Torri Hanna spins a yarn with local yarns and fibers
Torri Hanna’s Tangles to Treasures shop in Fergus Falls, Minn., features several varieties of artisan locally produced and spun yarns. At her store at 202 W. Lincoln, she offers yarn, knitting supplies, looms, knitting classes and everything associated with yarn and fiber.
Victoria Hanna loves spinning a yarn - and I’m not talking about telling tales here.
She is an artist, teacher and seamstress who knits, crochets and weaves yarn and fiber into clothing and art. .From her business - Torri’s Tangles to Treasures in Fergus Falls, Minn, - she sells all types of yarn and knitting supplies, conducts knitting classes and creates apparel and fiber art. And, for those wanting natural, local artisan yarns, she has developed a “fiber shed.”
Hanna has established connections with local sheep producers who sell their flocks’ raw wool either to knitters and spinners who want to wash, dye, card and spin the fibers themselves or to have the wool spun at a local mill. That artisan wool is among the yarn varieties she sells at her shop.
She learned about fiber sheds while working at Lambspun in Colorado and has utilized that model throughout her career.
Hanna notes how the wool from different species produce different types of yarn. Those varieties lend to the uniqueness of an item.
“When you hand spin, you want to use nice yarns that are unique to the area you’re in,” she said.
She also promotes “slow fashion” which is sustainable clothing made from natural fibers that last a long time.
Her passion for yarn and fiber got its start from her grandmother who taught her to knit and crochet. Her mother, who focused more on sewing, passed on her sewing prowess. Hanna combines the skills in the apparel and fiber art she creates.
She grew up in Canby where her both parents taught. After high school, she attended Southwest State University in Marshall, MN where she graduated with a BA in fine arts with a concentration in fibers.
Her first job took her to Colorado where she learned more about knitting and spinning as she managed and taught classes at Lambspun of Colorado. During this time she also created her own knitting and weaving designs.
Hanna’s knitting and weaving skills improved while in Colorado, she said. She learned how to spin and, as her interest in weaving grew, she purchased more looms causing her to seek housing that had a second bedroom where she kept the looms.
A move back to Minnesota in 2000 brought her to Canby where she opened her own yarn store, Briar Rose Fibers. While most of her stock was commercial yarns, she also sourced wool from local farms. She found an angora goat farmer in southeast Minnesota and made mohair items.
She turned to “hoeing and mowing” for a few years when she married and moved to a hobby farm near Walnut Grove. With her husband, Hanna planted, nurtured and harvested vegetables the couple sold at farmers markets.
After the two divorced, she renewed her work with yarn and fiber and, in 2016, created a fiber art piece for the Avera Cancer Center in Marshall, Minn.
Hanna learned of a strong art presence and support in Fergus Falls and moved to west central Minnesota.
She started Torri’s Tangles to Treasures and hosted a mini fiber fair which focused on everything associated with yarn. Someone brought in freshly sheared fleece. Another brought a bottle lamb. There were angora rabbits. A spinning wheel was set up and another artist demonstrated needle felting. The event brought excitement and interest for locally grown fibers.
As that interest has grown, she’s developed a list of farmers producing the fibers and is making connections with knitters.
Her shop at 202 W. Lincoln in Fergus Falls offers virtually everything someone working with yarn needs - especially the yarn! She has 12 to 14 looms and currently has three for sale. There’s a comfortable seating area where she conducts knitting classes. Yarn of all types - from commercial to artisan - are neatly displayed.
No matter what the project, Hanna can help along with her daughter, Abigail.
Check out her website at tanglestotreasures.com or visit the store in Fergus Falls.
And tell her hi from The Local Growers!
