Phyllis Smith Knitwear Designer & Alterations Specialist

River Isle designs and publishes from a riverfront cottage on the bluffs overlooking the St. Croix River in historic Stillwater, the birthplace of Minnesota.

We at River Isle are professional knitters and knitwear designers who knit for the world at large.  In our early days of knitting, we knit for everyone in our smaller world of friends and family.  The time came when we realized we had run out of those people to knit for.  So who to knit for then?  You are the answer to that question.  We knit for you.  By the way, if you don't need us to handcraft confections for you because you are a fine knitter yourself, we've kept you in mind with our exceptional selection of knitting patterns. 

Do you have an amazing vintage sweater or some other fabulous knitted piece that you'd like patterned for reproduction, either by us or by yourself?   Tell us about your piece on the contact page, or in e-mail, and we will work with you to reconfigure a treasure. 

River Isle can be found exhibiting at local craft and art fairs.  Also, it gives us great pleasure to donate items from our line to children's hospitals and other worthy causes because we wish to extend to the world our knitted gesture of caring.

We named our business "River Isle" because, just north of the historic Stillwater Bridge, the water boasts a curious set of sliver islands which charm us when we gaze down on them from the bluffs ... while we knit for you.

Alterations By Phyllis is our service business to the community and complements our knitting fiber artistry.  We are noticing a current trend in alterations -- people are revamping older clothing to perfection.  This is interesting in terms of practicality these days to find that people will oftentimes spend more on transforming an older piece than investing in a new piece.  If a clothing item is beloved, then it is worth it!  Again, as above, if you have a vintage or precious piece you wish to have preserved or restyled, we would be happy to work with you because this is our favorite area of expertise.  Of course, bring us your new clothing, too, because it deserves our talented attention as well.  We dream of transforming you...while we sew for you.