Stephen West was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He studied dance at the University of Illinois where he encountered his first yarn store, Klose Knit in Urbana, IL. The creative atmosphere of that local shop spurred Stephen to start designing knitting patterns and he was quickly featured in Knitty’s fall 2009 issue with his Colonnade Shawl. Soon after, he began publishing more patterns and launched a series of pattern books under the brand Westknits.

He continues to produce pattern books and hosts several online knit alongs each year like the Mystery Shawl Knit Along, Yarn a Long and Westknits Shawl Club. His simple clean designs have now been knitted by thousands of knitters all around the World.

Stephen West’s shawl designs and innovative colorwork have helped him become a widely recognized and respected designer around the world. Stephen’s designs have been published in Knitty.com, Malabrigo Book 3 and in Jared Flood’s Wool People. He also self-publishes his own series of popular knitting books including his new collection of 13 popular Westknits designs ‘Westknits Bestknits’.

Stephen has taught highly popular workshops at yarn shops throughout the United States as well as internationally in Iceland, Scandinavia, Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands and The UK.