Julie Benac has enjoyed the textile, sewing and fiber arts for over 35 years. She owns Fresh Lotus Design, a fiber art design small business with her partner Patrick, right on the shores of Lake Erie in Michigan. Here they produce hand-woven & hand-dyed artisan garments, luxury fiber blends for spinners, weavers and felters, as well as an outstanding and hard-to-find selection of hand-dyed silk yarns.
JULIE ADAMS
Hi everyone! I'm Julie of Julie's Fiber Treasures. I discovered felting around 2013/2014 and feel like I have found my "thing". In 2022 I expanded my resume by becoming a Certified Felting Instructor through Sarafina Fiber Art which has allowed me to explore and expand my teaching capabilities. I enjoy learning new techniques, bettering my skills, and teaching others the wonders of fiber through felting.
Kelly Agrue
Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson lives in Superior, Montana with her husband on a hobby farm. She raises Pygora and Angora goats, has several rescued fiber animals, a few horses,chickens,cats and dogs. Anna has been involved in the fiber art community since 2006 and has taught classes since 2010. This year she plans to add a studio to the farm where she can teach classes,locally. She enjoys sharing her skills and passion for fiber arts in the fun and unique classes that she offers.
John Atest
Bonnie Barker
Laura Barker
Patti Barker
Patti is an award-winning, full-time American fiber artist who enjoys incorporating hand-dyed silk and fibers, as well as handspun art yarn into her unique felted garments and accessories. She makes her home in North Central Florida with her husband, Rex and two fine pups. Patti teaches felt making and shows her work in wearable art fashion shows and exhibitions all over the US. To see more of her work, visit pattibarker.com
Nancy Bates
Author of Knitting the National Parks and Knitting California, Nancy draws inspiration for her hat designs from nature, the seasons, and the world around her.
Cindie Bennett
Cindie Bennett is primarily a crochet instructor and designer. She has taught at many fiber festivals
along the east coast. Cindie is a Certified Crochet Instructor through Craft Yarn Council. She has published multiple crochet designs into popular crochet magazines. You may follow Cindie at www.instagram.com/cindiebennettcrochet and www.facebook.com/cindiebennettcrochet .
Mary Berry
Mary Berry is the resident teacher at Fancy Fibers in Farmersville, Texas. Her preferred fiber arts are weaving, spinning, rug hooking, and dyeing both fabric and yarn. Fiber arts are her passion and she loves to share that passion with others.
Siobhan Boothe
Siobhan Boothe is a natural dyer, fiber artist, and educator located in Floyd, VA. She has been crocheting for over 12 years and began pattern testing and writing in 2017. As a dyer, her focus is on traditional natural dyes, as well as local flora, nuts, & trees found around her family farm in the heart of Appalachia. She dyes yarn used for knitting, weaving, & crochet as well as home goods printed with images of flowers & leaves. In her spare time, she is a mother, wife, & farmer of chickens & cattle.
Varian Brandon
Varian Brandon started knitting at eight. A trip to the islands of Great Britain rekindled a love of color and created an interest in the traditions of Fair Isle design and construction. She is currently designing stranded colorwork patterns for several yarn companies, international magazines, and her own website. She has also created a collection of stranded hats entitled "Waiting". This book of patterns can be found on her website.
Currently living in Saluda, North Carolina, Varian has been teaching stranded colorwork and related knitting techniques at local yarn shops, regional fiber festivals, and for the past eighteen years at the Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Retreat in Hendersonville, North Carolina which she coordinates. Online, she can be found at www.brandonknittingdesigns.com or on Ravelry at varianbrandon.
Anna Bruffy
Roiana Buckmaster
Roiana Buckmaster lives in Mt. Pleasant, TN with her husband, building flocks of Icelandic sheep and heritage poultry. She was taught to knit at age 6 (to keep out from underfoot), embroidery at age ten (to encourage sitting still), and plunged into the rabbit hole of the Fiber Arts World from there. Roiana has been teaching weaving and tatting for eight years at fiber festivals across the South and also at the farm shop (The Tog and The Thel).
Jeri Buek
Shauna Campbell
Shauna Campbell learned to crochet when she was a young girl. Her Mom was an avid crocheter and knitter and shared her love of the craft.
Shauna would go on to pursue a 30+ year career as a hair dresser, sharing her love of teaching and learning, becoming an educator for several major brands.
A few years ago she found herself recuperating from major surgery with some spare time on her hands. After a few inspirational YouTube videos, Shauna was excited to take up a hook and yarn again!
With the same passion and dedication she put into her salon and educational career, she has thrown herself into the yarn world! Now a certified crochet instructor and independent designer for a number of yarn companies, Shauna runs a small finished products shop out of her salon as well as a monthly Wednesday Night Yarn Club for local yarn enthusiasts to gather, share and learn!
For Shauna, its the joy of spending time sharing and teaching others is not only a way to do that but also to keep the craft alive and well.
Ronda Cassada
Ronda is a self-taught basket maker of 30 years and a local resident of Buncombe County. She has an Associate of Arts degree and teaches absolute beginner basket weaving classes in Asheville, NC. To see more information on classes and sample baskets go to: www.ronda-w-cassada-basketry.com.
Joanna Chantemerle
Katie Clark
Katie Clark has been crocheting and knitting for 30 years. For many years, she taught friends and family and anyone who would sit still long enough how to stitch. It finally occurred to her in 2009 to teach professionally and began offering classes at the Knit Studio in Jackson, Mississippi and the Bill Waller Craft Center in Ridgeland, Mississippi.
She now teaches regionally and writes patterns as Katie Clark Crochet which are available on Ravelry. She has designed for Interweave Crochet Magazine and Jems Luxe Fibers. She is a proud member of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, Chimneyville Weavers and Spinners Guild, and the Crochet Guild of America. She lives in Madison, Mississippi with her husband, daughter, two cats, and a ridiculous stash of yarn.
Visit www.katieclarkcrochet.com to learn more.
Nharah Clark
Nharah Clark is a fiber artist, instructor, and historic textile specialist. For the last six years, she has co-owned SPARKLE Studio, a working and teaching fiber arts studio located at Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment in Huntsville, AL. She is deeply immersed in historic reenactment and has devoted 25 years to learning and teaching the fiber arts methods of the past. Over the years, she has added fiber processing, spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, sewing, and embroidery to her fiber arts repertoire.
Henry Clemes
This class will be taught by the tag team of Henry and Roy Clemes. A lifelong woodworker and small business owner, Henry has been building fiber art equipment for almost 50 years and drum carders for over 40 years. Roy grew up working in his family’s woodshop and is the president of Lambtown Festival, the largest sheep and wool show in California. Together they have introduced many innovations to the fiber arts community and their equipment is known for being not only thoughtfully engineered but visually pleasing and durable as well. They regularly consult and instruct spinners, felters, fiber growers, and professional fiber artists in the use of drum carders for fiber prep. Their full lineup of equipment can be seen at clemes.com and you can find them on social media via @clemesandclemes
Vickie Clontz
Vickie's love of fibers, wool and folk art shine through in each of her classes and the 100+ patterns she has designed for her company, Annie's Keepsakes, which celebrates its 33-year anniversary in 2023! Vickie's projects have appeared in magazines across the nation and abroad, and she brings h er easy-going style and award-winning expertise to each of her classes and workshops. See more of Vickie's work and learn about her textile trip to France in 2023 on her web-site at http://www.annieskeepsakes.com
Beth Collier
Beth began spinning in 2004 after getting her first sheep. Shortly after she started her business, Three Creeks Farm where she sells her Shetland wool and yarn, Kromski products including wheels and looms, felting supplies, dyeing supplies and a variety of handmade items. She has been teaching spinning and felting since 2010. When not spinning, felting, weaving or sewing, she enjoys chasing her grandchildren.
Rita de Maintenon
Rita de Maintenon is a retired educator, speaker and business owner who moved to Asheville in 2009. She was raised in Germany and learned all dimensions of fiber arts while growing up. She has taught workshops for many years to encourage participants to create their own heirloom treasures and now concentrates on crochet heritage techniques like broomstick and hairpin lace, Tunisian, Aran and Irish crochet. She is a restoration specialist for vintage and lace crochet items. Rita has written 2 books: "Heritage Crochet in a New Light" and "Crochet for Knitters", both available on Amazon. Rita has workshop videos on Udemy.com as well. She is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, a Blue Ridge National Heritage Artist and a Craft Yarn Council of America Certified Crochet Instructor. Her business is Heirloom Treasures Fiber Arts and her websites are: www.heirloomtreasuresfiberarts.com and www.heirloomtreasuresboutique.com
Milissa Ellison Dewey
Born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA, Milissa is PhD-educated in Early Modern European History and History of Science and is an Honors Scholar at Large in the University of North Carolina system, a classical flautist, and a journeyman woodturner. She has worked in the fiberarts since 1994, and in woodturning since 2009. Milissa is widely recognized for her work as a woodturner and also as a competitive spinner: in the 2017 Spinzilla, Milissa placed 2nd place among independent spinners and 5th overall internationally...using only antique equipment! In June 2018, she was featured on National Public Radio demonstrating and discussing her beloved "sock knitting machines".
Sue Dial
Sue Dial got her first spinning wheel in 1989, and has been working with polymer clay since 1995. She teaches both polymer clay and fiber related classes regionally, and sells her work in several area yarn shops and galleries. She lives in Little River with her 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 angora rabbits.
Karen Dietrich
Katelyn Dunn
Jolie Elder
Jolie has explored a wide range of needle arts after learning to cross stitch at age four. Her cleverest unvention is a method for working stockinette-based laces reversibly. She has served on the boards of various guilds; published in PLY, Spin-Off, and Cast On; and taught at major festivals. You can view her experiments at jolieaelder.blogspot.com and YouTube channel “Jolie knits.â€
Brigitte Elliott
Brigitte Elliott has always been excited by beauty whether in nature or in creative arts. During her lifetime, Brigitte’s interests after learning to knit at age nine, included a variety of needle arts. In 2007, she acquired alpacas that led her to pick up knitting again and teaching.
Skacel Collection, Inc. contacted Brigitte to introduce an intriguing form of short row knitting that she learned in Germany from fiber artist and entrepreneur, Gabriele Kluge of Strickrausch. Soon there will be an affiliation with Ms Kluge also. The trademarked name, Swing-Knitting® made its debut at The National Needlearts Association (TNNA) in 2011. Ever since then, TNNA, Stitches events, yarn shops and industry manufacturers continue to ask Brigitte to teach and design for them.
Meg Evatt
Meg Evatt started knitting when she was 17 years old. She checked a book out of the library and taught herself through trial and error. After retiring, she has studied and honed her knitting skills and knowledge. Meg began teaching knitting classes in the Upstate area to help other knitters learn new techniques, new stitches, increase knitting skills and troubleshoot knitting problems. Meg expanded her fiber skills to include dry needle felting, Dorset button construction, and even how to avoid injury while crafting using good ergonomics techniques. Meg teaches classes at local retreats and Palmetto Yarn Shoppe in Campobello, SC.
Chelsea Fehskens
Chelsea has learned about the fiber world from farm to yarn living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Raising Finnsheep, learning to shear and self taught processing, dying and spinning wool opened the world of fiber. When she is not chasing three kids she can be found teaching, sewing project bags and processing wool.
Nichole Gaillard
Jean Glass
Jean Elizabeth Glass has been playing with beads and fiber in one way or another for 30 years. She loves to share her passion with anyone who is interested and has generously shared her knowledge during demonstrations and teaching classes at SAFF, the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, Stitches, The Fiber Festival of New England, DFW, and many other shows.
Jean Elizabeth Glass
Jean Elizabeth Glass has been knitting for longer than she cares to admit. She was brought to knitting by friends who told her that she could knit with beads thus marrying two wonderful crafts and making her smile.
She has taught at the Vogue Knitting Live, DFW, PGH Knit & Crochet Festival as well as at the Southern Animal Fiber Festival, and the Fiber Festival of New England.
Tom Godleski
Tom Godleski has been carving wood spirit faces for the past thirty years or so. As well as being a wood carver, Tom is also the lead singer, bass player, and primary song writer for the Asheville bluegrass group, “Buncombe Turnpike.” Tom has also written four plays. His play, “Fresh Preserves,” won the 2009, “Scriptfest,” playwright competition at The Southern Appalachian Repertory Theater at Mars Hill University. Tom’s other interest are, storytelling, gardening, woodworking, landscaping, and rock masonry. Tom and his high school sweetheart, Terri, live on the property where Tom grew up in the Emma community of Buncombe County. They have two grown sons, Taylor, and Bryan. Tom and Terri have ten Shetland sheep, four alpacas, seven dogs, five cats, three angora rabbits, and one donkey.
Eileen Hallman
has been spinning cotton on the charkha since 1985, weaving with it since 1986, and has been teaching since 1998. As a cotton enthusiast, she also dyes it with natural dyes. Her specialty is indigo; she has been growing and researching the use of the fresh leaves for non-vat dyeing since 2006.
In 2018 she began marbling with the intent to use natural dyes. She has developed natural dye inks for use in marbling, starting with tannins as both mordant and dye.
Cynthia D. Haney
Cynthia Dianne Haney, a spindle maker, is passionate about teaching people how to spin. She designs spindles and turns them on the lathe to aid students with high quality performance. Enabling students to make the yarn they want with a spindle. Teaching beginner spinners, of all ages and abilities, since 2011. From individual lessons to specialized group classes at guilds, Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair, Maryland Sheep and Wool, and the MidAtlantic Fiber Association. A Virginia native her woodshop and Cynthia Wood Spinner business is in Nelson County. More information and social contacts on CynthiaWoodSpinner.com
Cody Hecker
Karin Hedberg
My grandmother was the first person to introduce me to needlework. Since then I've been a lifelong crafter and have enjoyed doing and trying all kinds of needlework. I picked up punch needle embroidery a few years ago and have loved doing it and teaching it. The projects are usually small and very easy to finish, and you can add your own variation and flourish to any project. I especially love inspiring young people to get into crafting and making.
Cecilia Ho
Cecilia Ho of Greenville, SC, was born into a family of designers in Hong Kong. During her last residence in Nova Scotia, Canada, the local sheep farms influenced her passion and direction into felting and fiber arts. Since 2013, Cecilia relocated to South Carolina and has taught thousands of students through one-one-one private & group felting workshops. Currently, Cecilia is a SC Certified Teaching Artist running full-time fiber arts integration programs for k4-8th in the Greenville County School District & senior adults at OLLI Furman University. Throughout the year, Cecilia acts as fiber art instructor at Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Spartanburg Art Museum, Fiberworld Virtual Festival, & many regional communities. She often holds felting demonstrations at museum, gallery & festival (ie High Museum of Art, Smithsonian affiliations museums, Artisphere) across the United States & Canada. Cecilia has taken part in multiple juried contemporary & fine art exhibitions, as well as fashion shows. FELTasticFashion is the business created in 2011 which Cecilia designs & packages all-inclusive felting DIY kits as well as official retailers for Ashford NZ & Clover felting supplies. Daily inspirations can be found on Instagram FELTasticFashion. Workshop calendar, project kits & felting supplies available from www.FELTasticFashion.com
Pat Holbrook
My first introduction to basket weaving came about 25+ years ago when I signed up for a class being taught by a friend. After that class, basket weaving was added to my list of hobbies. Soon I exhausted my friends and family with gifts of baskets and began participating in area juried craft shows and festivals, coming to understand that there are many who love and appreciate things made by hand. Fortunately, I have had opportunities to demonstrate weaving at the WNC Mountain State Fair, The Cradle of Forestry and also to assist with teaching a workshop at the SAFF Animal Fiber Fair. Recently I was invited to show my creations at the Northwest Trading Post on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Weaving functional baskets is my primary focus – useful and artistic, they are made from natural and dyed rattan, woven into several shapes and sizes, with accents of color. It is a pleasure to share my knowledge of basketry.
Ruth Howe
Needle and thread in hand since age five, Ruth's fascination with all things fiber from a young age included sewing, knitting and crochet. In her late 20's, a curiosity about how cloth was made lead to an orphan loom that needed a home plus a one-week weaving class in 1974 fueled her passion for weaving.� This passion for weaving includes weaving on floor looms, Inkle looms and Rigid Heddle looms. .�
Jules Huntsberger
Jules Huntsberger is a visual artist whose work spans many mediums, including printmaking, tapestry weaving, quilting, fibers, and textiles. Jules grew up in Maine, spent 13 years in Chicago, then in 2013 she relocated to western North Carolina. With over thirty years of knitting experience, Jules offers knitting classes, workshops, and private instruction. Learn more at www.julesmakesit.com
Susannah Johnson
Susannah Johnson has been spinning for over 30 years, and teaching whenever she can get somebody to sit still long enough. She weaves, spins, hand-combs, dyes with natural and commercial dyes, and enjoys being a sheep midwife. She owns BellaLuna Sheep & Wool Co., a flock of BFL, Finn, Merino crosses and East Friesian. Milking sheep gives one-on-one time with the ewes, cheese, yogurt, and super-moisturizing sheep milk soap!
Tammy Jordan
Tammy is a fourth-generation fiber artist who enjoys sharing her passion with everyone she meets. She has a fiber-arts business, Goldieknots Montana, specializing in Montana-grown wool, yarn, spinning fiber, and Made in Montana gift items. Prior to moving to Montana, she lived in Southern California and the Pocono Mountains where she was a former Humane Education specialist for the SPCA. Her teaching style is fun, creative, and interactive. When she’s not on the road teaching or in her studio creating, spinning, knitting, or felting, you can find her spending time with her dogs, sheep, horse, and other barnyard critters.
Jessica Kaufman
Jessica has her Masters degree in Crafts Education, and has been leading hands-on arts programming at schools, summer camps, and workshops for 16 years. In 2016 she opened WAXON Batik & Dye Studio LLC, an open batik & tie-dye studio in West Asheville. Jessica continues to teach traditional and contemporary crafts skills around the region, with a focus on textiles & fiber arts. Her patience, kindness, and love for teaching guide her classes to success.
Elaina Kenyon
Elaina is shepherdess and Avillion Farm in Efland, NC. The farm is a diversified fiber enterprise - home to German and French angora rabbits, Angora goats, Shetland and Jacob sheep and Suri alpaca. The rabbits and their fiber were her first fiber love, starting in 1993, and is still her favorite fiber to spin and blend with other fibers.
Galina Khmeleva
Owner of Skaska Designs and author of Gossamer Webs: The History and Techniques of Orenburg Lace Shawls and Gossamer Webs: The Design Collection, Galina is a respected and knowledgeable lace knitting instructor. A former clothing and costume designer who worked with the aristocracy of St. Petersburg, Russia's music and theater society, Galina was a pioneer in breaking down barriers in the new Russia that allowed Russian women to own private companies. As the principal student to Orenburgs lace knitting elite, Galina brings the classic style and traditional knitting techniques of Russian lace to her classes. Her unique, inspiring and fun-loving teaching style has made her the guru of lace enthusiasts across the US.
Tara Kiley-Rothwell
Tara Kiley-Rothwell,weaver and fiber artist, is the owner of kite tales weaving SAORI arts studio in Mechanicsburg, PA. She encourages students to step outside of their comfort zone and experience the joy of free-flowing creativity.
Tara began weaving in 2013 with studies in traditional and SAORI weaving, spinning followed shortly thereafter. Tara is a guest teacher at Red Stone Glen Fiber Arts Center, conducts workshops for art educators and artist in residence programs in local schools, and presents and teaches at guilds and workshops across the US. She is a cross stitcher, knitter, spinner, dyer and sheep to shawl team member. She is a past president of the Central Pennsylvania Guild of Handweavers and a member of the Lancaster Spinners and Weavers Guild.
Barry Klein
Trendsetter Group owner/designer Barry Klein has been knitting for 50 years. He started by working in his family's knitting store, where all patterns were designed for the knitter's body. For the past 35 years he has worked as an industry teacher, doing knitting classes all over the world on land and sea.
Barry has designed knitwear for magazines, television shows, ice skaters, and movie stars; authored 5 knitting books; and worked as a spokesman on Knitting Daily and other television knitting shows. He loves to share his love of yarn and everything that can be done with it. Barry has been voted one of the Top 10 Men who Knit/Design throughout history.
Learn why 'Let the yarn do the work' is Barry's favorite motto.
For more about Barry, go to trendsetteryarns.com
Melanie Koenig
Melanie has been enamored with all things fiber since her grandmother taught her to knit and crochet when she was five or six years old. She has spent a lifetime delving deeply into every fiber art you can imagine. She has even travelled to Peru and Bolivia to study knitting and to Mexico and Guatemala to study Mayan backstrap weaving and embroidery. She began teaching and sharing her vast knowledge with others over thirty years ago and has a reputation for being a patient, fun, motivating teacher who is really good at making complex things easy to understand.
Lisa Lamb
I'm a self taught knitter that's only been knitting for about 20 years... But a life long crafter. My Grandma taught me to crochet when I was 4 and I've spent my free time since learning and experiencing different crafts. A few years ago I was asked to teach a class, Ok what topic did they want.. Knitting on Fabric. So I started researching there isn't anything for knitting onto Fabric but ton's on how to crochet. After some trial and error I've figured out some base stitches and a few patterns to spark the imagination.
Claudia Lampley
Claudia started rug hooking in 2000 and began teaching in 2005. She is a certified McGown instructor, a member of the Tarheel Ruggers and the Merrie Mountain Hookers guilds and a juried member at Dogwood Crafters in Dillsboro, N.C. She has tried many other needlecrafts, but rug hooking has become her passion. She loves seeing a simple drawing come to life as it is hooked.
Nancie McCraw
Nancie has been immersed in fiber since she was a child. She has tried just about everything, but once she learned to spin, she knew that would always be her first love. She has a background in computer programming and electronic engineering and she brings this affinity for the technical to her spinning. She not only knows how, but she knows why. Lynn Vogel, one of her spinning teachers, remarked that it was such a pleasure to have a “thinking spinner†in her class. Nancie has taught beginning to intermediate spinning students at several festivals and events in the southeast, at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY, and at community colleges in western NC.
Grace McFetters
Grace McFetters has studied various fiber arts since 2013, starting with knitting. She began to explore weaving in early 2017. Grace established her fiber studio, Transcend Fiber Studio, in 2018, and formalized her fiber business in early 2020. She has taught Ukrainian Easter Eggs since 2011, and began teaching fiber arts, including knitting, weaving, hand spinning, and dyeing since 2018. As Grace grows as an artist and continues learning new techniques, she continues to add to her teaching repertoire.
Pat Murray
Became interested in RugHooking while in the antique business in 1995. Involved in the fiber arts since 1997. Enjoy all aspects of the art from pattern to choosing colors to make patterns come alive.
Member of Tarheels Ruggers, Merry Mountain Guild. While a member of Shockley Slip of Virginia was chairman of their fiber auction which raised funds to further the education of all fiber Arts. Taught workshops this year. Am a Certified McGown rug Hooking teacher.
Phyllis Narus
Phyllis has been weaving since 1996 and instructing since 2000. She is the proud owner of R&M Yarns (since 2005) in Georgetown, TN. She enjoys teaching "beginning & beyond" weaving workshops at the R&M Yarns Fiber Art Studio throughout the year. She loves the enthusiasm and personal satisfaction on the faces of the students when they finish their first weaving projects!
Justin Near
Justin Near is a Nashville fiber artist and homeschooler who has a passion for sustainability and supporting local and regional communities and economies. Growing up, Justin was surrounded by crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and sewing, and dabbled in many of those as well as closely related fiber arts. As an adult, not long after beginning their homeschool journey, a door into the fiber world was reopened at a young child's birthday party where wool and spindles were the theme. Fast forward, and Justin is now knee-deep in the fiber community, teaching at fiber festivals, writing about fiber, and developing a soon-to-be regional fiber business. In her day job, Justin builds, manages, and supports websites and has a strong love for learning new technology. This carries into the fiber arts world, which is very closely related to the sciences - dyeing and chemistry, spinning and physics, design and engineering, and weaving and programming - so Justin feels quite at home here and hopes to pass on that love and passion to as many people as possible so that they, too, can experience the magic and beauty of working with raw, natural materials.
Bex Oliger
Bex grew up in her mother's (Carol Leigh Brack-Kaiser, author of Continuous Strand Weaving Method and Nature Provides Dyes for Rainbows) weaving and dyeing studio. She has been weaving, spinning, natural dyeing, and knitting for over 35 years. Bex is currently a knitwear designer and owner of Hillcreek Yarn & Fiber in Columbia, MO. She and her husband travel to fIber festivals across the country to vend and teach knitting, natural dyeing, and weaving.
Martha Owen
Martha began her adventure in spinning at the John C. Campbell Folk School, in Brasstown, North Carolina in 1978. Since 1980 her extended family has included sheep and angora rabbits. Also a banjo player and known to tell a story or two, Martha's interest in sheep and wool, music and dance, have carried her quite literally and joyfully around the world. Some say she is a wool nerd but her sheep say she is outstanding in her field! Martha is a member of the Southern Highlands Craft Guild since 1988, is currently a Resident Artist at the John C. Campbell Folk School (folkschool.org) andis proud that she won the Local Cloth fashion show 2016 for "best use of local products" for her piece: North Carolina Fair Isle
Pat Pawlowicz
Take fluffy wool and a special needle and you can create magic! There is nothing I love more than sharing my passion for this awesome art form whether I am teaching, writing books, demonstrating, or making art.
I teach classes and workshops all over the country and in Europe, at major fiber festivals, bead shows, shops, and for guilds and private groups. My classes are fun and informative, tools and materials are always provided, and written and illustrated take-home instructions are included. Students leave with I did it! attitude and continue to create at home.
Safety and correct use of tools is covered in every class. I am always available for questions and support for students!
Thank ewe for your time
Sallie Pollock
Being a needle worker at heart, I always wanted to learn to tat. I tried and tried from books, but could not get the "flip"!!! While still teaching 8th grade English, I came across a newspaper article about a nearby group of tatters. Needless to say, I became a part of that group and they taught me a lot about tatting. Our group name is the Southern Belles Tatting & Needlework Society and we have fun all year long. We decorate Christmas trees in old mansions for the county Christmas tours. We attend workshops and have our own workshops . We teach tatting all year everywhere!!! In addition to the tatting, I love to work filet crochet. I enjoy creating my own patterns and crocheting them. I have a beautiful family- my husband/best friend, takes me everywhere I need to be to teach. Our daughter is a Family Nurse Practitioner who adores her job and owns her clinic. Then there is me, retired from education for about 15 years, I enjoy spinning, knitting, crocheting, rug hooking, embroidery, dying threads, but I especially LOVE tatting and thread crocheting Last but not least by any means is Tuck, my precious French Bulldog who is that one dog of a lifetime. His breed came about largely in part due to needle workers and lace makers. Come take a tatting class and see just how easy this old art is and how you can make it new again! Filet crochet is so simple to do and designing your own piece is so rewarding. Once you try it you will be hooked!
Denise Prince
Denise Prince's lifelong interest in fiber arts took her on a journey through many of handicrafts of the genre. When she found SAORI weaving she knew she had found her way home.
Her journey with SAORI Weaving has brought her a new outlook on life and art, and she is eager to share her love of SAORI weaving you. In her home studio in Peachtree City, GA, Denise teaches weaving, holds fiber related workshops, and hosts SAORI-kai: a time for sharing your SAORI journey with other SAORI travelers.
Denise has visited Japan five times to study with Kenzo Jo, son of the founder of SAORI Weaving and President of SAORI Japan, and his teachers at SAORInoMori. Her time there has increased both her love and understanding of SAORI. She looks forward to a time when she can again travel to Japan.
Amanda Sadowski
Amanda Sadowski is a Certified Wool Classer, Licensed Judge for the Pygora Breeders Association (PBA), Chair of the Fiber Committee for the PBA, Award Winning Hand spinner, Level 1 Master Spinner, Clinical Research Coordinator, Statistician, and Instructor. She has been instrumental in advancing the Pygora breed through her research efforts on fiber quality, production, and management which helped her obtain the first Permanent Grand Champion Pygora Buck and Doe for fleece in the history of the breed. Amanda has been a fiber artist for the majority of her life, but it wasn't until she was in a bad car accident and told she would never walk again, that she was led to raise Angora rabbits, Pygora goats, and Merino sheep with her family on their farm in Northwest, Indiana, called Labor of Love Farm. Her experience in raising, processing by hand, blending, spinning, and creating products has given her a unique perspective on what is desirable in a fleece, what preparation is best for specific types of yarn, and their intended end-use. Her experiences with teaching, mentoring, and judging gives her the greatest joy which is not only to impart knowledge, but to kindle enthusiasm in fiber animals, fiber production, and fiber arts.
*By the Grace of God, Amanda is walking again today.
To learn more visit www.laboroflovefarm.com
Candee Saint
Amy Shelton
Instructor Amy Shelton is a fiber artist, instructor, and crochet designer. For the last six years, she has owned SPARKLE Studio, a working and teaching fiber arts studio located at Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment in Huntsville, AL. She is an expert crocheter who has been crocheting since the age of 9. Over the years, she has added fiber processing, spinning, weaving, knitting, felting, sewing, and embroidery to her fiber arts repertoire. She served on the Crochet Guild of America board of directors for four years and as president for two years.
Hannah Smith
Amy Snell
Amy Snell is a knitter, instructor, and designer with an eye for the unusual or unusually captivating. Her designs focus on color, contrast, and texture, often exploring unique stitch patterns and clever construction in ways that are interesting but accessible.
Amy loves to help other knitters explore new techniques and expand the way they think about their knitting. Her goal is to make complex concepts approachable for all knitters, while sharing tips that improve your process whether you’ve been knitting for several weeks or several decades. Amy teaches at national events such as Vogue Knitting Live, Fiberworld, and Rhinebeck, and frequently shares tips and tricks on her website, www.DeviousKnitter.com.
Heather Storta
Heather is a TKGA-certified Master Knitter,Tech Editor, and Knitting Instructor. She is the VP of Education on the board of TKGA, a Co-Chair Emeritus on the TKGA Master Hand Knitting committee, an instructor of the TKGA Professional Knitting certification course, the Editor of the TKGA K2TOG newsletter, and a member of the Cast On Editorial Review Board. She has been designing knitwear and teaching knitting for over 10 years. Her designs have been published in Cast On magazine and Knitscene, as well as Knitty and elsewhere. Heather can be found online at www.heatherstorta.com and as heatherstorta on Ravelry, Instagram, and Facebook.
Heidi Sunday
Lifelong crafter, numbers nerd and former yarn shop owner from Mobile, AL I love to Knit, Crochet and Tat, Weave.
Michele Tway
Growing up, Michele Tway was surrounded by fiber artists. She's the fourth generation in her family to wield a crochet hook, The third to embroider and sew; the second to bead and quilt. The ladies were master technicians. Her grandfather rarely worked from a pattern, preferring to create his own. Their work was primarily framed or worn. Michele has always preferred to create stuffed and sculptural designs. After an extended detour, where she earned a master's degree, wrote computer code, developed software training manuals and conducted corporate training; she gave herself permission to pursue her own dreams of playing with yarn all day and making things with her crochet hook. She is a member of The Southern Highland Craft Guild and known for her mixed media and crochet bird sculptures. Michele is always eager to share her love of crochet and began formally teaching crochet classes in 2019.
Beverly Van Hook
Jennifer VanSant
Jennifer and Melissa VanSant
Having grown up with entrepreneurial parents, running a cottage industry business of making large fabric kites, sisters Jennifer and Melissa VanSant learned about all aspects of creating and selling a handmade product from a young age. As children they attended a Waldorf school, with a heavy focus on fine arts and creative expression. Jennifer went on to study education at Lesley College, and Melissa started and ran an organic coffee shop and vegetarian cafe. Both returned with their respective families to Great Barrington Massachusetts in order to live close to family, and decided to join forces and opened Off the Beaded Path, a bead and craft store in 2005. More than a decade ago their lifelong love of fibers and fiber craft led them into the world of needle felting. They began needle felting gnomes and their woodland friends. Customers in the store were constantly asking: “How do you make them?†“What is needle felting?†This prompted the sisters to begin teaching felting classes and producing their own felting kits to allow people to start creating their own villages of gnomes, and to take a stab at needle felting. They have spent the years since teaching workshops all over the country, have been invited to create art pieces for Vogue Knitting Live (in both Seattle, WA and New York, NY), and have made instructional videos with Interweave press. Jennifer and Melissa are regular teachers both at Vogue Knitting Live NYC and the NY Sheep and Wool Festival – two of the largest knitting/fiber shows in the country, offering workshops with the top teachers in the industry. Their business has grown to include retail trade shows, wholesale kit sales, and endless creative opportunity to make their tiny wooly friends. Jennifer and Melissa take each step in this amazing business with gratitude that people far and wide are embracing their artwork and vision of this gentle, though sometimes scary place called, Going Gnome.
Peyton Waggener
I began my journey as a knitter and I have blossomed. The kind of art I practice ranges from useful to whimsical. I strive to elevate the humble. Delicate nuno felted silk scarves and garments, practical hand-dyed and handwoven rugs, unique hand-beaded and felted jewelry, elegant handspun shawls, and fantastical needle felts are all outlets for my creative inspiration. Unexpected elegance and luxury attract people to my art.
Jennifer Williams
Jennifer Williams is a passionate inkle band weaver. She has been a fiber enthusiast since childhood, however, when she was introduced to inkle weaving in 2012, she found her calling.
In 2021, Jennifer embarked on a yearlong daily practice of band weaving. Her @DailyBandPractice project explored the design possibilities of horizontal stripe pick-up techniques on an inkle loom. Inspired to commit time every day, even if for only 15 minutes to her weaving practice, she wove one motif a day. The result was 12 inkle bands, 365 unique motifs, and a happy creative spirit.
Jennifer is dedicated to sharing the art of inkle weaving as broadly as possible. In addition to teaching at conferences and to guilds, her band weaving projects have been published in Handwoven Magazines Easy Weaving with Little Looms, and she shares creative inkle band projects and information on her blog: www.inkledpink.com.
Susan Willsrud
Julie Wilson
Julie Wilson and her family own a farm in Fines Creek, North Carolina. In 1990, two sheep came to the Wilson family. Since then, Jehovah Raah Farm has grown to Shetland sheep, alpacas, llamas, Angora goats, Angora Rabbits, and Scottish Highland cattle. Julie has been spinning since 1990, and has retired from teaching high school Special Education for over 30 years. Julie has been with SAFF since its beginnings in Winston-Salem and has taught the spinning class since instruction was offered. Satisfaction guaranteed by Julie.
Q Wirtz
Liza Q. Wirtz, better known as Q, teaches freestyle weaving in the SAORI tradition, art-batt carding on Strauch carders, and exploratory spinning on her herd of wheels through her fiber-arts business, the Foldout Cat, based at her home studio in the Huntsville, Alabama area. She has taught and vended at multiple fiber events in Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia. Q has been weaving and sewing in the SAORI tradition for several years, and she spins and cards with the same philosophy: create from your heart and put beauty into the world! When she’s not teaching or creating, Q bakes and sings (separately) for pleasure and occasionally practices estate-planning law. Find her as FoldoutCat on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest or on her website, foldoutcat.com.
Regina Yurkonis
I have been a fiber artist since 2006. Expressing ideas with animal and plant fibers quickly led to teaching others these wonderfully creative arts.
I began teaching both wet and needle-felting to local scout, school and adult groups in 2008.
Began teaching at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival in Australia from 2010 through 2012. Returned to teach there again, in 2016.
Taught 3-D animal sculpture at the Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck, NY in 2018.
Began teaching ribbon embroidery in 2020 and continue at present, outdoors and with small physically distanced groups.