Rosemary Heideman

Photo by Kathy Corones

In 1988, at an age when most women plan for retirement, Rosemary Heideman went into business for herself.  On Dec. 7 she opened The Rose Tree Fiber Shop in a tiny Main Street storefront in Ames, Iowa, where she featured supplies, books and inspiration for weavers and spinners as well as knitters, basket makers and other fiber arts.  Rose Tree has moved twice – to a space on Douglas Avenue in downtown Ames, and finally to its current location at 2814 West St., near the Iowa State University campus.  In 2008 Rosemary celebrated her 80th birthday and Rose Tree’s 20th anniversary.  Both are still going strong.

Visitors to the shop benefit from Rosemary’s lifetime of experience as a knitter, spinner, weaver, dyer and fiber artist.  She teaches classes in knitting, spinning, and weaving, designs new patterns and deciphers those too complicated for others to make sense of.  Her knowledge of fact and technique is vast, and there are few fiber-related problems Rosemary can’t solve.

Rosemary Heideman was on KCCI Channel 8 for a segment on Working Women and we thought you would enjoy it as much as we have!

Diane Corson

Diane has been fascinated with fibers since she learned to knit at age 10.  She designs patterns for Rose Tree, preferring small projects like socks and bags, and teaches classes in knitting, felting and dyeing.  Diane occasionally helps out behind the counter at the shop, where she enjoys the opportunity to read all the new books that have come in. She likes working with unique and exotic fibers and blends, but her favorite yarn to knit with is still wool.  Her work is currently featured in galleries in Iowa and South Dakota.   

Michelle Eppert

Michelle, pre-knitting, must have been a soulless, empty vessel because the artistry of stitch, pattern, color, contrast, texture, fiber and fit have opened her eyes to a whole new world.  Michelle is a self-taught knitter with a relentless curiosity (an ISTJ on the Briggs-Meyers Personality Type Indicator for those who care).  When she is not knitting, reading about knitting, or dreaming about knitting, she teaches knitting classes here at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop in Ames and at other venues.  So far, this has been a healthy outlet for her compulsion. 

Michelle's favorite yarns are Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride (any color) and Aslan Trends Invernal.  The Invernal is made of 50% angora rabbit fur and, since she lives with two bunnies of her own, she is used to being covered in rabbit fur. 

If you want to know more about Michelle, her moderately insane family, her circling-the-drain career, preferred genre in books and music, or latest camping exploits, you can find her at the Rose Tree Fiber Shop most Saturdays.  You can also find her on Ravelry at:  mmeppert.

Fran Antonovitz

Fran is the editor of the Rose Tree Fiber Shop newsletter and book guru. Not only does she know which book is where in the shop she can also remember where specific patterns can be located. As a relatively newbie knitter, she has taken many of the classes offered by the Rose Tree. So if you are looking for advice about classes or yarns and notions to use in a class you are enrolled in, she is the go to person.

Some of her favorite things about working in the shop are meeting the people who come in, talking about projects and last but not least pricing the yarn...so she can see everything that comes into the shop!

Kristin Roach

Kristin picked up knitting on a whim from her boyfriend - a way to kill time between classes - little did she know that a whole new world had opened up to her! Kristin was soon spending most of her time in the fiber arts department weaving or at the local yarn shop knitting. She started CraftLeftovers.com in 2006 - a way to inspire her to keep her stash low, she was hired at the Yarn Exchange in DeKalb, IL in 2007, and was published for the first time in Craftzine in 2008! What a great life picking up those two pointy sticks has lead to.

Kristin is now teaching fiber related classes here at the Rose Tree Fiber shop and at other venues.

If you would like to know more about her day to day crafting you can visit her blog at http://krostudio.com/blog or if you'd like to friend her on Ravelry her username is KristinRoach.