Arenda Holladay

An education in Classical Studies is not terribly practical. When she found herself in Dallas, Texas, where her husband was doing a radiology resident at Parkland Memorial Hospital, she figured if she could read ancient Greek, she could learn to do almost anything, so she interviewed as a technical writer at a small computer company and eventually wound up at Texas Instruments writing manuals for accounting software until her division decided it no longer needed technical writers but instructional designers. 

When her husband completed his training, they moved to Washington, DC, where she freelanced as an instructional designer developing training materials for governmental agencies, mainly the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and corporations in New York. She mentions this only as the process for creating a course for new hires at American Express on how to read a balance sheet prepares you to write handouts on knitting techniques and patterns for sweaters.

Arenda and her husband eventually wound up in Lexington, KY, where she found the pay scale for her skill set significantly different from her previous levels. Since it would not even pay for childcare, she decided to become a Master Knitter. Arenda has been knitting seriously since the move to Dallas. Arenda was rarely happy with what she knit. Her finishing was atrocious. The Knitting Guild Association had a program to certify knitters as Master, which, in hindsight, was the best thing she ever did. Arenda was asked to join the committee that managed the program, and over time, she became the advisor to that committee and the editor of Cast On, TKGA's magazine. 

Arenda was also the stage manager of a ballet company at that time. She mentions this as she realized she could multi-task very effectively as part of her duties was to deal with the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) who would have preferred a male stage manager, ballet directors, lighting designers, ballet mothers (the movie Black Swan is a documentary as far as she is concerned) and during the Nutcracker lots of small children wearing uncomfortable costumes. These skills help her very much when she is teaching knitting.

In 2016, the management company that owned TKGA dissolved it due to its financial situation. Those involved with the master's program could not let it die, so they convinced the management company to give them the intellectual property. The new TKGA started with nothing and is now a successful organization devoted to knitter education supported through its certification programs and correspondence courses.

Arenda hasn't had time to write books, but she has developed many training courses and certification programs. She has also written many technical articles for Cast On and designed many garments, which you can see on her designer page on Ravelry.

Arenda is the president of TKGA and the editor of Cast On, teaching several correspondence courses and managing the Professional Knitter Certification program. This keeps her quite busy.

Arenda has BA degrees in English and Latin. She attended the SUNY Buffalo and the University of Virginia for Classical Studies which makes for a long story.  

Arenda considers her earning the title of Master Knitter her greatest accomplishment. She doesn't recall getting any awards other than "attaboys." As for Recognition, she hasn't been fired so guesses she is doing OK.