Baaad Anna's Yarn Store

Give Back Sundays started last February and is hosted by one of our Baaad Anna’s regulars. Come join us this Sunday January 13th from 1-3pm to create any giveaway fibre art of your choice! We will have free yarn to cast on as well as some treats. Some ideas for your GIVE BACK SUNDAYS! projects can include purple baby hats for the Click for Babies campaign, cotton handknit breast prosthesis for the Knitted Knockers campaign, or just whip up something to yarn-bomb our neighbourhood with! We will host these on the second Sunday of each month, so mark your calendars for Feb 10th, March 10th, and April 14th!

The start of our next 52 sock goal!

Our second Socks for Modular Housing project hit its goal over the holidays, and we were able to donate 39 pairs of socks for each resident of the Franklin Street Temporary Moduclar Housing project. We had such a great response to our holiday call for action to help us hit this goal that we now have 11 pairs of socks already donated for our next goal: 52 pairs of handknit socks for the Union Street Modular Housing set to open later this year. This temporary modular housing at 258 Union Street will have one building with 52 studio homes. All units will be self-contained dwellings with a private bathroom and kitchen. At least 10% of the homes will be wheelchair accessible.

The 39 sock donation to the Franklin St Modular Housing.

Come by and pick up some donated yarn for this or any knit-for-others project this weekend at our Give Back Sunday event, or feel free to drop off socks or any other donation knitting project and we will find it a good home.

Look at the generosity of the local knitting community! How amazing!

And a huge thank you to all who dropped off knitted goods for our annual Warm Things Charity Drive. We will be donating these this weekend to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre to help with the winter chills. What a way to support our community than to offer the hug of a hand knit item!

The New Year has arrived, and many of us are planning our projects for 2019. Why not add this gorgeous Teroldego Shawl to your list?!

This asymmetrical, oversized, lightweight triangle shawl, designed by Caitlin Hunter, is named after the Teroldego red wine from Montinore Estate in Oregon.

Lace, colourwork, bobbles and stripes highlight this breezy, spring-ready design. The main body is worked in stockinette, and the shawl finishes off with a narrow garter edge.

We used three skeins of Life in the Long Grass Singles Sock (hand-dyed in Ireland) in three wine-like colourways — Thornberry, Tanned and Barefoot —  to pay homage to the shawl’s name.

Choose your colours and buy your project kit here! Pattern is free with purchase of three skeins of Life in the Long Grass yarn.

Life in the Long Grass is an Irish artisan hand dyed yarn and art studio in the countryside in Ireland, and their colourways are inspired by the countryside that surrounds them.

Choose your colours and buy your project kit here! Pattern is free with purchase of three skeins of Life in the Long Grass yarn.

Need a creative boost for the new year? Why not learn a new crafty skill, or build on already established expertise with one of our great fibre arts classes?

The first part of 2019, starting in January, is filled with a wish list of learning opportunities from our expert instructors!

Beginner Knitting

If you’ve never picked up a pair of needles or need a beginner refresher, this is the class for you! Knit a simple hat, scarf or arm warmers using the basics of knitting, including casting on, knitting, purling, and casting off.

Classes include 6hrs of instruction over the course of a month in the evening.

Runs JANUARY on Tuesdays: January 8, 15, 22 & 29 from 6:00-7:30pm

Sign up here!

Additional courses will also be running FEBRUARY, MARCH and APRIL. Check dates here.

Building Blocks: Beyond Basics Knitting

Build on your beginner skills, and graduate to knitting expert with our Building Blocks 12 session series! This class is an innovative approach to learning new techniques and stitches, with each session building into the final completed project — a 12 square sampler blanket. The class is structured to allow you the choice if taking all 12 blocks, or picking and choosing individual sessions that interest you.

Runs continuously on a drop-in basis, JANUARY through APRIL.

Evenings, 1.5 hours per class, must pre-register.

Sign up for 12-session package here!

Please call the store at 604-255-2577 to sign up for individual classes.

Intro to Wheel Spinning

What could be more fun than spinning your own yarn from raw fibre? Not much!

Learn the basics of spinning and wheel set up in this two session beginner class. The price includes all materials and a one week rental of the Ashford Two Treadle Kiwi Spinning Wheel. You’ll be spinning beautiful creations in no time!

JANUARY DATES: Saturday January 12 & 19 from 10:00am – noon  — or —

MARCH DATES: Saturday March 9 & 16 from 10:00am – noon

Weekend days, 2 weeks, 2 hours per class and includes materials and wheel rental.

Sign up here!

Beginner Crochet, Scrubby

Wash your dishes in crafty style with a hand crocheted scrubby in a fun colour of your choice! Crocheted scrubbies are a stylish solution to alleviate the drudgery of dish washing, and make great gifts too.

This project incorporates basic stitches for crochet including; chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet and magic ring.

Saturday JANUARY 26, 1-3:30pm

Weekend day, 2.5 hour workshop.

Sign up here!

Can’t make a January class? We’ve got more coming in February, including: Intro to Loom Weaving, Beginner Sweater, and Beginner Sock Knitting.

Another reason to stay up until midnight! One day only… while our bricks and mortar shop is closed our online shop offers 15% off statewide on January 1st. Ships worldwide. Happy new year!

About once a year we ask an indie dyer to create a custom skein for Baaad Anna’s and this year we included a special custom skein as the 12th present in the 12 Days of Knitmas advent calendar. So here is the grand reveal! Introducing Black Sheep… the antichristmas socks! Mismatched, matching stripes from a custom dyed by Amanda from Yarn Enabler.

This set of two 50g skeinettes were created specifically for Baaad Annas in our store colours of red, grey, black and speckles and the thick-thin stripes for each sock match perfectly, just in different colours on each sock! Amanda is a super talented Canadian yarn dyer and we have had a great year partnering together. There will be a limited number of these custom dyed skeins for sale in store as of Jan 2nd, but the to date the total run was limited to 70 skeins, 60 of which were given out for Christmas with the advent calendar packages!

We have had two other Baaad Anna’s custom dyed sock skeins in the past including a skein called Baaad Ass Sisters that was specialty dyed to force a spiraling pool of colour by MJ Yarns…

And of couse, Baaad Anna’s or Bust by Mudpunch which was also a self-striper…

The Black Sheep full skein set was the 12th gift of our 2018 #baaadannas12days advent calendar… but as like last year if anyone who purchased or received the advent would prefer a trade-in if these are not your colours, you can come by the store and trade this yarn for any skein of Yarn Enabler specialty yarn. Yarn Enabler is best know for her no2 Pencil yarn and Stationary Sock sets… check out a variety of her amazing yarns here.

From all of the Baaad Anna’s crew, we wish you a Merry Christmas and the very best over the holidays whatever you celebrate!

And as a thank you for another wonderful year, we would like to celebrate Boxing Day from 1-6pm by offering you 40% on various yarns throughout the store. This is only available in store, but keep an eye out on New Year’s Day for a little thank-you discount in our online store www.baaadannas.store! Happy holidays!

HOLIDAY HOURS:
Monday Dec 24th 11am-2pm
Tuesday Dec 25th closed
Wednesday Dec 26th 1pm-6pm
Thursday Dec 27th 11am-6pm
Friday Dec 28th 11am-4pm
Saturday Dec 29th 1pm-6pm
Sunday Dec 30th 11am-6pm
Monday Dec 31st 11am-2pm
Tuesday Jan 1st closed

Jan 2nd onwards…
OPEN EVERYDAY 11am-6pm

In the frenzy of the holiday season, sometimes its hard to see the forest through the trees. But let’s take a moment to celebrate what we have accomplished together.

Community!

We built a new monthly knit-group called Give Back Sundays earlier this year to give a focus to our community giving, and to give a vehicle to fibre artists to spread the love of the hand-made gift. Blankets, cowls, hats, socks, socks, socks, breasts and mitts were knit up over the course of the year to be donated to various projects and recipients around the Lower Mainland. Some successes we’ve collectively had include: 52 pairs of socks to the Kaslo St Modular Housing, 90+ purple infant hats for purple crying awareness, many pairs of prosthetic breasts to the Knitted Knockers campaign, 39 cowls to the residents of the Powell St Modular Housing, children’s hats and mitts galore to refugee welcoming groups, a pair of gorgeous lap blankets donated to VGH, and just now 39 pairs of socks for the Franklin St Modular Housing residents, AND two laundry baskets+ of warm knitted items to be distributed throughout the Downtown East Side.

The best part? This knit group is volunteer run, provides donated yarn new life, and has encouraged charity knitting/crocheting donations from near and far — as well as from shy crafter elves that donated anonymously! Check out this basket of love that was donated to the newly housed residents of the Franklin Street Modular Housing…

This goal of 39 pairs of handknit socks was delivered to their intended recipients earlier this week. And an additional 10+ pairs were already collected for your next Modular Housing Sock goal! Stay tuned in early January for more on that!

The Giving Spirit!

In addition to knitting for others, we as a community enjoy giving and sharing of fine yarns… and in turn sometimes those that love us know where to turn for a gift for the fibre artist in their lives as well. I want to personally thank each of you that has chosen to support a family-owned small businesses such as mine. It supports my family as well as that of my staff, but also helps support other fibre artist and indie businesses that we work with, both locally and local to many different corners of the world. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

By shifting 1% of your spending to local businesses and products you can contribute to creating 3,100 jobs and $94 million in wages to the BC economy.

Celebrate!

We have also had a year of fun celebrations. The trunk shows, yarn tasting events, school demos, classes, road trips and even the Advent Calendar are our way of keeping fibre arts fresh and exciting. The time put into these happenings is truly a labour of love, and done with an understanding of the importance of celebrating the skills and talents that are shown in our craft. Together we make a goal of valuing fibre arts and celebrating joy that can be gained from a simple combination of string and sticks!

With only one lonely Advent Calendar left in stock, this year’s set of a dozen hand-wrapped gifts have been a fun way to celebrate the favorite fibre artist in your life (and that can be YOU!).

We wish you all the best leading up to last of the holiday frenzy! There is still a bit of 2018 to squeeze some fun out of; make sure to take the time to pat yourself on the back for what you have accomplished this year as the true meaning of the holiday spirit is being kind — and being kind to yourself is key!

Hey lovely knitty community. I am wondering if I can ask for your help in this busy, busy season? We are 8 pairs away from being able to donate socks to each resident of the Franklin Street Modular Housing, with the hope that we could deliver these before the holidays.

Do you have any under-loved pair of adult-sized socks that you could donate, or perhaps have the time or inclination to quick-knit a thicker pair?

Thick yarn for a quick knit!

The Franklin Street Modular Housing units opened its doors earlier this year to 39 homeless or marginally housed individuals from within our East Vancouver community. The housing manager heard about the socky welcome that we donated to the Kaslo modular housing unit in the summer and asked if we might be able to do the same for his residents. Apparently socks convey a perfect welcome from the community along with a symbolic offering of warm feet.

One down, one to go…!

I have taken up my needles and worked through a single worsted weight sock in about 4 hours… if anyone would like to join me, we have a basket of donated yarns to choose from! Please help if you can!! Size, shape and colour do not really matter as there are many shapes of feet that will be able to choose from these… there’s a sock for every preference!

Here’s the first 31 pairs already complete!

In our second installment of our holiday picks, we bring you more ideas for projects and gifts for the fibre lovers in your life.

Reagan

I chose a range of things from stocking stuffers to “I can’t believe it!” gifts…options for every shopper.

Twill & Print Enamel Pins. These fun pins are great stocking stuffers, and can accessorize anything from a project bag, to a sweater, or be used as a closure for a shawl. New knitters and seasoned pros alike will love this cute addition to their stash. Under $20.

One ball projects using Malabrigo Rasta
If you need to whip up a quick last-minute project, Rasta can be knit/crocheted up in an afternoon and the colours are ever-so-sumptuous! For pattern ideas, check out this ravelry search: http://rav.to/huosd. Under $50.

“I can’t believe it!” gift: Lykke Driftwood needle sets
Not only do you get the benefit of having every needle you could possibly ever need in one set, the dyed driftwood is absolutely beautiful. The perfect gift for someone who’s been bitten by the knitting bug and wants to delve deeper. No more wondering: “do I have the right needles for that?”

Tracy

As the self-confessed non-knitter in the crew, I’m all about picking out gifts for the weaver and crocheters in your life. I’m also a big fan of giving the gift of learning. My suggestions:

A class for the aspiring fibre artist! We have a full schedule of learning opportunities happening in the new year…from knitting, to crochet, to spinning to weaving classes. My two personal favourites are our Intro to Weaving (exploring the versatility and simplicity of the rigid heddle loom) and our Frame Weaving Workshop (a great intro to the art of tapestry).

For an “I can’t believe it!” gift for the weaver, how about a sweet new Ashford Knitter’s Loom? This is a great little table loom, suitable for a new or experienced weaver with limited space in their home or studio, or those looking for a smaller/portable option. Pair with a yarn like the Briggs & Little Sport or some different sized reeds, for the perfect combo!

Check out Part One of our Staff Picks for more holiday ideas. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Stumped on what to give the fibre fan in your life? Our savvy staff have excellent suggestions for yarn and yarn related gifts…for stocking stuffers and beyond.

Cheryl

For my picks, I’ve put together suggestions for things to make, and things to give the makers in your life this holiday.

Right now, I’m deep in holiday gift knitting, and my current favourite yarn is Baa Ram Ewe Pip Colourwork. The Pip is a 2-ply light fingering that holds the colourwork together well after wet finishing. With it, I’m knitting Caitlin Shepherd’s Deery Me Mittens in anharris’s red-nose reindeer version. See my Instagram to watch the project progress! I’m also IN LOVE with the new colourwork hat collection Milarrochy Heids by Kate Davies, and will be making one (or more!) of those with the Pip in the new year.

Beyond project suggestions, my recommendations for the makers in your life are: Sarah Elizabeth’s art batts or West Coast Colour’s luxury fibre bundles. Either of these would make any spinner happy!

Sarah Elizabeth Art Batts

Sarah Elizabeth Art Batts

Paula 

My holiday pick is Sugar Bush Bold.

This affordable superwash ultrafine merino is a great go-to for projects for people who may end up throwing their delicate garments in the wash…and it comes in 42 rich colours! It’s the perfect yarn choice for gifts for babies and children of busy parents because of the “wash-and-wear” ease of this versatile wool.

I like arranging a selection of 3-5 balls of various colours of this yarn, along with a pattern or book. With this you can hit a price range that fits within a budget of $15-$50.

Sugarbush Bold

Sarah

I’m all for practical small gifts and “frivolous” stocking stuffers. I have two current favourites that would make any knitter happy!

The Needle Keeper (single or double ended). I have one for each project I currently have on the needles. They protect me and my project bags from unsightly, needle-caused holes. They also keep stitches from escaping on projects while they’re not being worked on. Perfect for any knitter and can hold most circular needle sizes. For larger needles I would recommend the double ended Needle Keeper and putting one needle in each cap. You can never have too many of these, and when not being used to prevent needle accidents, they’re great for sorting needles by size. Under $50.

Twill & Print Enamel Pins. These are great accessories for a sweater or project bag. Super cute and great for non-crafters too — who doesn’t love an alpaca pin!? The hard part is narrowing down which one your giftee will love the most! Under $20.

As always, our helpful staff are available to guide you and answer any questions regarding your gift giving conundrums. Happy holidays, and we look forward to seeing you soon!