Our Story

Dappled Fern Fibers began in 2020 when founders Dorothy Broomall and Mary Ellen Ashcroft dreamed up the idea while knitting on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters and reflecting on our collective hunger for fiber and connection during the early months of the pandemic.

The shop's name comes from the poem Pied Beauty by Gerard Manly Hopkins, which celebrated dappled things that are "swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim"; things that are light and dark, both / and, ever-changing - much like life. 

Our online store opened in November 2020, and our brick and mortar opened in downtown Grand Marais in July 2021 with support from a wonderful team of volunteers who helped assemble shelves, put together kits, and cover shifts behind the counter. Over the years we've served locals and visitors, offering high quality fiber supplies and a soft landing place on the North Shore.

In December 2025, Dorothy launched Wandering Fern Retreats to focus on her passion for facilitating gatherings, and handed Dappled Fern Fibers over to long-time employee, Kristin Lindholm.

Kristin first visited Dappled Fern on the day she moved to town, which was serendipitously opening day! She quickly found a home at the shop hosting weekly fiber circles and working summers.  And now, Kristin will nurture the next phase of Dappled Fern's joyous unfurling!

We strive to:

• Create community-focused space to nurture connection and empower creativity on Minnesota’s North Shore.

• Offer a reliable, welcoming source for high-quality fiber and supplies.

• Lift up local designers, artists, fiber sheds, and woman- and BIPOC-owned companies.

• Celebrate and protect Lake Superior, the Boreal Forest, and the BWCAW.

• Craft with the seasons through the liturgical calendar and wheel of the year.

• Create an intergenerational space where LGTBQ+ folx belong, black lives matter, and size inclusivity is standard.

• Seek opportunities to support the amazing fiber folks, community, artists, groups, and organizations in the area.

• Contribute to a vibrant, diversified, and resilient arts and culture economy on the North Shore.

We envision:

An inclusive North Shore fiber community that welcomes, supports, and respects people of all ages, sizes, races, genders and gender expressions, crafts, and skill level. A downtown where locals and tourists gather and belong. A resilient, diversified local economy that adapts through the ups and downs of an uncertain climate future. A creative local community that thrives along with a tourists-based arts and culture economy..

Our Team:

Learn more about the people who make Dappled Fern such a special place!