Instructors for 2017 Fiber Arts Fest

Sonja Downey

Sonja caught the knitting bug early on in her childhood watching her mother, grandmother and aunt knit vigorously. There was never a TV or radio show that was not accompanied by the background noise of swift knitting needles as her mother created fashions for her and her sister and always had time to make little models too, so that their baby dolls and Barbie dolls were dressed in the same outfits as them. However, the mood strikes her, she loves to knit simple socks with self-striping yarn or sink her teeth into a complicated lace shawl pattern. Knitting for Sonja is so much more than a hobby, it is a philosophy.

Kate Larson

Kate Larson loves using fiber arts as a bridge between her passions for art and agriculture. Her fiber journey has led her to a degree in soil chemistry, travels through northern Europe in search of textile traditions, and back to the farm where her family has lived for six generations. She keeps an ever-growing flock of Border Leicester sheep and teaches handspinning and knitting regularly in central Indiana and around the country. Kate’s articles and designs have appeared in Spin-Off Magazine, Jane Austen Knits, Enchanted Knits, Knitting Sweaters from Around the World, and other publications. Her first handspinning book will be published by Interweave in the fall of 2015. She manages the Spinner’s Connection blog at spinningdaily.com and and keeps her own blog at katelarsontextiles.com

Joan Sheridan

Joan Sheridan considers fiber a playground and uncharted territory to be discovered. She spins it on her wheel, designs with it in knitting and threads it onto her looms. She has taught knitting and weaving in a variety of venues including The National Needlearts Association, Michigan Fiber Fest, Conference of Northern California Handweavers, Arnhild's Knitting Camp, on tour in Norway, and for guilds and local yarn shops. She has been published in Handwoven and Spin-Off magazines, owns Heritage Spinning & Weaving in Lake Orion, Michigan, and is a TKGA Level II Master Knitter.

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