Fiber Class Instructor Biographies  

Cheryl Alexander: Cher is from Coleman, Wisconsin and has been working with fibers for at least 30 years.  She is a weaver, spinner, sock knitter, quilter and rug braider.  Passing on traditional fiber techniques is very important to her.  She especially likes to teach children as they are not afraid to try anything and they are our future artists.

Kathy Barth: Kathy from Arnold’s Park, Iowa, is a spinner, weaver and knitter with over thirty years of experience.  She has taught workshops to various guilds in the Iowa and Nebraska area, taught at Midwest and Convergence, 2009 Iowa Sheep and Wool Festival and teaches individuals in her home.

DiAnn Boehm:  DiAnn of Country Dream Acres, Ames, Nebraska.  She saw a spinning demonstration while in a college textiles class and was mesmerized by it and knew that she would learn to spin some day.  Rather than learning when she was single and hand free time, she waited until she was married and a busy mom of three, before deciding the time was right.  Learning to spin didn’t come easy for her.  Because of that she loves teaching beginning spinning and sharing helpful techniques to help new spinners avoid common pitfalls.  DiAnn also enjoys teaching others to knit, crochet and have fun crafting with natural fibers.  Country Dream Acres offers beautiful Corridale sheep wool, angora rabbits and angora fiber and hand crafted items for sale.

Diane Corson:  Diane is from Ames, Iowa and teaches knitting, dyeing and a variety of other fiber-related technique classes at Rose Tree Fiber Shop in Ames.  A lifetime knitter, Diane designs patterns and has won awards for her work at local and regional shows, most recently at South Dakota’s North Country Fiber Fair where she received a Second Place Overall Best in the Finished Projects category.  Diane’s work is currently on display at Gallery 319 in Ames, IA and the South Dakota State Art Museum in Brookings, South Dakota.

Judy Crouch: Judy, from Aurora, MO, has been working with fibers for about 25 years.  She has taken numerous classes from excellent instructors.  She loves passing on what she has learned throughout the years.  She is a paramedic, mother, grandmother and great grandmother and co-owner of A Twist In Time.  She raises her own wool, which her husband shears.  She and her husband Jim live in southwest Missouri and travel to wool festivals frequently.  

Collyer Ekholm:  Collyer, from Swisher, Iowa, is a self confessed “Fiber Funkie”.  She is a self taught weaver and Japanese braider.  Her main interest has always been in using the fiber arts to make clothing.

Sue Grant:  Sue is a multimedia artist from Brookings, South Dakota.  She works primarily in digital photography and animation videography, and knits and dyes fiber for relaxation.  She has won numerous awards for her photographic work, including the Washington Post Photo Contest (2004) and the Brooking Community Cultural Center Photo Competition (several times).  This is her first collaborative project in the fiber arts field.  

Karen Guffey:  Karen is from Newton, Iowa.  She is McGown accredited as well as a director of North Central McGown Teachers’ workshop.  She teaches rug hooking to beginners as well as those more advanced.  Karen displays and sells her work at three different galleries; two in Iowa and one in Wisconsin.  She also teaches rug hooking at the Amish Welcome Center in Lamoni, Iowa.  Her other specialty is dyeing.  She has a small dye shop where she sells wool and dyes and other supplies relating to fiber arts and she gives lessons in dyeing.

Chris Hunsburger:  Chris is from Missouri and has been a fiber artist for over thirty years.  She has taken classes from many of the nationally known spinning instructors at SOAR, Convergence and Midwest Weavers.  Her favorite yarn to spin is a more free form approach to fiber.  She purchased angora goats about nine years ago and finds the mohair lends its characteristics to uniquely textured yarns.

Terry Jones:  Terry is from Pleasant Plains, Illinois.  Terry is a retired Art and Behavior Disorders Teacher.  She now raises alpacas and has a great interest in fiber.  She has taught at the Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival, Michigan Sheep and Wool, Greencastle, and Fine Art & Crafts Shows, Springfield, Illinois.  Besides pet portraits, she also constructs hats, scarves and purses from natural fibers.  Her clothing constructions are wearable art.

Darlene Megli:  Darlene lives in SW Missouri, with her sheep and dogs.  She started spinning about 20yrs ago and things just progressed from there.  Now that she is retired from her outside job, she has more time to play with the fiber arts!  Spinning, weaving, dyeing and sock machine knitting along with the sheep and fiber business is keeping her occupied.  She is co-owner of A Twist in Time with her best friend Judy Crouch.

Dan & Chiaki O’Brien:   Dan and Chiaki are from Chaska, Minnesota. Dan and Chiaki are both SAORI Leaders Committee Certificate recipients.  Chiaki worked as an instructor for the SAORI head office in Japan, and Dan is the only non-Japanese certified instructor.  They have taught at schools for artists in residence, in several community education programs for people with or without disabilities, at the Minnesota Children’s Museum, at Shepherd’s Harvest, Lake Elmo, Minnesota, at the North Country Fiber Fair, South Dakota and at art shows.  Chiaki’s woven items are sold at the Mill District Arts Gallery in downtown Minneapolis and they have a studio in their home in Chaska, Minnesota.  They are very excited introducing SAORI in Iowa for the first time!

Susan Preuss:   Susan is from Waukesha, Wisconsin.  Susan has been weaving baskets a very long time – started as a Brownie Scout.  Her weaving has taken her to many places and she has been fortunate to meet many wonderful people along the way.  Teaching is another chance to extend the craft of basketry while providing a unique finished item for everyone to take home.

Kim Specht:  Kim lives on a farm near Prairieburg, Iowa and teaches music in the Marion school district.  She raises Romney sheep and uses their wool to felt, spin and knit.  Her fleeces have won awards in five state festivals.  At these festivals she has taken classes taught by nationally known artists.  Kim enjoys combining her love of teaching and fiber arts.

Donna Story:  Donna is from Hawkeye, Iowa.  She has knitted on the Circular Sock Machine and taught others the techniques necessary to be successful CSM knitting for the past 20 years.  Donna knits socks for Indian Creek Nature Center, and various other agencies featuring Iowa Made products.  Donna invents patterns for the Sock Machine Knitting Newsletter and contributes to the publication.

Carol Wagner: Carol is from Valders, Wisconsin.  Carol, a spinner for 19 years, believes the quality of the finished product depends upon the preparation of the fibers.  Carol is a teacher of carding, dyeing and spinning at several fiber events across the Midwest. Her passion is “fibers”! She and husband Paul, raise Coopworth sheep and also operate Hidden Valley Farm & Woolen Mill, where they do custom carding and help customers with the creative process in the world of fiber!

Victoria Wickham:  Victoria is from Norwalk, Iowa.  Vicky has an accounting degree from Upper Iowa University and a MBA from Drake University in Des Moines.  She retired from Principal Financial Group in Des Moines at the end of 2008, and is working part-time and designing knitting patterns and doing lots of knitting.  She learned to knit while living with her grandparents in England and made her first adult sweater when she was 10 years old.  She enjoys designing and knitting Aran patterns and has taught knitting at several venues.  This is her third year at the Iowa Sheep & Wool Festival.  Vicky was one of the founding members of the Des Moines Knitting Guild and has held several board positions in the guild’s 18 year existence.  She has entered the Iowa State Fair knitting division for several years and has won almost 100 ribbons for her knitting.  In 2007, she was featured in Iowa Public Television for her knitting experiences at the fair.

Nova Wright:  Nova from Gerald, Missouri is a home educating mother of six and grandmother of three who has a lifelong involvement with fiber arts, weaving, spinning, dyeing, and raising sheep, angora goats, rabbits and llamas.  She has continued her studies of herbal and aromatherapy use, extensive homesteading and gardening.  She is the organizer and manager of several food cooperatives. Nova also keeps a dairy goat herd and is a cheese maker.  She is creator of Heaven Sent Home Spun fine quality soap, body care, personal and home fragrance products.

Barbara Zumdome:  Barb of Lamblane farm in Fort Madison, Iowa was raised in a sheep family and has been developing her wool flock for 32+ years.  Currently the flock of 65 ewes are mainly Blueface Leiceter and Romney crosses.  After a career in manufacturing she is enjoying selling her fleeces and making products from her wool.