Cecelia Campochiaro

knitwear designer Author Teacher United States
Cecelia Campochiaro appeared on the knitting scene in 2015 with her debut book, Sequence Knitting.
Knitting was a casual pastime until she had an ah-ha moment in 2010 and realized that interesting textured fabrics could be created by the simple repetition of a sequence of stitches. This idea evolved and led to her writing Sequence Knitting, which is a reference book about this mindful approach to knitting.

In the years since Sequence Knitting debuted, she has continued to develop new ideas in knitting.
Sequence Knitting is about texture, and her second book, Making Marls, published in 2020, is about color. In Making Marls, the technique of working multiple strands together as one is explored as an approach to colorwork. Her third and newest book, Reversible Knitting, is a stitch dictionary of stitch patterns that look the same on both sides that debuted in 2025.

Cecelia lives in Silicon Valley, where for many years she developed specialized microscopes used in computer chip manufacturing. Textiles, photography and the arts have been a lifelong passion running in parallel with her technical life. In high school and college even though her main studies were in the sciences, she also studied drawing, printmaking, ceramics, and photography.

Not only is she interested in the arts and knitting, but also in books. Books have been the primary mechanism for knowledge transfer for over a thousand years. One of her missions is to honor that tradition and create books that are both informative and are also beautiful objects in and of themselves.
Makers love beautiful things, and Cecelia feels strongly that books should be as lovely as tools and yarns.
Today she is fully dedicated to the fiber world and “unventing” new ways to make amazing handknit fabrics.
7 sense-ible questions for Cecelia
1) What are your favourite views, sights or reads such as books, movies or others?
Visiting art museums is my favorite view. Recently I saw a retrospective by Ai Weiwei in Seattle that was very sobering and also inspiring. I also very much enjoyed the Ruth Asawa retrospective at SFMOMA.

2) What are your favourite feels/things to touch?
I like the feel of most natural fibers. Of course, the soft luxury fibers are my favorites, but I also like to touch linen or nubby silk. Fine linen cloth worn after many washings is so comfortable. Smooth, well-made tools from metal or wood are important.

3) What puts your life in balance?
I'm not sure it is balanced, as creativity often comes with obsession. But I like to walk, cook, visit the natural wonders in California, and go to the museums in San Francisco to escape my computer.

4) Favourite odours/smells/perfumes?
Fresh flowers…freesia, magnolia, rose, gardenia...

5) Favourite tastes/flavours/food?
My downfall is food and every cuisine has its delights: strongly flavoured Asian foods from Korea, India, and China; mild Asian foods from Japan; Italian or Mexican food; a great fresh salad; and almost any dessert.

6) Favourite sounds such as music or others?
I usually choose silence for my work, but like all kinds of music.

7) Favourite quote
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." — Steve Jobs

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