Today we’d like to introduce you to Dorothy Broomall.
Hi Dorothy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Dappled Fern Fibers is a sweet little yarn shop in Grand Marais, MN. We empower creativity, weaving community, and craft with the seasons while supplying high-quality supplies and tools to fiber folks on the North Shore and beyond. My friends and I dreamed up Dappled Fern in May 2020 while knitting on a canoe trip in the Boundary Waters and reflecting on what our community longed for during the early stages of the pandemic. We launched the shop together, and I carried it forward after a year or so. Almost four years later, Dappled Fern offers a soft landing place in downtown Grand Marais. We carry a beautifully curated collection of fiber supplies, including custom hand-dyed yarns that celebrate beloved local businesses and the North Shore. But it’s not just about the yarn: Weaving community is what we’re all about. From free weekly fiber circles to Sweater Support Group, Knit Camp (our annual knitting retreat), Intro to Tapestry Weaving, to Beach Knitting, we hold space for locals and visitors alike to make, gather, and be. This year, I’m excited to expand our retreat offerings! I’m preparing to host our first mini-retreat here at the shop – a weekend of fiber crafting, good food, mindful stretching, and bodywork. Stay tuned for more opportunities to escape up North with us!
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Opening a small business at the height of the pandemic was certainly challenging! But it gave me a focus during stressful, uncertain times and offered something extraordinary to our fiber community on the North Shore and beyond.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
A friend recently told me she thinks best about knitting projects at Dappled Fern. I was so happy to hear this because it’s exactly what I want. In addition to being a yarn shop owner, I’m a life coach; I’m trained to help people feel supported and make decisions they will be happy with. Dappled Fern is set up to soothe the nervous system, welcome you into the community, and ease your decision-making process; it’s the antithesis of overwhelm, anonymity, and decision fatigue. I curate beautiful yarns with special stories and positive sustainability profiles (I’m also a Sustainability Scientist, but more on that another time), and my team and I help you find the right pattern to pair with it. We can help you check how a yarn or color makes you feel, sift through Ravelry, and ensure it’s true affection that has you itching to cast on rather than hype around a popular pattern that will later languish accusingly unfinished or unworn.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Dappled Fern exists in large part thanks to our volunteers! I’m tremendously grateful to the folks in our local community who helped me assemble all the displays and furniture for the shop when we first opened and the volunteers who staffed the shop when we opened. A hug shout out to the folks who knit our shop samples, too! I send them yarn and a pattern, and they knit up sweaters and other garments that help folks get inspiration for what to make themselves and see how the yarns we carry knit up.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dappledfernfibers.com
- Instagram: @dappledfernfibers
- Other: https://www.patreon.com/dappledfernfibers/membership
Image Credits
Dorothy Broomall
