by Carlene Phillips ·
Friday, April 11, 2025
The Fiber Loft had its roots back in 1974 when Harvard resident Reba Maisel rented one room above the post office in the 1956 building at 9 Mass Ave. There was another tenant upstairs on the south side, and below that was the Harvard Pharmacy and Camera Store. Maisel used the space as her weaving studio and a place to teach needlework classes.
One day, Will Garrick, who owned the pharmacy, sent one of his sales representatives upstairs to see Maisel. The man was the supplier of greeting cards for the pharmacy, but he was also a yarn dealer. That visit was really the beginning of the shop, and Maisel expanded to occupy the remaining space upstairs.
Further expansion came the week before September 11, 2001, when Maisel opened the space downstairs that had been vacated in 1978 when Will Garrick moved his pharmacy to 1 Still River Road. That following year, people wanted to stay close to home. Many of them wanted to knit and weave, and Maisel’s business boomed. She gave weaving and knitting lessons and had someone come in to demonstrate spinning.
In a recent phone conversation, Maisel said she never thought of The Fiber Loft as a big business. “It was just a friendly business that grew little by little. It was an adjunct of myself that just developed.”
She has fond memories of the shop. Her children would come over after school, lie on the floor and do homework while shoppers stepped over them. There was a small loom set up in the front of the store, and there were always people, browsing through the pattern books in the back, and the shelves and shelves of yarns of all colors and textures. Lots of out-of-towners came on weekends, attracted by the beauty and charm of Harvard—and word of the fabulous yarn store. There was high demand for Maisel’s classes, and she was always available to help with someone’s dropped stitch or other mishap. For a time in the early 2000s there was a knitting book group.
So many people have stories of The Fiber Loft and of the wide influence of the shop. I used to bring one of my granddaughters to the store on knitting group nights when I was watching her. She used to roll her eyes and mumble about how boring it was looking at a bunch of ladies sitting around knitting. How the worm turns—she is now an accomplished knitter, clicking her needles whenever possible.
In 2013 Maisel sold the business to a former customer and part-time employee. She was happy to leave the shop in good hands. And now, at its closing, “I am sad,” she said.
Maisel’s love of needlework and memories of Harvard have followed her to her current home in a senior complex in Burlington. She has started a knitting group there, and she has a stash of yarn in all corners of her rooms. When Maisel was leaving Harvard, members of her knitting group gave her an afghan they had made for her. She said she cherishes it and the memories it holds.