Teachers

Molly Andries

What are your areas of expertise?
Crochet
Tenure in the fiber arts
25 years
Where have you taught?
Local yarn shops, DFW Fiber Fest, Crochet Texas Guild, Retreat
Online presence
Ravelry: Rocksandcrochet
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • One of the original board members of DFW Fiber Fest.
  • Organized a yarn crawl for my guild (lots of fun on the bus).
  • Organized pottery classes using crochet lace to deboss into clay.
  • Organized Camp Crochet which included Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
Molly will be teaching

Alissa Barton

What are your areas of expertise?
Knitting, crochet, spinning, tatting
Tenure in the fiber arts
49 years
Where have you taught?
Various fiber fests, events and guilds around the country as well as on knitting cruises.
Online presence
Patreon: Knitting Fairy, Ravelry: KnittingFairy, Facebook: Knitting Fairy, Twitter: @KnittingFairy, Instagram: @theknittingfairy
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I learned to drop spin using a stick and half a potato as the whorl.
  • I made my husband buy an antique table to fit the lace table cloth I knitted.
  • I am constitutionally incapable of knitting a pattern as written.
  • I drop spun on a whale watch in the North Atlantic because my nephew dared me to do it.
  • I drape my knitting over landmarks to take travel photos.
Alissa will be teaching

Lily M. Chin

What are your areas of expertise?
Knitting, crochet, machine knitting, design
Tenure in the fiber arts
Teaching since 1989
Where have you taught?
Everywhere—Stitches, Vogue Knitting Live, Chain Link, Craft Cruises, Interweave YarnFest, DFW Fiber Fest, MD Sheep & Wool, NY Sheep & Wool at Rhinebeck, etc.
Online presence
Facebook: Lily M Chin, Instagram: @lilymchin, Twitter: @LilyMChin1, Ravelry: LilyMChin, Pintrest: @lilymchinnyc
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I’m considered one of the fastest crocheters on earth.
  • I’m a huge pro-sports enthusiast—NHL, MLB, NFL, NBA.
  • Since the pandemic began, I turned into Martha Stewart & now cook and bake.
  • I have over 10 storage units in Manhattan for my stash—yes, I pay rent for my yarn!
  • I’m a very fun & funny gal.
Lily will be teaching

Jennifer Davies

What are your areas of expertise?
Jewelry making, knitting—hat construction
Tenure in the fiber arts
30ish years
Where have you taught?
LYS from Maine to Chicago to Tennessee
Online presence
Website: www.buroakstudio.com, Etsy: BurOakStudio, Facebook: Bur Oak Studio, Instagram: @buroakstudio
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I’ve taught Outdoor Education for public school children for more than 25 years.
  • My family are caretakers of 250 acres of natural area in Central Indiana; being the worst knitter in my family led me to making jewelry with the old aluminum tools.
Jennifer will be teaching

Peggy Doney

What are your areas of expertise?
Dyeing and spinning
Tenure in the fiber arts
20+ years
Where have you taught?
Pikes Peak Weavers Guild (CO), Pueblo Weavers Guild (CO), Rocky Mountain Weavers Guild (CO), Fiber Daze (MO), Missouri Fiber Retreat, Estes Park Wool Market (CO), Taos Wool Festival (NM), Copper K Fiber Fest (MT), Homestead Heritage (TX), Contemporary Handweavers of Texas, Verde Valley Spinners & Weavers Guild (AZ), PLYAway (MO)
Online presence
Website: www.the100thsheep.com, Ravelry: The100thSheep, Facebook: The 100th Sheep, Instagram: @the100thsheep
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I haven’t dyed my 2 white German Shepherd/Husky mixes yet!
  • I work out 3 to 4 times a week so I can be strong enough to dye.
  • I’ve scared people at my front door when I’m wearing my NIOSH respirator, apron, and gloves (I look like an alien bug)!
  • I’ve learned to love yellow, orange, and olive green.
  • I share my studio with carnivorous plants and haven’t been eaten yet.
Peggy will be teaching

Jolie A. Elder

What are your areas of expertise?
Reversible knitting, including versa lace
Tenure in the fiber arts
Teaching knitting about 20 years; learned cross-stitch at age 4
Where have you taught?
SAFF, Stitches South, Carolina Fiber Fest, Kanuga Knitting and Quilting Retreat, Unwind, Blue Ridge Fiber Fest, Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival, Maryland Sheep and Wool, Fiberworld, New York Sheep and Wool show (virtual)
Online presence
Blog/website: jolieaelder.blogspot.com, Ravelry: Jolie, YouTube: Jolie knits
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • 1st knitting project—adding knitted cuffs and bands to a crocheted sweater by reading Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework.
  • 2nd knitting project—reverse-engineering a commercial Aran sweater and knit it in kitchen cotton because I didn’t know any knitters to tell me not to do this and didn’t know yarn shops exist.
  • Helped write the 501(c)(3) application for Center for Knit and Crochet. The IRS readily agreed a knit and crochet museum is definitely not a for-profit venture.
Jolie will be teaching

Joyce Hazlerig

What are your areas of expertise?
Needle felting and wet felting
Tenure in the fiber arts
14 years (since 2008)
Where have you taught?
Texas Fleece and Fiber Festival, Houston Fiber Festival, DFW Fiber Fest, Juju Knits, Quixotic Fiber
Online presence
Etsy: Joyharte, YouTube: Joyce Hazlerig
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I get super animated talking about lamb tips on fleece.
  • I have an embarrassingly large collection of drop spindles.
  • Sometimes my sculptures name themselves before they are finished and start making demands on hair color and costume choices.
Joyce will be teaching

Kelly Jones

What are your areas of expertise?
Loom knitting, triangle, hexagon and square loom weaving
Tenure in the fiber arts
15 years
Where have you taught?
DFW Fiber Fest, Fiber U, continuing ed classes at a local college
Online presence
Website: www.kisslooms.com, Facebook group: Kiss Looms Knitting and Weaving Club
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I love all the fiber arts and I’m not afraid to try something new or different.
  • My business is a family business together with my parents and husband and kids.
  • I hope to have land enough for sheep or goats someday.
  • I’m learning to turn bowls on a lathe this year and really enjoying the process.
Jones will be teaching

Amy Ross Manko

What are your areas of expertise?
Rare breed sheep, spinning, knitting
Tenure in the fiber arts
About a decade
Where have you taught?
PLY Away, WI Sheep & Wool, Carolina Fiber Frolic, Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival
Online presence
Instagram: @rossfarm, Facebook: Ross Farm Fibers, Ravelry: RossFarmFibers
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I have an MBA. My previous career was CEO of a Literacy non-profit.
  • My farm was featured in the Newcastle Band of Brands, the first-ever crowd-funded commercial produced for the Super Bowl by Newcastle Brown Ale.
  • My son is 6th generation on the farm, which is a National Register Historic Landmark as The Frank L Ross Farm. Our family has been in that small area of Southwestern PA about 300 years.
Amy will be teaching

Donna McFarland

What are your areas of expertise?
Weaving and designing clothing from handwoven fabric and fabric created from pin looms.
Tenure in the fiber arts
I have been professionally involved in fiber arts for 20+ years and learning and doing since I was a teenager.
Where have you taught?
Silver Dollar City—15 years as “the Weaver,” taught daily each fall; Fiber U (Missouri), Franklin County Fiber Guild (Missouri), Weavers’ Guild of St. Louis, various knitting shops across Midwest, Weavers’ Guild of Tucson
Online presence
Ravelry: donnashandwoven, Facebook: Dewberry Ridge, Etsy: DewberryRidge, Website: www.dewberryridge.com
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I’ve been known to sit in movie theaters and knit during the movie.
  • I love to visit wineries around the country and sometimes bring my fiber-art project while sipping wine.
  • If you see me anywhere in spring or fall, I’m always wearing a handmade shawl made by me or a friend.
  • As we travel around the country in our RV, I teach other campers how to weave on the pin looms. I usually draw a crowd.
Donna will be teaching

Alla Postelnik

What are your areas of expertise?
Knitting
Tenure in the fiber arts
I learned how to knit when I was 7. I picked up the knitting needles again about 20 years ago and started discovering the joy of knitting
Where have you taught?
Local yarn shop where I taught lace knitting classes (basic lace, Orenburg lace and Estonian lace) as well as sock and entrelac classes
Online presence
Ravelry: rxalla
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I love knitting lace; I also like to combine different styles to create unique design.
  • Annie Modesitt saved my knitting (she told me that I do not knit wrong, I knit different).
  • I love gardening.
Alla will be teaching

Susan Relland

What are your areas of expertise?
I was a hand knitter and knitting teacher for years before my son designed a 3D-printed Circular Sock Machine (CSM) for me, which he ended up launching as the company Dean and Bean’s Sock Machines. I designed the company’s knitting patterns, created educational resources including a crank along video series and self-paced online course, and periodically teach live classes. My goal is to help reduce the learning curve for knitting on a CSM so those new to the craft can be cranking out awesome knits in no time!
Tenure in the fiber arts
I learned to crochet from my grandmother when I was seven years old, and began hand knitting in 2010. I’ve been knitting on a CSM since 2020.
Where have you taught?
I’ve taught many crochet and hand knitting classes through the years. On the CSM, I’ve taught group sock knitting classes over Zoom, at the Dean and Bean’s Crank In Weekend, and at Yarnatopia (a yarn shop in Oklahoma City).
Online presence
Website: www.deanandbean.com, Facebook: Dean and Bean’s Sock Machines, Instagram: @deanandbeancsm, YouTube: Dean and Bean’s Sock Machines
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I had such a large stash of sock yarn, I made my son design the Sock Machine with me while he was quarantining at home from college during Covid.
  • My sister and I knit together over FaceTime every weekend. This year we’re having Sock Sundays where we crank out a pair of socks together each Sunday afternoon.
  • I knit or crochet a Christmas tree ornament for all my family members and everyone in my knitting classes each year.
  • I crocheted costumes for our dogs and taught them to pose for photos. We have one photo with Santa, an elf, and two reindeer, and in another they’re dressed up in different house colors ready to board the train for Hogwarts.
Susan will be teaching

Lesley Anne Robinson

What are your areas of expertise?
Brioche knitting
Tenure in the fiber arts
7 years
Where have you taught?
DFW Fiber Fest, Vogue Knitting Live Virtual, Knit + Escape Virtual, Hill Country Weavers Knitting in the Hills Retreat, A Good Yarn, Fuzzy Goat, Woven Art, Do Ewe Knit?, Camp Starlight, Knotty Lamb, The Flying Needles virtual, Craftsy
Online presence
Website: knitgraffiti.com, Ravelry: Lesley Anne Robinson, Instagram: @knitgraffiti, Patreon: Knit Graffiti
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I was actually obsessed with weaving way before I became obsessed with knitting.
  • I minored in fiber arts in college.
  • I had my colors done years ago and found out that I am a Moonlit Summer.
  • The first knitting book I ever received was The New Knitting Stitch Library by Lesley Stanfield. I always loved that her first name was spelled the same as mine.
  • In my spare time when I don’t have knitting in my hands, I love to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons. My island is named Graffiti and it has a Scottish Highlands theme. Outlander-core?
Lesley will be teaching

Marilyn Romatka

What are your areas of expertise?
Teaching folk art techniques to anyone who will stand still long enough :-).
Tenure in the fiber arts
22 years
Where have you taught?
Convergence, NEWS, CNCH, ANWG, Madrona
Online presence
Website: www.taprootvideo.com, Instagram: @marilynromatka, Facebook: Marilyn Romatka and Taproot Folk Arts
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • It all started with a gift llama at Christmas.
  • My largest class (to date) was 49 students doing Pine Needle Basketry via Zoom.
  • My passion is getting traditional skills into the hands of the next generation!
Romatka will be teaching

Misty Urech

What are your areas of expertise?
Knitting, jewelry making
Tenure in the fiber arts
20+ years
Where have you taught?
DFW Fiber Fest, Yellow Rose, Kid-n-ewe
Online presence
Instagram: @mistyu
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • My mom taught me to knit while on painkillers (she broke her leg, but she will tell you it was because of teaching me)
  • I am a mom to 15-year-old quadruplet girls.
  • I make the best meatballs.
  • I can spin, knit and crochet (very badly).
  • I love love to knit cables!
Misty will be teaching

Una Walker

What are your areas of expertise?
Punch Needle Rug Hooking (and too many to list)
Tenure in the fiber arts
12 years
Where have you taught?
Stitches West and South, Black Sheep Gathering, Estes Park Wool Market, Fiber in the Forest, Oregon Flock And Fiber, Great Basin Fiber Festival, Taos Wool Festival, Prairie City Fiber Festival, Copper K Fiber Fest
Online presence
Website: woolywalkers.com, Instagram: @woolywalkers, Facebook: Wooly Walkers
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • I grew up in a craft supply store in the ’70s
  • I’ve earned my Advanced Oxford Teaching Certificate.
  • I love to sew and do upholstery.
  • I went to Shoe School.
  • I roast my own coffee beans!
Una will be teaching

Harry Wells

What are your areas of expertise?
Knitting
Tenure in the fiber arts
30 years spinning and knitting
Where have you taught?
Stitches West, Stitches Expo at Home, Interweave Yarnfest, Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, New York Sheep and Wool Festival/Rhinebeck (virtual), Madrona Fiberarts Winter Retreat, Red Alder Fiberarts Retreat, Black Sheep Gathering, John C Campbell Folk School, Fiberworld (Virtual), Madison Knitters Guild, Salt Lake Knitters Guild
Online presence
Website: www.goodforaboy.com, Ravelry: KnitteryNinja, Instagram: @harrywellsknits, Facebook: Good for a Boy Knitting
Fiber enthusiast fun facts
  • Learned how to knit around 8 yrs old from World Book Encyclopedia’s Childcraft.
  • Learned handspinning and within a year, had 20 Angora rabbits.
  • Has aspiration to become the knitting king of Argyle.
Harry will be teaching