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Meet the Designer

My name is Ellen. I'm a knitting designer, tech editor and teacher with a background in engineering and education. My studio is currently located in Priceville, Alabama.


Knitting holds a special place in my heart because of their inherent balance between past generations and the future, creativity and utility, physical motion and slow living. Designing, teaching, and technical editing have enabled me to stitch my love for the arts together with my nerdy, problem-solving tendencies.


Fun facts... I'm a mostly monogamous knitter. I don't stash yarn (GASP!), but I do stash rags for weaving. I loved my dog, but identify as a cat person.

The Chilly Dog represents the knitting side of my fiber arts studio.

The logo is based on our family's loyal Xoloitzcuintle and is a reminder that being unique is a gift.

Knit-Worthy Patterns + Instructional Resources

In 2011, I was working at a high stress, low pay job and I needed some sort of change in my life. The Chilly Dog was created as my personal balance between "do what you love" and "don't quit your day job". My hope was to share my general crafting knowledge, in blog form, and inspire others to create something wonderful with their own two hands.


In 2013, with the encouragement of my blog readers, I also began designing and self-publishing knit and crochet patterns, selling them first on Ravelry, then here in my online shop. (And, yes, I left the aforementioned job.)


2017 brought big changes to The Chilly Dog. After creating and hosting my first knit along for the blog, I realized just how rewarding it is to design a pattern and then produce all of the learning materials a knitter would need to successfully complete a project. I narrowed my focus from general crafting to knitting.


Now, I make the most of my time by designing patterns that focus on essential skills and stitches knitters may not be familiar with. Then I build a series of companion video tutorials demonstrating the techniques. This system gives you on demand support as you knit one of my patterns.

Our Studio Helpers

The Real Chilly Dog

Originality Specialist

(2000-2012)

The Chilly Dog's Cool Cat

Attitude Consultant

(2015-present)

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