Instructors

2026 INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Special thanks and appreciation go out to our wonderful instructors for 2026 Fiber-U who are joining us from 7 different states in the Midwest. This event would not be possible without them graciously sharing their talents and knowledge with all of us. So that you may get to know them a little better, below please find a short bio on each.

DeAnna Amos (Gravois Mills, MO) DeAnna Amos is a fiber artist and longtime spinner and weaver.  She loves to share her experience and knowledge with students of all ages.  She makes handwoven garments from a variety of fiber and loves to spin and weave.

Rhonda Berman (Omaha, NE) Rhonda is primarily a fiber and mixed media artist. She started designing with zippers and needle felting about 6 years ago and since has written two books on the topic as well as designing many broach patterns and framed pieces. Rhonda has taught at many fiber fairs across the Midwest. She has also held workshops in her home and various yarn ships in NE and IA. She loves sharing her passion for experimentation with others and watching the spark of creativity light up someone’s face.

Fred Brown (Downing, MO)  Fred is co-owner of Fancy Kitty Fiber Products.  He builds their carders, wool pickers and tumblers.

Yvonne Brown (Downing, MO)  Yvonne and her husband Fred own Fancy Kitty Products since 2017.  Yvonne has been learning how to use their products herself so that she can better help their customers in techniques that will help provide the customer with the best experience.  Yvonne also enjoys needle felting in her free time.

Roiana Buckmaster (Mt. Pleasant, TN) Roiana lives in TN working a small sheep farm with her husband. Roiana has been teaching for 8 years, both at festivals across the south and at the farm shop. She attributes her skills to Grandma Irene, and promised to teach others.

Sara Campbell (Strafford, MO)  Sara is a fiber artist who fell in love at first sight with wool appliqué and rug hooking.  She enjoys stitching, dyeing wool, teaching others, and creating.  Sara is a member of the Ozark Mountain Rugh Hooking Guild and owns Finch Holler Woolens in Strafford, MO

Joi Chupp  (Stella, MO)  Joi got hooked on Kumihimo the first time she tried it, but as often happens, it took a while to actually love the process.  Now she almost always is working on a project.  Her Great Danes even have Kumihimo leashes.

Beth Collier (Charlotte, TN)  Beth has been spinning felting for almost 20 years.  She and her husband Steve own Three Creeks Farm, a small family farm in Charlotte, TN where they have sheep, goats and a variety of other animals.  They also sell their fleeces, roving and spinning related products.  Beth dies a variety of fiber arts including dyeing, felting, spinning and just a tad of weaving.  When not spinning or felting she enjoys her grandchildren.

Meagan Condon (Gladstone, MO) Meagan is a librarian and fiber artist with extensive experience. Her areas of focus are microscopy of fiber, breed studies, plant fibers, natural dyes, digital community, and the science behind textiles.

Jack Cormack (Springfield, MO) Jack has been needle felting since 1995 and teaching needle felting since 1997. He is the creator and patent holder for the Needle Felter tools and the co-owner, with his wife Scarlet, of Cormack Needle Felting Tools and Supply. His favorite things to create while needle felting is anything large (purses, hats, and backpacks). He enjoys sharing the wide diversity of the application of needle felting and seeing what people create.

Scarlet Cormack (Springfield, MO) Scarlet is the co-owner of Cormack Needle Felting Tools alongside her husband, Jack. With 14 years of needle felting experience and 9 years of teaching, she has guided students in creating everything from purses and small animals to felted pictures and designs on clothing. Needle felting is more than a craft for Scarlet—it’s a joyful rhythm that helps her slow down and focus on something both creative and productive.

Jonee Davis (Wheaton, MO):  Jonee has been active in the fiber arts for many years.  She first learned to weave then took up spinning.  She is also an avid crocheter while dabbling in all the other aspects relating to fibers.  She feels that we are never too young or too old to learn new things about the world of fiber arts and loves to share whatever knowledge she has with others.  Jonee has a small hobby farm where she and her husband are the caretakers of boer goats, horses, alpacas, sheep, LGD’s and all the other livestock that come with a farm.

Charlotte Duron (Lancaster, MO)  Charlotte has been knitting for around 30 years but only really started to enjoy it about 20 years ago.  She has taught a lot of local knitting classes for homeschoolers and their parents.  She enjoys knitting sweaters, with color work and/or cables the most and can be found on her FB page4 The Little House Handmade

Jan Eitel (Topeka, KS) Jan has been crafting since she was in grade school. She started with embroidery, sewing, crochet and venturing into spinning, weaving and basketry. She just has to keep her hands busy. She lives in Topeka with her husband.

Sona Gardner (Ozark, AR).  Sona works closely with Southeast Llama Rescue and works mostly with rescued fiber. She has been working with fiber in various ways since 2013.

Lori Gose (Conway, AR)  Lori is a dedicated fiber harder.  She has been knitting for over 20 years, and obsessively spinning and playing with fiber for 15.  She was lucky enough to have a small sheep farm for a few years and loves making garments from raw wool or alpaca.

Peggy Graham ( Carlinville, IL) 
Peggy is a prolific knitter who also designs original patterns. Peggy lives in south central Illinois with her husband Mike and approximately 1000 skeins of yarn (give or take a few).  She has taught knitting classes for Lincoln Land Community College and JoAnn Fabrics, and is delighted to share her knowledge with less experienced knitters.

Carolyn Haley  (Bella Vista, AR)  Carolyn is a fiber artist obsessed with simple tools and making things with her hands.  She loves how a bit of wool and some needles can create a world of magic and fun.  Nalbinding has been a particularly engaging craft because of how simple the tool is and how endless the possibilities for creating stitches and connections are.  Do to her love of learning, she has an absolute passion for teaching others.  She is excited to connect with her students and teach them this ancient fiber craft.

Jama Kilgore (Eldridge, MO)  Jama is the shepherdess and fiber artist at Southard Farm Long Wools.  She confesses to being a fiber-holic and loves the long wool sheep breeds.  Finding different ways to use her sheep’s wool is her passion.  She tries to do it all, raise sheep, hand process their fiber, spin their wool into yarn, then create a finished product.  Over the years she has dabbled in weaving, needlework, macrame, felting and crochet.  But find fiber prep, spinning and latch hooking her favorites.

Laura Klaus (Fenton, MO)  Laura has been weaving for almost 30 years.  Laura and her husband travel around MO and IL doing historical demos.   She has been teaching for over 10 years at locations like St. Louis Community College of Continuing Ed and MO State Parks.

Jenn Lampen (Utica, KY)  Jenn is an avid knitter, knitting instructor and knitwear designer, publishing under the name Synaptic Stitches. She loves designing brioche knitting patterns that challenge you to engage your brain and create a show stopping project that will let you stand out from the crowd.  She is an advocate of fearless knitting and believes that any knitter can knit any pattern with a bit of patience and the right resources.  She loves supporting knitters in taking on new challenges and learning new skills.

Michelle Lator-Murray (Springfield, MO).  Michele is a retired art teacher and now a weaver and spinner.  She also made jewelry at all levels for over 45 years.

Erika Lindgren (Waverly, IA)  Erika is a full-time fiber artist in northeast Iowa and is the create maker behind AriBo Arts.  A lifelong educator, she enjoys sharing her passion for color, texture, and fiber in a myriad of forms.  Erika learned to knit in college and in the last decade has added spinning, carding, felting, weaving and dyeing to her repertoire.  She teaches at her guild in Iowa and at retreats around the US.  She also does frequent demonstrations on Facebook.

Kay McCoy (Sabetha, KS) Kay developed a passion for fiber arts first when she learned to macramé, knit and wheat weave as a 4-Her. That passion continued when she learned to spin, weave and rekindled her interest in knitting. Kay loves finding new ways to feed her fiber enthusiasm including teaching, creating knitwear patterns, and making and selling items she creates through “Prairie Inspiration”, her fiber arts business. She and her husband, David, live on the McCoy family farm which has been in his family since 1888.

Mary McCreery (Stark City, MO): Mary has enjoyed weaving and teaching basket weaving for over 20 years. All of her baskets are made to be used and enjoyed. There are not “wrong” baskets or weaving. Mary lives on small acreage in SW Missouri. She ahas a husband and a Corgi and 2 “rare breed” dogs. They are One of a kind. Guess that could include husbands too!

Lorry McDonald (Odessa, MO) Lorry is an avid spinner who is enrolled in the Master Spinner program at Olds College in Alberta, Canada. She is a member of several fiber Guilds and just plain loves fiber! Creating works of art with fiber is a passion of hers and includes both wet and needle felting along with spinning. She lives on a small farm with her Icelandic Sheep, Alpacas and Angora goat wethers.

Penny Moore (Sarcoxie, MO)  Penny has been raising alpacas for 16+ years and uses the alpaca fiber for many projects. She continues to take classes to learn and increase her knowledge of all things fiber related.  Penny has a farm store with alpaca products for sale with many items made by her.

Nora Neeley (Independence, MO)  Nora is a member of her local Button Club and enjoys the thrill and magic in creating. Seeing a vision come to life is so rewarding!  She has been working with fabric and fiber since she was a child and doesn’t plan on stopping.

Bex Oliger (Columbia, MO)  Bex was raised in her mother’s (Carol Leigh Brack-Kaiser) fiber arts studio and was spinning, weaving and natural dyeing in her early teens.  She developed the knitting side of the business to the point that it needed its own space, so Bex as run several incarnations of yarn shops in Columbia, MO for the last 15 years.  She has taught over 30 different class topics in weaving, dyeing, crochet and knitting and now works as a knitwear designer and instructor.  Bex is the founder and owner of Hillcreek Yarn Shoppe.

Charles Oliger (Columbia, MO)  Growing up in a yearn shop, Charles knew how to weave before he was five.  He has been traveling the country with his parents (Bex & Eric) since he was old enough to do so.  Charles has been to nearly every state from the Rockies to Appalachia.

Tammy Taylor (Odessa, MO) Tammy has always lived in a creative atmosphere where hand crafting and creating is a way of life. She has worked in many fiber/fabric mediums, but her love of strings and colorful threads brought her to a special love of Kumihimo. Always learning new techniques, she is especially happy when she is able to share her knowledge and encourage other people to learn this beautiful art of Japanese braiding.

Jennifer Watkins (Effingham, IL) Jennifer “Daizie” Watkins is a self-taught knitter, spinner and indie dyer.  A love of hand knit socks brought her into the fiber arts world 12 years ago.  Currently, Daizie is working her way through the Master Knitter Program.  Spinning fiber and dyeing them seemed the logical step in the fiber arts.  In Sept of 2011 Daizie Knits opened as an etsy shop offering a range of hand dyed yarns and fibers.

Susan Ream Wilson (Salem, MO) Susan is a professional fingerweaver who has been teaching fingwerweaving for over 30 years. She has also done extensive research into the historical and pre-historical roots of her art. Her work is in the permanent collection of 7 museums.

Clarissa Wisner (Rolla, MO)  Clarissa has been around fiber all her life.  She started sewing at a young age using the cut off sleeves of her dad’s work shirts by making Barbie dresses.  In 1992, while living on an acre, she and her husband decided to get two sheep, a black and a white one.  As most of you know, having animals is like potato chips, you can’t just have a few!  The herd soon grew to about 20 with a ram.  With the sheep she learned to spin and bought a spinning wheel.  The sheep gave way to pigs, and then alpacas in 2013.  She has since immersed herself in learning as much as she can about the alpaca fiber industry, especially the cottage fiber industry.  Knowing as much as one can about fiber will make a big difference in the final product from the fiber.