About

Seeking Connection through Creativity

Donita Westman learned to crochet from her mother as a child.  She returned to crochet in college (after discovering a friend was also a crocheter), then learned to knit in 2010 and has scarcely been seen without a WIP since. 
After declaring that she didn’t understand why anyone would ever waste time spinning yarn when there were so many beautiful yarns available, Donita ate her words, learning to spin in 2014, and can’t imagine how she stayed sane previously.  In just a few years, she has spun over 18,000 yards of yarn and has more unspun fleeces than she cares to admit.
After joining a local Guild to meet fellow knitters and spinners, Donita found herself with a loom, weaving anything she could dream up. The loom stable is quite full these days, and includes rigid heddle, tapestry, frame and inkle looms.
Donita has been teaching fiber arts around central Ohio and at 614 Knit Studio since 2019.

Drawing on her background as a teacher, Donita is an adamant reader, researcher and student, and has spent a lot of time with learning resources from Judith MacKenzie, Abby Franquemont, Maggie Casey, Amy King, Deb Robson and more.  For the first several years as an avid fiber artist, Donita didn’t have any local fiber community, so her ‘knitting group’ was podcasts she could download and listen to on the go, such as The Knitmore Girls.  After moving to Columbus, she found LYSs, knitting groups and joined the Central Ohio Weaving & Fiber Arts Guild, where she has served as the newsletter editor, webmistress, and co-chair of the educational programming committee.