Fiber artists unite for Local Yarn Store Day

SANDPOINT — The community’s spinners, weavers, crocheters, knitters, and felters will be able to gather and celebrate their craft this weekend.

“Yarnies” from all over the world will have the opportunity to participate in Local Yarn Store Day on Saturday, April 30. Beginning in 2018, the day was created to drive business to yarn stores.

Enthusiasts in the greater Sandpoint area will have a new option to acquire supplies and commune with others who share their same interests.

Twilight Fibers is open for business in Ponderay, offering only natural fibers, including materials from local farms. The Yarn Table, recently renamed from Something Olde Something New, is also a mainstay for local fiber artists, offering aisles full of yarns crafting accessories.

Both locations are offering discounts for Local Yarn Store Day this weekend, April 29-May 1. The Yarn Table is also giving away a pattern to celebrate the occasion.

Although they occupy the same industry, both locations offer a different selection of materials. Owners of both locations say they send customers to each other’s stores on a regular basis.

“We’ve got groups that are doing group road trips to our stores,” Blythe Neudelman, owner of Twilight Fibers, said. “It’s a lot bigger than people realize. … There’s so many needs, not one place can fill all of them. We refer people to each other all the time.”

Neudelman said she used to have to drive to Spokane to get some of the materials she needed for her projects. The long drives she had to make revealed a need that she could fill in the community. After her husband suggested she open a yarn store, Neudelman made the idea a reality.

Opening in February, Twilight Fibers offers a variety of animal fibers including those from alpaca, yaak, camel, angora silk, and many others.

“It was a huge ask from my community to have somewhere to go to get natural fibers,” Neudelman said. “When I was doing my research, I wanted to take a different niche so we could work together with other yarn stores.”

The Yarn Table is located within Foster's Crossing Antiques and, every Tuesday, knitters gather around a table to craft together, although some say they get less work done.

Owner Patty Cameron said business has increased since 2020.

“Our last two years have been some of our best years ever,” Cameron said. “Because people just needed something to keep busy.”

The Yarn Table is located at 504 Oak St. in Sandpoint and Twilight Fiber and Yarn is located at 476864 U.S. 95 in Ponderay.