Editor's Note: This story was initially published in the Pioneer's Winter 2024-2025 edition of inBemidji Magazine. To see the full issue, visit
The story of Fiddlesticks Fiber Arts is a bit of a fantasy.
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When Debbie Johnson and Mishel Carlson were tossing around ideas for a monthly women’s meeting at their church last year, they decided to teach the group how to knit and/or crochet. Johnson was an accomplished knitter; Carlson more so dabbled with yarn, or so she says.
“Debbie and I were planning a Women’s Overflow monthly meeting,” Mishel said. “We always try to have some kind of God story. What is God doing in your life right now? And at the same time have some good food, an opportunity for women to connect, and then some type of activity.”
So on a cold December afternoon, while they were finalizing plans for the upcoming meeting, Debbie floated an idea.
“Wouldn’t it just be great if we had our own shop and it’s filled with beautiful things and beautiful yarn and provides opportunities for women to connect?” she asked Mishel.
“Oh yeah, that would be fun,” was the reply.
“Then a minute or two later Debbie said, ‘Are you serious, because I’m serious,’” Mishel recalled. “We did that back and forth for a little bit. We even kind of hauled in our husbands two days later and said we were thinking about this. What do you guys think? They were both on board.”
Fast forward nine months and Fiddlesticks Fiber Arts opened its doors at 509 Beltrami Ave. NW.
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Setting the stage
Early in 2024, the two women spent a couple of months traveling the region, visiting different yarn shops and talking to the owners.
“One of the most impactful experiences we had were the people we met at the yarn shops,” Mishel said. “That often dictated our feelings about that yarn shop. So if we went in and we were greeted … when you walked in that door you felt like you were family. We had that experience at a few places, and we didn’t at some places.
“We want our space to be that warm and welcoming. So when you walk in that door, we’ll leave you alone if you want, but if you want help finding something we can’t wait to help you. We’ll help you move forward in your creativity process whether that’s embroidery or knitting or whatever. That’s the biggest thing that struck us.”
Debbie added, “We wanted the place to feel classy, but also whimsical and playful. When we looked at all those different shops, we just kind of made note of what we liked and what we did not like. It was less about what the displays looked like and more about the feel of the place. We came away thinking we want it to be light and airy.”
Once that exploratory phase was complete, Mishel and Debbie got down to business. They started working with Colleen Falk, a consultant with the Small Business Development Center, and needed to find a location.
“When Debbie and I first started talking about this, we both wanted to be downtown,” Mishel said. “I love historic downtowns. It was super important for both of us. We have since developed a lovely business relationship with Heidi at Merry Piglets. She’s been both mentor and friend to us. When I go into one of these local shops, I like thinking ‘OK these people live right in my community. If I buy from them, then they can go home and feed their family.”
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After an exhaustive search, Debbie and Mishel found a location in the space formerly occupied by Bemidji Driving , and before that an Edward Jones financial planning office.
A passion for knitting
Debbie got serious about knitting when she was a young mom. While her husband Jerry was busy with night meetings as youth pastor at Evangelical Free Church, she would put the kids to bed and pick up her needles.
“I kind of picked it up online and started teaching myself,” she said. “There used to be a shop called Yarn Dance in Bemidji. I would go in there with this mess and they’d sit me down and teach me how to fix it. I started to grow in my skills and it just became a passion and a joy.”
Debbie grew up in Michigan and the family moved to Minnesota when she was in high school. She met Jerry when they were both students at the University of Northwestern in Roseville. After they married, they lived in a Minneapolis suburb where Jerry was a youth pastor.
“My husband had grown up in the wilds of northern Wisconsin,” Debbie said, “and his heart was always to get back to the country somewhere. Bemidji called, and we came up here and interviewed and fell in love with the area. We thought, ‘This is it.’”
The pair moved to Bemidji in 2000. After 16 years as a youth pastor, Jerry became lead pastor at Evangelical Free Church.
“I did the pastor’s wife thing, and I did the mom thing,” Debbie said. “I worked for a while at H&R Block as their office manager, but it was seasonal and I wanted something more. So I spent five years at the Bemidji Community Food Shelf as their volunteer coordinator. That was such a fun job. I loved my volunteers.”
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Early inspiration
Mishel Carlson’s creative fire was lit during her childhood in St. Cloud.
“I like to think I had the world’s greatest art teacher as an elementary kid,” Mishel said. “She exposed me to absolutely everything. I learned how to embroider, how to use a sewing machine, how to do the punches. She just sparked a passion for creativity.”
That also inspired her to become a teacher herself as she teaches fourth grade at Bemidji’s Gene Dillon Elementary.
“When Debbie and I started talking about this, part of me was like, ‘I’d love to explore this but I don’t really want to leave teaching yet,’” she added. “So we managed to figure out how to do it where we can do tandem ownership.”
Mishel remembers learning to knit in fourth grade when her teacher started a lunchtime knitting club. Instead of heading outdoors for recess, Mishel joined the club.
“I made a really horrible scarf for my dad, which I think my mom had to fix up,” she recalled with a chuckle. “I would say Debbie is an amazing knitter, and I am a mediocre knitter, but I like to dabble in everything. So I have done a little embroidery, cross stitch and felting.”
Mishel first lived in Bemidji in 2001 and 2002 while her husband Mark was doing medical training at the hospital. He is currently a sports medicine doctor at Sanford Bemidji.
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“We had such a great year here that when Mark finished all of his other medical training we said we’d like to come back to Bemidji,” she said. “So we moved back here in 2006.”
A place to connect
The owners hope Fiddlesticks Fiber Arts will become more than a retail shop. On top of offering a variety of classes, the location displays and sells some art pieces and greeting cards created by Mishel’s mother, Sandy Johnson, and sells bowls by local woodworker Gardell Emery along with coffee and tea from local roaster Butler Beans Coffee Company.
“Our heart is to have a place where people can connect and grow in their activity, but also connect in friendship and community,” Debbie said. “We want it to be a place of welcome and warmth.”
That was amplified by a customer who visited shortly after the shop opened and said, “Even though I don’t knit, it’s just so comfortable and inviting. They even have a crystal chandelier in the bathroom. It’s way more than just yarn.”
But Mishel added with a smile, “At the same time we want them to buy supplies so we can keep the door open, keep yarn on the shelves.”
And what about the name of the shop?
“We were talking about the feeling of the place,” Mishel left off. “What are people going to want to come in and do? They’re trying stuff out. They’re kind of fiddling around. So we came up with Fiddlesticks.”
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