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Our Story

We dreamed up Dappled Fern Fibers while knitting on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and reflecting on our community's hunger for fiber and connection during the pandemic.

With encouragement and support from many dear friends, our online shop and virtual events launched in November 2020 and we opened our brick-and-mortar space in downtown Grand Marais in July 2021!

We hope that Dappled Fern empowers you to make and create, gather and be on the beautiful North Shore of Lake Superior.

At Dappled Fern we:

  • 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, Boreal Forest, and BWCAW.

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

  • Know that black lives matter, LGTBQ+ folx belong, body positivity and size inclusivity make a difference, we are on native lands, and we have work to do.

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

  • Believe in community over competition.

  • 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. Local community that thrives as the tourists-based arts and culture economy grows.

How we’ll get there:

Phase 1: December 2020. Online shop - Yarn and kits for sale in time for the holidays. Online Solstice Knit Along and Makers Circle. Virtual community gatherings. Newsletter spotlighting patterns and artists we love!

Phase 2 (we are here!): 2021. Shop opens doors in a brick and mortar building! Expand to serve 2 or 3 other fiber arts. Needles and notions lending library. Fiber Circles and Knit A-Longs. Knitting retreats. Online store shipping.

Phase 3: 2022-3. Shop expanded to support even more fiber arts! Indoor and outdoor community gathering space. Reservable work space, loom, and spinning wheels. Workshops. BWCAW and North Shore Retreats.

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