She and her husband relocated to San Diego from Philadelphia in 2014 after his retirement and she joined SDNCKG shortly thereafter. Hilda had belonged to a guild in Pennsylvania and enjoys the company of others who share her love of knitting.
She learned to knit at an LYS back in 1984 to fill the evenings when her husband’s job required weeks-long travel. When her own work schedule picked up, she set aside her needles for over a decade. Retirement brought her back to knitting and she became intrigued by the Master Hand Knitter Program featured in TKGA’s Cast On magazine.
When not working her craft, she’s learning Italian through the Italian Cultural Center in San Diego. It will come in handy as she and her husband travel to Italy twice yearly for about 6 weeks at a time.
Hilda may not have a favorite style or type of knitting project, but she does know that argyle and Bavarian Traveling Twisted-Stitch knitting will probably NEVER be on her needles again!
— Tania Marshall
For more information about TKGA resources, certifications, and other membership benefits, visit tkga.org. SDNCKG is a TKGA-affiliated Guild, but knitters must have an individual membership to enjoy full TKGA benefits.
