Instructor Bios

2023 is Julie’s first year teaching fiber arts outside of Arizona. She has teaching contracts with Interweave (Interweave Milwaukee, May), Prairie City Fiber Festival (Prairie City, OR, July) and Wisconsin Sheep & Wool (Jefferson, WI, Sept). 

KAREN has been crocheting and knitting since she was 12 years old.  For 15 years she was a craft leader for her Church’s Vacation Bible School Day Camp with as many as 160 children.  Spinning and weaving have been part of her life for about 25 years.  She learned Naal binding to participate in Viking age reenactments. She has been part of the Weaver’s Guild of Kalamazoo for 22 years as well as a past president of the guild and the current Education Chair.  Nothing makes Karen more happy than teaching and showing others the skills she enjoys! KAL was a craft leader for his Church’s Vacation Bible School Day camp for 5 years. He’s been a weaver for 7 years and creates and makes potholders and weaves rugs.  He also enjoys lucet cording and needle felting.  A member of the Weavers Guild of Kalamazoo for 7 years, he is the chair of the Service Bureau and enjoys demonstrating historical fiber crafts and learning about the different things you can do with fiber.  Add beginning spinner with a working knowledge of the supported spindle to his interests. KAREN and KAL are both demonstrators for historical sites around Michigan and for the Weavers Guild Service Bureau.

Kathy started weaving baskets over 30 years ago. She has owned The Basket Sampler in Highland, MI since 2007. There are many styles of baskets that interest her, from simple pencil baskets to more complicated twill patterns. She often incorporates yarns and fibers into her baskets. She teaches all age groups from preschool to senior citizens. You can see some of her work at her website www.thebasketsampler.com

Hello, My name is Linda. I live west of Lansing on a farm with my husband and two dogs. I have been making art in one form or another since before I can remember. Wool has grabbed my attention like no other medium has.
I have been working with wool for just over 15 years. I began teaching needle felting about 12 years ago and then moved into wet felting.
I currently teach both methods in Charlotte, Olivet, and Nashville Mi.
I'm really excited to come visit and teach at the Northern Michigan Fiber Festival this fall.

Nancy owns and operates Wilder Creek Workshop. She creates hand crafted decorative and functional brooms from natural products. Beauty and craftsmanship go hand in hand. She also makes wood and crocheted items. She was a vendor at the 2022 Kerstmarkt in Holland, MI. This is her 2nd year instructing a festival class.

Pegg Thomas started knitting at age 9 in her local 4-H club. She has been spinning her own yarns since the tender age of 16 after she purchased a pair of English Angora rabbits to show in 4-H. From there she switched to French Angora rabbits and then to Border Leicester sheep. Drafting and Design captured Pegg’s interest in high school and she went on to study at Lake Superior State University. However, her love with design went into a direction she never imagined. She started charting her own counted cross stitch designs. Published in numerous counted cross magazines throughout the 1980s and 1990s, when cross stitch started to slump in popularity, Pegg took her design skills and her love of knitting and started creating her own knitting patterns. Today, Pegg creates her signature wool shawls from the fibers of her own flock of sheep. With the release of each new book, one of her newsletter subscribers is chosen to win the shawl that is themed to go with the new book.

Stephanie Carrico, aka knitsabout, finds it hard to contain her knitting passion and as a result has been knitting all around the globe, and in all forms of transportation.  The majority of her knitting now takes place on a boat in Florida or at her cottage in Northern Michigan, although if you find her sitting anywhere else for long, you’re likely to find knitting in her hands.

She has had patterns published in Knitters Magazine, has self-published her designs on Ravelry, and has taught knitting workshops at the Northern Michigan Lamb and Wool Festival. A retired middle school science teacher, she enjoys sharing her passion for knitting with others.

I have resided in Grayling, Michigan for the past 30 years working for the Michigan DNR as a Forester and Natural Resource manager. I am passionate about art and nature, which is reflected in my hobbies of art quilting, fiber arts, gardening, and working with polymer clay. In 2015 I discovered polymer clay and started making buttons and embellishments for my art quilts. After retiring in 2019, I started teaching quilting, fiber art, and polymer clay classes for local quilt guilds and art organizations. I am very active with the community art organization as well as other volunteer groups. In addition to teaching, I serve on a Federal Incident Management Team which responds to wildfire and weather-related emergencies nationwide, and manage my own Etsy business “ Susan’s Buttons & More”.

Teaching Resume: I have been teaching quilting and fiber art classes for my local quilt guild and fiber guild since 2019 and served as the education director for the AuSable Quilt Guild for two years. I have been teaching polymer clay classes to children and adults for Ausable Artisan Village and other local organizations since 2020, teaching approximately 8-10 classes per year.

Tina is a fifth generation Detroiter who landed on a small farm in Howell, graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in interior design.  She is known for her unique needle felted sculptures such as a hat covered with a coral reef, and fantasy birds from 7 inches to 7 feet tall.  Tina had a booth at our festival in 2022 filled with felting wool & supplies along with other felted sculptures. She appreciates this opportunity to nurture others in the art of needle felting chickens and peas & carrots!