Meet the woman who crafted a dream career at Prairie Lily Knitting

Prairie Lily Knitting is more than just a yarn shop.

The store in Saskatoon, filled with colourful yarn and the soft, rhythmic sound of needles clicking away, is a gathering place where creativity thrives and the simple joy of crafting is celebrated.

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For owner Charlene Oleksyn, the shop represents the culmination of a lifelong dream — one that began when she was just child with a ball of yarn and a pair of needles.

While the shop is a place to find yarn, patterns, and the tools for creating beautiful projects, it’s also a place to connect and learn. Owner Charlene Oleksyn offers classes regularly. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

It wasn’t a conventional career path for Oleksyn. With no retail experience, she said she purchased the store almost on a whim, leaving behind her health-care career as a certified nursing assistant.

As she reflected on the serendipitous turn of events that led her to become the owner of Prairie Lily Knitting, a smile spread across her face. “Glenda owned this business, and I said to her, ‘It’s always been my passion that when you retire, I buy this.’ And she said, ‘I’m ready to retire!’”

Listen to Oleksyn on Behind the Headlines:

After a conversation with her husband and a few financial adjustments, Oleksyn officially became the owner of Prairie Lily Knitting on August 1, 2008.

“Looking back 16 years later, if I’d have known back then what I know now, I should have been scared out of my mind to walk into a retail business with zero experience,” she said with a laugh. “But like I say, it’s been my passion. I love what I do.”

Oleksyn says she wears a handmade sweater to work every day. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Oleksyn explained that first learned to knit as a child, about 10 or 11 years old, when a friend introduced her to a ball of yarn and a pair of needles.

“I played with that same set of needles and that same ball of yarn. I ripped it out, worked it, ripped it out, worked it… over and over again,” she recalled, noting that growing up in the small village of Elstow, Sask. meant that a trip to a yarn store was a rare event.

“You have to make do with what you have,” she explained.

Over the years, Oleksyn said she developed a soft spot for knitted sweaters.

“I will wear a homemade sweater to work every day,” she said proudly. “I’m a simple, basic, mindless knitter. I don’t need an intricate pattern to feed my addiction. I’m quite happy just doing a plain knitted garment with no design in it, because I get done quicker and I don’t have to think when I’m doing it.”

For others, she said, the challenge can be part of the appeal of the art form.

“I tell people to challenge themselves every time you choose a new pattern. Choose a pattern that has a new technique in there that you haven’t done before, so that you’re expanding your knowledge and making it more interesting.”

Knitted and crocheted samples hang throughout the store. Oleksyn says it can be hard to imagine what a skein of yarn will look like as a garment or blanket without an example on hand. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

As trends change, so does the world of fiber arts.

“Crochet is hot hot hot right now,” Oleksyn said, noting the younger generation’s embrace of amigurumi and granny squares.

She’s also noted a rise in men picking up knitting and crocheting.

“It’s becoming very popular for them,” she said. “In my opinion, any man could easily pick up this hobby and enjoy it very much.”

While the shop is a place to find yarn, patterns, and the tools for creating beautiful projects, it’s also a place to connect and learn. Oleksyn emphasizes the importance of taking classes, whether for beginners or more advanced knitters.

“You can go on YouTube and you can watch, but YouTube doesn’t tell you if you’ve made a mistake. When you take a class, there’s always tips and tricks that you learn that the internet doesn’t necessarily always tell you,” she said.

The store, filled with colourful yarn and the soft, rhythmic sound of needles clicking away is a gathering place where creativity thrives and the simple joy of crafting is celebrated. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Oleksyn said there is no better feeling than when people come back to the shop to show her what they’ve made.

“I love seeing what the yarn goes home and becomes,” she said.

For Oleksyn, owning Prairie Lily Knitting isn’t just about selling yarn — it’s about weaving the threads of her childhood passion into a dream career.

Every project completed is a reminder of how she crafted the life she always wanted, one stitch at a time.