At the Evanston retirement community where he taught art, Pate (pronounced “Patty”) Conaway used herbal tea and show tunes to lure his students into his basement classroom. “The ladies,” as he came to ...

“I learned how to knit when I was six,” says Debbie Stoller. “But it was another 30 years before I actually liked it.” Though she comes from “a long line of Dutch knitters,” Stoller was stymied by ...