Grand Marais Yarn Shop Dappled Fern Fibers Changes Hands, Keeps Community Focus

Kristin Lindholm's connection to Dappled Fern Fibers began the moment she arrived in Grand Marais: she walked into the downtown yarn shop on the very day it opened, in July 2021, having just moved to town. Four and a half years later, she owns it.

In December 2025, founder Dorothy launched Wandering Fern Retreats to focus on facilitating gatherings and handed Dappled Fern Fibers over to Lindholm, who had spent years working summers at the shop and hosting its weekly fiber circles. The shop's website describes the handoff directly: "Kristin will nurture the next phase of Dappled Fern's joyous unfurling."

Dappled Fern got its start as an online store in November 2020, during the early stretch of the pandemic. By July 2021 it had a physical home in downtown Grand Marais, a few doors down from World's Best Donuts and Beth's Fudge on Broadway. Volunteers helped make that opening happen, assembling shelves, putting together kits, and covering shifts behind the counter.

The shop stocks high-quality yarn and fiber supplies alongside locally-made gifts, and its stated mission reaches beyond retail. It aims to lift up local designers, artists, and woman- and BIPOC-owned companies, and has committed to celebrating and protecting Lake Superior, the Boreal Forest, and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Its inclusivity standards, spelled out on the shop's website, call for "an intergenerational space where LGBTQ+ folx belong, black lives matter, and size inclusivity is standard."

Weekly fiber circles have been a fixture of the shop's programming since its early days and remain a draw for both regulars and newcomers. The shop ships orders and offers local pickup, and its current hours list Thursday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., though hours may vary seasonally and are worth confirming directly with the shop before visiting.

With Lindholm now at the helm, Dappled Fern enters its next chapter rooted in the same community that helped build it from the start.