About
Northknits
Hi I’m Jewell, I’m a southern belle turned Midwesterner and the knitwear designer, creative, and influencer behind northknits, inspiring thousands to knit their best life through fiber and community.
I taught myself how to knit in college and delved into crochet during grad school. After graduation, I worked in news media and mass comm full time while simultaneously learning all that I could about knitting, crochet, and the art of wool fiber. I created Northknits in 2014 to fuel my love for slow living, pattern design, beautiful yarn, and the fiber community.
Currently based in Chicago, I create pretty knit and crochet patterns and kits, working with both indie and large retail yarn brands, and offering biz-to-slow living lifestyle guidance to fellow makers. While designing and traveling to teach knit workshops, I also host annual Our Maker Life meetups in the U.S. and Canada to stay in touch with hundreds of my maker besties. In between knitting and growing my yarn stash, I work full-time in corporate marketing.
Currently very into top down raglan sweaters, DK superwash merino, natural wool yarn, good fiction and self-dev reads, coffee, yoga, date nights and reminding myself that it’s totally ok to indulge in self-care and casting on a new knit wip (even when you’re already knitting one).
You deserve a moment to indulge in the art of knitting, explore beautiful fiber, and lean into slow living. I love creating designs and collaborating with top brands with a common mission and value in our industry and community.
Here’s what’s up
I love knitting, like I totally think about it everyday and always have a knit WIP close by. After a decade of being in this industry and community, I’m learning that as much as it’s about the yarn, it’s also so much more than just the yarn. My personal and core values are super important to me and as a leader in the industry, I have learned that it is important to share them, to live by them, and to be the example that I want to see in the world. I strive for progressive change and to lead by example for marginalized makers in our community, inspiring other girls and women of color to take a seat at the knit table because we deserve to create all that our hearts desire.
All makers matter, we’re all valued and important, but it is my core passion to lead and remind many of us that diversity and inclusion is both important and required for those of us that buy a lot of yarn and knit a lot of patterns, but want to feel more seen and heard. I hear you. I see you.
My inner 9 year old self that once played with dolls, kept a thorough diary, grew up in a small Carolina town next to a cotton field, and dreamed of living the big city boss life would be proud.
A day in the life for me currently includes cozy winter midwestern mornings and kitty cuddles. Knitting comfy sweaters and scarves curled up with coffee and a good book make me the happiest and most content. I love to organize and keep a minimal styled home while I work and design. My nerdy mind is always whizzing with the complexity of life and its meaning, but I also thrive on deep work and keeping a clean email inbox. Millennial values are important to me and apart of my story.
I also love traveling, family time, and journaling, so that I can become the change and maker that I know I have always been called to be.
