About Us

I have been knitting for almost 20 years, with a love for arts and crafts that began in childhood. After marrying my husband in 2002, my amazing mother-in-law—a talented crocheter and knitter—tried to teach me to knit. However, since she's left-handed, I wasn't very confident in my knitting at first.

When we moved to Mena in 2007, I was using knitting looms to make scarves while working at our local hospital in admissions. A customer noticed my knitting loom and told me about his neighbor who was an experienced knitter. He gave me her phone number, and I called to ask for lessons. I drove 30 miles for a 3-hour lesson, and by the end of it, I was absolutely obsessed with knitting.

When my husband was transferred to a town outside of St. Louis, I discovered my first local yarn shop—Knit Escape in St. Peters, Missouri. There I found a wonderful group of friends who inspired each other to push our skills and create things we never thought we could make. It was a transformative time for me.

Our next move took us north of Kansas City to St. Joseph, Missouri, where I joined a large craft group that met in the local mall's food court and made some great friends there as well.

In October 2016, we moved back to Mena. I joined the local art gallery as a member and connected with a small group of crocheters. I worked in healthcare as a receptionist until the pandemic, when I was laid off. After that, I worked from home doing customer service until 2022.

Since moving back to Mena, every time I drove down Mena Street to shop or visit restaurants, I would see this one building and think, "That would be a great place for a yarn store." I told my husband every time we passed it together, "I'm going to put a yarn store in that building." He would quickly tell me no! Several businesses came and went in that location.

Then in 2022, my husband came to me and said he thought we could make the yarn store business work. In May, we started the process of opening our shop. We began very small and have steadily grown since then. While we're still considered a small yarn store, we have more than doubled our yarn inventory. I've learned how to dye yarn and am now branching out to fiber shows. I hope to continue growing and serving our wonderful crafting community.

Rich Mountain Fiber Co. Is located at:

700 Mena St. Mena Arkansas 71953

call or text 636-359-0911