Karen Wilkins, Owner
If you've ever met Karen you know she is a real dynamo who has a passion for yarns and knitting. As a child, Karen's mother and a neighbor taught her to knit, sew and needlepoint. She continued to develop those skills and to create beautiful sweaters, clothes and home accessories, even as a college student. When her 3 children were small, Karen worked part-time at the Needlepoint Shop in the Tremont Center in Columbus, Ohio and continued her education as a student of local knitting teachers and international instructors, including Meg Swanson, Cat Bourdi, Galena Khmeleva and numerous others.
Karen is a believer in community and giving back. She shares both her time and resources throughout Central Ohio to help support emerging business owners and worthy causes.
Diane Kraus
A degreed architect with 25 years experience in construction management, Diane came to Temptations with decades of pent-up creative energy. Although she loves the mathematics involved in altering knitting patterns to meet customers' needs, Diane is happy just to touch and organize any and all of the fine yarns offered at Temptations. Diane is infatuated with Habu yarns and patterns from Japan.
Bobbie Riedel
With a degree in Fine Art, specializing in fibers and jewelry making, Bobbie utilizes her expertise at Temptations as our in-house artist and resident color expert. She creates artistic felted purses, bags and home accessories. In the shop, Bobbie assists knitters in selecting the ideal colors to best flatter their own coloring for knitted garments.
Ruth Ann Holt
The bookends of Ruth's knitting were provided by two very special women-- an "old country Grandmother" who taught her to knit practical, serviceable items and by an artistic Home Ec teacher who was never without a colorful, creative knitting project in her hands. Ruth learned to read color charts, twist stitches, experiment with patterns and to love the feel of a good yarn in her hands. Ruth finds her visions of knitted splendor being educated by her grandmother's lessons of use and serviceability while practicality turns inside out when ignited by her knowledge of color and texture. Today, while incorporating her grandmother's lessons of serviceability and practicality Ruth creates lovely garments incorporating unique design elements and stitch patterns.
Barb Kubic
Barb organizes...thank God! All of us "pie-in-the-sky" dreamers need grounding and focus. With a background in dental hygiene, she uses her attention to detail to keep our storeroom neat and our orders sorted, no small task considering how much yarn we carry. When knitting, Barb focuses on creating beautiful socks and sweaters. She loves to learn new techniques and executes them with style.
Michelle Hunter
Michelle knits and knits and knits! Like many life long knitters, she was taught to knit as a girl by her grandmother. Being a schoolteacher, she loves passing the craft to new knitters and revels in each student's achievements. Socks are her favorite thing to knit and she has been spotted knitting them in the most unusual places. Next time you see Michelle you'll have to ask her about that!