Catherine Lundberg of Prairie Fiber Arts Center shows one of her own creations, a crocheted shawl in a sumptuous imported yarn. (Photo/Nancy Hanson)

Moorhead Business

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

“We’re a petting zoo,” Catherine Lundberg says, guiding a new customer past colorful walls of woolly, silky yarns. “There’s just something about all the colors and textures that’s good for the soul. Touch everything.
“We don’t expect people to buy every time they come in,” she adds.
But knitters and crocheters generally do. Prairie Fiber Arts Center, Catherine’s cozy shop at 127 Fourth St. S., is more than just a market to many of the area’s yarn aficionados. Though buying skeins of vivid fiber is a reason to walk through its doors, they come for the yarn … and stay for the sense of community.
That spirit is the theme for National Local Yarn Store Day on Saturday. The brainchild of The National Needlearts Association, the event celebrates the role that independent home-town shops like Prairie Fiber Arts play in their crafting communities, bringing the area’s fiber artists together for conversation, once-a-year specials and, of course, treats.
That’s part of what drew Catherine, a CPA, into becoming a shopkeeper. “I got to know Verna Agnes and the store in 2017 as her accountant,” she says. “I was attracted by the warmth and sense of community.”
That’s because the store offers much more than knitting needles, hooks and a thousand miles of appealing fibers. It’s a center for education, conversation and friendship for the craft lovers who come there. Comfortable chairs welcome them to sit and knit (or crochet) awhile. And many do – not only for classes taught by the four experts on Catherine’s four-person staff, but to catch up with friends who share their interests.
And to show off the projects that engage them. It’s a typical day when customers pull out their cell phones to show off photos of their handiwork. “You don’t just take out a credit card and walk out with your purchase,” the owner notes. “You become one of us.”
Like many of Prairie Fiber Arts’ customers, Catherine learned to crochet as a second-grader sitting at her grandmother’s knee. As a busy adult, she drifted away from the craft for a time. Those early lessons came back to her, she says, when she needed them most, experiencing her mother’s final days 13 years ago. “I started crocheting again. My project bag went everywhere with me. Crocheting soothed me and became my lifeline.”
Catherine bought her shop from founder Agnes in 2020. “I bought it at the height of COVID. What makes more sense than opening a store at the height of a pandemic?” she laughs. But keeping the yarn coming made sense to the community of (mostly) women who also used their needles to calm as well as create. Setting up an online presence a few months later, the shop brought its regulars together for Zoom classes and Friday night KALs (knit-alongs) – “a chance to talk to people they knew,” she says, “and see friendly faces, even at a distance.”
Long back in person, those needle- and hook-women continue to gather at Prairie Fiber. On Thursdays, they start arriving by 4 for the weekly KALs and CALs (crochet-alongs). Saturdays are sociable, too. But kindred spirits also gather at random times throughout the week to share tips, show off their handiwork, and continue turning yards of yarn into sweaters, hats, scarves, shawls and blankets. Amurigami, too – small dolls and critters crocheted or knitted in the Japanese style.
Knitters and crocheters have long been lumped together as a stereotype – older women, often with cats, who while away the hours creating sweaters and afghans for the grandkids. Catherine acknowledges there is a grain of truth there. But that’s just the edge of the fiber community.
“Pre-COVID, you really could say the typical knitter or crocheter was older,” she says. “Now, though, there’s very much a resurgence of younger people getting into knitting, crocheting and crafts.
“They’re fearless,” she emphasizes. “They make their own rules. They don’t necessarily follow the traditional practices. They combine yarn weights. They choose colors you wouldn’t normally combine. They tackle the hardest patterns, overcoming the challenges with online tutorials and YouTube.
“They have a whole different approach than many of us who are older,” she adds. “They’re up for anything.”
One thing they do share with their elders, she confides, is the irresistible lure of buying yarn. She quotes the tongue-in-cheek motto of all ages armed with needles and hooks: “The amount of yarn I have at home exceeds my life expectancy.”
As for competition from the explosion of online yarn and craft retailers, Catherine believes local shops like hers will always hold their own. “Until you come in and touch, you can’t really understand the difference in the quality of fiber,” she says. “The community here has the answers you need. Here, people know what will – and won’t – work for your pattern. The wonderful women here can educate you, offering alternatives and reasons for choosing one fiber over another. We educate and support each other.
“In the end, it’s all about connecting people,” she says. “Now that you’re one of us, come in any time for any reason.”
And be sure to show off your work. After all, Catherine says, “It’s so much more fun to show off your creations to someone who can really appreciate them. That’s what we’re here for.”
Prairie Fiber Arts Center opens at 10 a.m. six days a week. The shop is open until 7 p.m. instead of 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays when knitters and crocheters gather there – “as long as someone is here,” the owner promises. For more information on classes and events, go to www.PrairieFiberArts.com.