About Me

Hi there, I'm Marissa! Writing this is kind of surreal for me so I’ll just start from the beginning. As the daughter of an Interior Designer, I grew up around colour, balance and aesthetic. I’ve always had a strong creative side, but never really found what I enjoyed doing with it. Standard painting and chalk pastel art really weren’t my thing--I have many thrown-out projects to prove it. Fast forward a bit... While I was getting my doctorate, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, which really started to take a toll on my health the closer I got to graduation. I started having more nights, and days, where I was stuck at home not feeling well and then I discovered knitting! I dove in head first and started collecting all the yarn I could get my hands on, mostly from Premier Yarns, We Are Knitters, and JoAnn Fabrics. I had no idea about high quality hand-dyed yarn...

As I immersed myself into Instagram, I started to discover the amazing community we all know and love. I found so many incredible makers--pattern designers, indie dyers, and more. I started following ALL the people, making some truly amazing fiber friends, and saving all the yarns to my phone. As soon as I got my first hand-dyed yarn, after knitting for about a year, I was HOOKED ya’ll. From that moment, I knew I needed to dye and I’ve been jotting down ideas ever since.

Not long after we graduated, my now husband and I moved to Victoria! I found a local pompom maker (shout out to my friend Stacey @roseandpurl!) who put on a Knit Night in the area. Around that same time, I came across Rachael on Instagram; it was kismet. I happened to see she was also local and reached out to see if she knew about the Knit Night, and boy am I so glad I did! We became fast fiber friends, bonding over our common health ailments and love of yarn. Come to find out, we both had been wanting to dye yarn and there we were, starting a yarn dyeing business for our 1-year Friendiversary--West Coast Yarn Co.

Sadly, we unexpectedly had to move away, so now I'm on my own here in Calgary, AB. I was Rocky Mountain Yarn Co. for a while after we transitioned, and have since rebranded to Fantasy Fibers Yarn Co. While I love nature and am inspired by its beauty, it's not something that's as integral to my life as books, shows, and movies are. For as long as I can remember, I've loved to get lost with my nose in a book. No one else in my family is like this, but here we are! haha I'm glad to have finally found my people in this fiber community.