We are always looking for teachers and suggestions for workshops. Please send information to don47linda@embarqmail.com.
Constance Hall of Marysville believes that being creative is a way of life and the fiber world is a wonderful place to explore. She loves introducing students to a new skill and seeing where it takes them in their own creative journey. Constance began her fiber experience at the age of 5 when her mother taught her to crochet. Since then her interests have expanded to include knitting, spinning, weaving, sewing and felting. She has had the opportunity to study under some very talented teachers who have given her new skills to use in her own work.
Nancy Davenport of Big Prairie, OH learned to knit from an unsuspected source. Most women pass skills down to their daughters. In Nancy’s case, the reverse is true. Her eight-year-old daughter taught her. During the years, her love for fibers progressed from knitting for herself to knitting for others and opening a yarn shop. The yarn shop is no longer open, but Nancy has another venture. She organized a weekly knitting group, which meets at the Shreve library and once a month she provides help as “The Knitting Doctor.” She has taken advanced studies in Mosaic, Bavarian, and Gansey Knitting and several lace classes. Nancy holds teaching certifications with the Craft Yarn Council of America, The Knitting Guild of America and is a member of The National Needlework Association.
Beverly Eagan of Clair Shores, Michigan is a Mom of three who works full time as an accounting manager and part time as a rep for Small and Beautiful Beads. She has 7 years experience teaching and demonstrating kumihimo in addition to enjoying jewelry design.
Martha Gifreda Once upon a time, Martha Gifreda’s mother taught her to knit in an (unsuccessful) effort to keep her quiet. Martha loves the soothing, meditative rhythms and textures of knitting, and is fascinated by its technical aspects. After 20+ years in the corporate world she retired to spend a more appropriate amount of time knitting. She is a regular at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp each summer, but was expelled from the Achtung School Knitting for spray-painting “You are the Boss of Your Knitting” across the front of the administration building.
Lyn Harris lives in Bemus Point, New York. Her felting career is a second career for her. She has been a NY licensed therapist for 30 years and taught for 25 years at a small college in Jamestown NY. She has studied felting from many of the top national and international felters and has taught at the Southeastern Animal and Fiber Fair, the New England Fiber Festival and the Woodstock Fiber Festival in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. She is the owner of Lyn Harris Designs and she has had felted pieces sold and exhibited in Chautauqua Institution, Rochester NY, Pawleys Island, SC and several western NY galleries.
Kate Larson loves using fiber arts as a bridge between her passions for art and agriculture. Her fiber journey has led her to a year of study in England, a degree in Environmental Soil Chemistry, a tour of Estonian textile traditions, and back to the farm where her family has lived for six generations. She keeps an ever-growing flock of Border Leicester sheep and teaches handspinning and knitting regularly in central Indiana and around the country. Kate has published articles and designs in Spin-Off Magazine and Jane Austen Knits and manages the Spinner’s Connection blog at SpinningDaily.com. You can find her at KateLarsonTextiles.com
Amy Lowery has owned suri alpacas for 13 years and quickly transitioned her focus from breeding and showing to fiber art and yarn processing. She travels the country to fiber shows and farms to learn about all types of protein fibers as well as to meet other fiber farmers. Her farm, studio and store are located close to Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio where she enjoys turning fiber into art.
Julie Petty Since a very young girl, I have enjoyed working with my hands. I have explored many different crafts including but not limited to sewing, quilting, drawing, painting, woodworking, decorating, and fabric art collage. I entered the world of fiber art when we began raising alpacas in 2002 beginning with spinning, then knitting, crocheting, dyeing, weaving, and felting. I love working with alpaca fiber and I always have more than one project in the works at a time. I was born in Galion, Ohio, where I graduated from high school, and then from Ashland College, where I earned a B.S. in Clothing Fashion Merchandising, minors in fine art and business. I am married with four children and four grandchildren. I feel so blessed to be doing what I do, to have the privilege of raising such beautiful animals, and the added bonus of a job that lets me be creative as I explore the many different ways to use the luxurious fiber that alpacas produce.
Tamie Simpson of Warren, Michigan is a mom of three grown children and has been a jewelry designer for 19 years. Tamie is the authorized Kazuri Dealer for Michigan and Ohio has been teaching jewelry classes and demonstrating for 7 years