|  Tara
Jon Manning learned to knit from her mom as a child, prolifically
producing mittens without mates and half-finished scarves
by age 10. Finishing her first sweater as a teenager, Tara
resumed knitting in high school and found its stress relieving
and calming qualities an important component of her teenage
and young adult life.
“I have to knit,” she says. “If I don’t
knit for a day or two I feel it, much like a runner who skips
a day; I become a little more wound up. For me, knitting is
like meditation. This centering quality is very much why knitting
is important in my day.”
Knitting and textile crafts led her to develop
a life long interest in textiles and fiber arts. During her
BFA studies in drawing and painting at the University of Colorado
at Boulder, Tara incorporated textiles and textile motifs
into her work, and knit many sweaters. She began designing
children’s sweaters and launched a kid’s sweater
business after graduating from college. Wanting to further
develop her technical skill and education, Tara studied textile
and garment design and fiber arts at the graduate level at
Colorado State University.
Tara is a contributing designer and author
to knitting magazines, books, and yarn companies. She self
published a line of highly popular designs under the name
Tara Handknitting Designs. Tara was owner of Over the Moon
Café & Mercantile, a knitting, gift, and espresso
shop in Longmont, Colorado, featured in a popular book The
Knitter’s Stash: Favorite Patterns from America’s
Yarn Shops (Interweave Press, 2001).
Tara currently operates an online business
at www.tarahandknitting.com,
which offers her original design patterns and handknitting
kits. A Craft Yarn Council of America certified knitting instructor,
she continues to conduct workshops, classes, and design work
from her studio in Boulder, Colorado. |
