Instructor Biographies

Amberlyn Amethyst

Amberlyn has always dabbled in the fiber arts, starting with crochet as a kid. A few years ago, she fell completely down the fiber rabbit hole. So far down as to get the rabbits.

Karen Dietrich

Karen Dietrich was a pattern maker and designer for her own clothing line when she turned to fiber arts, raising alpaca and eventually opening Phoenix Fiber Mill, a natural fiber socks mill.  The family-owned business makes socks for fiber growers all over the United States and Canada. Karen teaches classes on many different fiber arts such as weaving, dyeing, blending fibers, and circular knitting as well as other related crafts.  If it has to do with fiber, Karen is there!

Anna Flowers

Hi, I’m Anna Flowers, a crochet enthusiast who discovered my passion for fiber arts in 2018. As a Spanish medical interpreter, I turned to crochet to keep my hands busy while waiting for clients. Since then, I’ve expanded my horizons by learning new stitches, reading patterns, and experimenting with different projects.

I’ve found joy in making dolls and other stuffed animals, and have even translated patterns to help other creators reach a wider audience. Crochet is more than just a hobby – it’s a part of my life that I love sharing with others. Selling my creations not only funds my hobby, but also brings joy to those who receive them. After all, the best gifts are personal!

Elizabeth Fox

Elizabeth is a knitter, crocheter, spinner, and all-around craftaholic. She regularly teaches classes and likes to challenge students to experiment with skills they didn’t know they had. She feels that all crafters can have fun learning new things and becoming more flexible in their craft. She lives in Brookings, SD, with her cat and her dog and spends her work days as a librarian.

Kelly Knispel

Kelly Knispel, a shepherd and fiber artist in South Dakota, is the owner of South Forty Yarns (fka Dakota Carding & Wool), a custom fiber mill, processing fibers into beautiful clouds for hand spinning and felting. This carded prep gives you an easy-to-draft, open preparation great for spinning a woolen or semi-worsted style yarn. Pure and simple washing, dyeing, and carding of the fibers makes hand spinning a variety of yarns a pleasure. You may follow Kelly @southfortyyarns on Instagram.

Kerry Maas

Kerry has been knitting for more than twenty years, and knitting socks for more than fifteen of them, mostly toe-up. We don’t talk about how many skeins of sock yarn she has.

Joe Manthei

Joe is co-owner of Fiskur Leather from Mora, Minnesota. He has been working with fish leather since 2011. He has been making handbound journals since 2016. Some of the leather covers have his Lunker Leather attached. These fishskins are local fish that he has tanned. He has taught wallet-making classes in several folk schools as well as fishskin tanning both online and at various venues. He is a regular substitute teacher in the Mora school district.

Jessie Nesseim

Jessie has been spinning on drop spindles for over half her life and loves adding to her collections whenever possible. Collecting various spindles to use with different fibers is a lot of fun, and learning about other spinning traditions adds to her interest in the fiber arts. Jessie enjoys dyeing fiber, weaving, knitting, and crocheting in addition to drop spindle spinning.

Heather Schmidtke

I have a small mini mill in Northern MN that produces roving and batts from my flock of Shetland cross sheep and for others. I also hand-dye luxury yarns at a discount price. My fiber adventures are constantly expanding!

Margaret Stump

Margaret Stump has been weaving on pin looms for over forty years. (Actually, it’s closer to fifty, going on sixty, but she would prefer not to admit it.) Margaret is the author of three books: Pin Loom Weaving, Pin Loom Weaving To Go, and Adorable Beasts; 30 Pin Loom Woven Animals & 4 Playscapes. She is a regular contributor to national fiber and craft magazines including Handwoven, Easy Weaving with Little Looms, Spin Off and Yarn AU, with a current total of forty-three projects/articles to her name. While Margaret has explored many styles of weaving, she has always returned to pin looms, finding that their size and ease of use made them optimum building blocks for her creative efforts. She most enjoys sharing this portable form of weaving with others and introducing the idea that weavers, like knitters and spinners, can sit in a circle and create. Margaret lives in Minnesota with her husband, Jerry. She happily shares lots of pin loom techniques, projects and videos at her website, pinloomweaving.com.

Dava Tuttle

My name sounds like day-vuh. I’ve been crafting for thirty years. My craft of choice has been crochet for many years but I also love knitting, cross stitch, and quilting to name just a few. I have two cats who are my productivity and efficiency managers…they make sure I’m neither productive nor efficient. I moved to South Dakota just this last year but I’ve called the Midwest home most of my life. I love to learn new things and I’m excited to share some of my knowledge with people looking to advance their skills.