We Love Grand Marais is an exclusive line of hand dyed yarn from Stitch Stuff Yarn found only at Dappled Fern Fibers. It celebrates beloved places in Grand Marais and I’m so excited to finally be able to share the first 8 with you!
Content: 75% Superwash Merino / 25% Nylon
Quantity: 462 yards / 100g
Weight: Fingering
Looking for Worsted weight? You an find it HERE!
#1 Beach Knitting
Holly of Stitch Stuff joined us at Beach Knitting last summer. After learning she was a dyer, we cooked up the idea for a Beach Knitting colorway while reveling in the colors of the harbor and the rocks and the vintage-style beach chairs around the circle.
#2 Drury Lane Books
In preparation for this project, I had to approach several local businesses for permission to feature them. Gwen at Drury Lane loved the idea. The Drury Lane colorway is a dreamy take on the little white house with lupin and buttercup trim that houses the book shop on the shore of East Bay.
#3 World’s Best Donuts
It’s funny how confident I feel sometimes (OMG this is a GREAT idea!) and how utterly undone I am at others when facing potential rejection and people I don’t know in spaces outside of my comfort zone. Anyone else with me here? So, yeah, I waited in line at World’s Best Donuts (lines terrify me), ordered a raised glazed, asked for Dee (who I’ve never met) and proceeded to introduce myself as “Dorothy from the Book Store”.
Mortifying.
We got the who’s who and what’s what straightened out and she was actually delighted with the idea: so now there’s a red and white and sprinkle-speckled colorway in honor of this 5-generation downtown establishment and the promise of knitting lessons when the summer tourist season ends.
#4 Java Moose Coffee
This colorway is creamy and speckled like a latte with chocolate flecks. Sarah, one of the kindest local business owners I know, was on board immediately…provided we make her an Artist’s Point Scarf in the Java Moose Colorway. Do you think it will make an appearance on one of her morning weather reports on Instagram? Make sure to follow Java Moose to see!
#5 Voyageur Brewing
Rita Lee gives the best hugs. They are the definition of bear hugs. Fierce, protective, as if she is determined to squeeze every last bit of goodness out of this precious moment of greeting. She was the first person to ask for a colorway when I shared the idea at a meeting of local business owners. We took the blue and orange of the Voyageur logo and created a colorway reminiscent of watching the sunset over the harbor from the brewery’s roof top bar. If you look closely, you’ll see the pale line where the water and sky disappear into each other on the horizon.
#6 Mother Superior
This one honors Mary Ellen. We dreamed up the idea of starting a yarn shop in Grand Marais on a canoe trip and collaborated for the first year or so. Mary Ellen was my first English professor at Kalamazoo College. She taught me the basics of group facilitation. She’s been a mentor and a mother figure. Mother Superior is what she calls Lake Superior, that wild, wide, regulating body of water that rules over the landscape and weather up here.
#7 Artist’s Point
This colorway celebrates the slim, curving peninsula that cradles East Bay. Orange for the lichen speckled rocks, teal for the water on a sunny day, green for the tangle of forest threaded with trails that lead from quiet beach to pounding surf and back again.
#8 Fall Knit Camp
At our annual Fall Knit Camp retreat, I hold the same warm space you’ve come to know at our shop...it’s just you don’t have to go home at the end of the day. Think coffee on the dock, paddling in the crisp air, a big pot of soup, knitting together in the gathering dusk. This colorway braids rich autumnal hues of orange, maroon, and green together in a skein you can take home to remember the glorious riot of colors in the Boreal Forest and the cozy fiber community at Dappled Fern.
Thanks for all your support! It’s fun to imagine this quirky, beautiful town as yarn.
We love you, Grand Marais!