Linda Falkenstein
Natural fiber yarns join a dedicated area for group knitting and classes in Firefly’s new expanded space.
So it’s come to this.
I’m driving to Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to buy yarn. Specifically, Brooklyn Tweed yarn, because now that Madison’s Knitting Tree has closed, Firefly Fibers is the only Wisconsin vendor for this 100 percent U.S.-made (and 100 percent craveable) yarn.
Yarn remains an item that’s difficult to buy online. Oh sure, you can do the virtual purchase. But knitters and crocheters want to feel the yarn, check the weight and the spin, see a knitted-up sample, even bury their noses in a skein. And color! It’s extremely difficult to correctly guess the color of a yarn from a monitor.
And because I want to support environmentally friendly yarns, U.S. sheep farmers and woolen mills, and independently owned local yarn shops, I’m heading up Highway 151 and dreaming of sweater patterns.
“Beaver Dam is a good place for a knitting shop,” says shop owner Alisa Neumeier, who moved from Madison to the small city (population 16,564) in Dodge County in 2004. At the time, she and her husband still commuted to jobs in Madison. Neumeier noticed there were no yarn shops nearby, although the area had “a strong community of knitters, even though they didn’t really know each other.” She opened Firefly on Front Street, the heart of the original downtown, nine years ago. In November, the shop moved next door from its original location, doubling its space.
Owner Alisa Neumeier, wearing her handiwork, and the elusive Brooklyn Tweed, in a color called Homemade Jam.
Customers come from Green Bay, Milwaukee, even Chicago. From Madison, it’s a straight shot up 151 that takes about 40 minutes from Madison’s east side.
Firefly Fibers is the stylish kind of yarn shop one expects to find in a much larger city, specializing in natural fiber yarns from Blue Sky Fibers, Madelinetosh, Shepherd’s Wool and more — as well as Brooklyn Tweed. Firefly is a designated BT “destination store,” stocking all its yarns in all available colors, in sweater quantities. BT is her big seller, says Neumeier, as is yarn from Canadian indie dyer Julie Asselin: “Her yarn is unique and she doesn’t have a lot of stockists. There are only a handful in the United States.”
There are a few sheepie doodads — some cute pins and notecards — and lovely project bags from (and I am including this largely so I can type the following word) Binkwaffle. But Firefly is most definitely a yarn shop. Most accessories — from Twig & Horn, Fringe Supply Company and Cocoknits — are items knitters actually use while knitting. Yes, it is interesting to look at a dozen different kinds of stitch markers. Trust me. Firefly also carries the most stylish of the knitting magazines, and those cute Mason Dixon Knitting “Field Guides” that specialize in the nooks and crannies of the craft, like stripes, and sequences, and ease.
Firefly has an open knit on Wednesday nights from 5:30-7 p.m., if you want some knitting company or moral support as you tackle a difficult part of your pattern. The shop also holds classes.
Neumeier is also extremely helpful when consulted about which yarn would go best with which project, and patient as (just as a for-instance) a certain dithery sweater knitter attempts to choose from three different colors of yarn.
What do people not know about running a local yarn shop? “You don’t get to sit and knit all day,” Neumeier says with a laugh. “The yarn doesn’t order itself.”
Firefly Fibers
114 Front St., Beaver Dam; 920-356-8859; fireflyfibers.com
10 am-6 pm Tues., noon-8 pm Wed., 10 am-6 pm Thurs.-Fri., 10 am-3 pm Sat.
