NEW YARN: Colour Adventures
Colour Adventures was started by Elena Nodel in 2012 out of her passion for fibre and colour. At the time she was already a world renowned knitwear designer by the name of ‘Anadiomena’. She spent her time in both the Lower Mainland and the Shuswap region, with one of her key inspirations being her daughter Maya for whom some of her most famous designs were created. Elena sadly passed away at at an early age in June 2017.
Her gorgeous yarn lives on due to a wonderful partnership started in the last years of her life. The owners of ‘A Twist of Yarn’ yarn shop in Vernon, BC, Camella and Ryan worked with Elena’s family to offer the same beautiful bases and colourways that Elena had created and that we now have the pleasure to begin to fall in love with!
We are thrilled to bring on the truly affordable single-ply fingering weight Merino Light line, as well as a special Exquisite Aran line, a worsted weight base that is comprised of 75% merino, 15% cashmere and 10% silk! Come check out our full selection in store or online.
Camella and Ryan have offered to donate $1.00 for every skein purchased to Elena’s family as a legacy fund to help her husband raise their young daughter. Baaad Anna’s will be working with them to supplement an equal donation to this fund for any Colour Adventures skein sold at our store, as a means to continue to support Elena’s legacy.
You can also find all of her patterns on Ravelry (under her profile, Anadiomena) a place where we like to see what other people are knitting, showcase her own work, and just simply enjoy to be in touch with people that share our passion for knitting. We are thrilled to be able to continue to spread the love of Colour Adventures yarn!
Shop for Colour Adventures here!
NEW TOOL: Addi FlexiFlips
Wanna try a new way to knit in the round? Addi’s Flixi Flips are a set of three 21cm flexible double pointed needles the are worked over two needles instead of three. They have a flexible bend in the middle so two needles act like having 4 DPNs in your project, and you use a third as a working needle. For anyone into sock knitting or stuck on sleeve island, this is a dream come true!
Here’s a great intro video that reviews this product and shows how these needles really bring the best of both DPN and magic loop together at last! Come and check these out!
Friggin’ sleeve island.
Socky Welcome!
For the past three months Baaad Anna’s has put out a knit-sock challenge to see if we could collect 52 pairs of hand-knit socks to donate to the welcome package of residents to the Kaslo Street Temporary Modular Housing Project that is set to open its doors to 52 homeless or marginally housed individuals from within our East Vancouver community. There is some controversy to how the City of Vancouver rolled out this project, but the individuals coming into these units deserve a warm welcome and how better than with a symbolic offering of warm feet.
To date we have collected 44 pairs of unisex various sized socks! Knit with a variety of yarns that have been donated either through the Baaad Anna’s upcycling yarn donations or came directly from the knitter’s own stash, the generosity of these knitters show how amazing this community is at strengthening the fabric of our shared society!
We have a few pairs being dropped off each week, so we are sure to make the goal of a pair per resident by the time the doors open in August! If you are working on a pair, or want to still contribute, any additional pairs we receive over the goal will be donated to the 39 Temporary Modular Housing unit in our neighborhood at 1131 Franklin St that were announced after the Kaslo project. This will be an ongoing project for our Give Back Sundays.
A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has participated, and if you want to still do so, this Sunday is our monthly Give Back Sunday event from 1-3pm where you can join our community knitters and pick up free yarn to knit projects for others! Read more about Give Back Sundays here!
BC Road Trippin’: Slocan Valley and Castlegar
Baaad Anna’s will be concluding its 2nd Baaad Anna’s Roadtrip with two events in the Kootenays: first a stop near Winlaw, BC with the Slocan Valley Threads Guild , and then to Castlegar, BC revisiting the Selkirk Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild of the West Kootenays.
The Slocan Valley Threads Guild has been operating since 1981 aiming to foster fibre arts in the Slocan Valley. They provide its members access to a diverse and growing selection of fibre arts literature and equipment through their library. We will be hosting a pop-up and trunk show at their Guild building near Winlaw, BC from 6-9pm on Friday June 22nd.
The Selkirk Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild has been active in the West Kootenays since 1972. The objectives of this non-profit are to foster the art and craft of weaving and spinning, to mentor the skills and development of beginning weavers, to encourage achievement of high standards in members’ work and to collect literature for the use of members. They provide rental equipment, workshops, seminars, wholesale yarn supply and an extensive and growing library to its members, and additionally an opportunity to participate in the Guild’s annual exhibit and sale each November.
During the summer, from June to mid-September, the Guild operates a gift shop of handcrafted works at the Doukhobor Discovery Centre. On Saturday June 23rd from 11-2pm, Baaad Anna’s will be joining the Guild at Doukhobor for their annual picnic and launch of summer! If you can’t join us that day, be sure to drop in throughout the summer as the Guild demonstrate the traditional art of weaving and spinning in this unique museum. Throughout the rest of the year Guild meetings are held once per month at the Centre where guests are welcome. The Selkirk Weavers’ & Spinners’ Guild can be contacted through their Facebook page.
The Slocan Valley is a valley in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada.
The valley is home to the villages of Slocan City, New Denver, Silverton, as well as the unincorporated communities of Crescent Valley, Slocan Park, Passmore, Vallican, Winlaw, Appledale, Perry Siding, Lemon Creek, Rosebury, and Hills. Valhalla Provincial Park is located on the western side of the upper part of the valley, and is adjoined on its south by the valley of the Little Slocan River. Just east of Slocan Lake are the ghost towns of Sandon, Cody and others, which were busy mining towns during the silver and galena mining era known as the Silvery Slocan (1890s-1900s).
Castlegar is the second largest community in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada and is located within the Selkirk Mountains at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers. Castlegar is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy fueled by forestry, mining and tourism. Castlegar was recently cited as one of the Top 8 Places in British Columbia for most promising growth. It is home to Selkirk College, a regional airport, a pulp mill, and several sawmills. The population of 7,259 people includes a large number of Doukhobors, who were largely responsible for much of Castlegar’s early development and growth.
BC Road Trippin’: Armstrong
We are thrilled to head north to Armstrong on Thursday June 21st on the next leg of our Baaad Anna’s Roadtrip 2018. We are partnering with Sharon of Homespun Haven to host a Trunk Show and Pop Up on a farm just a few minutes outside of Armstrong.
Homespun Haven is a country store specializing in weaving, spinning and felting materials in the North Okanagan. Bring your knitting, wheel or any fibre art and come join us if you’re nearby in the Interior!
The City of Armstrong is located in the North Okanagan of the Canadian province of British Columbia, between Vernon and Enderby. It overlooks the Spallumcheen Valley, which forms a broad pass between the Okanagan Valley to the south and the Shuswap Country to the north, and is about 480 km (300 mi) from each of Vancouver, B.C., Calgary, Alberta, Spokane and Seattle, Washington. The town of Armstrong celebrated its centennial in 2013.
BC Road Trippin’: Oliver!
Next up, Baaad Anna’s is excited to return to Oliver, BC and this year we are cozying in to the Maker Place for an evening of Yarn Tasting on June 30th from 6:30-8:30pm. (tickets here)
We are so excited to partner with master seamstress Dianne Gibson of Maker Place on this event. This unique location creates a space to gather and share creativity while learning and sharing idea’s in a studio environment. If you find yourself in Oliver, this is a unique workshop where DIY projects can be shared and created with ease and enjoyment. Hosting a variety of visual art events, this amazing shop has paint nights, upcycling clothing workshops and sewing bee’s all year round, in addition to offering an open artist studio.
Oliver is a town near the south end of the Okanagan Valley in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, with a population of over 4,000 people. It is located between Osoyoos and Okanagan Falls, and is labeled as the Wine Capital of Canada by Tourism British Columbia
Want to join us? Tickets are limited, but you can pick them up here!
BC Road Trippin’: Summerland!
Baaad Anna’s will be revisiting Summerland on Tuesday June 19th at the Tuesday Farmer’s Market from 9am -1pm. We enjoyed meeting the local knit community as well as the variety of other makers and growers at this gorgeous Okanagan lakeside town last year; and are thrilled to bring along some woolly goodness again to this event.
Baaad Anna’s hits Summerland Farmers Market 2017.
Summerland (2011 population 11,280) is a town on the west side of Okanagan Lake in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. The district is between Peachland to the north and Penticton to the south. The largest centre in the region is Kelowna, approximately 50 km to the north (via Highway 97), and Vancouver is approximately 425 km (264 mi) away to the west. The district is famous for “Bottleneck drive”, a system of roads connecting a large number of wineries.
BC Road Trippin’: Penticton!
Baaad Anna’s second stop will be to quench its thirst at Pentiction’s Cannery Brewing with a pop-up beer knit night!
Cannery Brewing is a go-to micro-brew located amongst the breathtaking scenery of the South Okanagan. Using only the natural ingredients, Cannery Brewing is proud to provide unpasteurized beers with a fresh, crisp taste. Come join us with your needles for a brewskie and a yarn squeeze!
Announcing Our 2018 Road Trip
We are thrilled to announce our lineup for our 2018 Baaad Anna’s baaadass BC roadtrip…
We will be starting in Kelowna at the first annual Yarn Okanagan event on June 16th and will continue with pop-up shops and yarn tasting throughout the Okanagan, Shuswap and Kootenay regions. More details to come on each of our stops over the next two weeks!
Get Out and Knit!
With the west coast rains moving in this weekend, its a perfect time to get cozy with your knits for the World Wide Knit In Public Day happening tomorrow! And to encourage all the knits, we will have ALL NEEDLES, HOOKS and SETS at 20% off in store and online! Pick up some Lykke, Addis or Knitters Pride that you’ve been eyeing and then join us to knit wherever you feel like throughout the day!
Our couch is always available for a meetup with friends, or go chat up non-knitters with the siren call of pretty yarn art!
We will also be hosting our monthly Give Back Sundays knit-for-others event this weekend. We have currently collected 27 pairs of socks towards our goal of 52 pairs for our Kaslo Modular Housing Welcome Package project so if you want to pick up some free donated yarn to cast on a pair and help out, please pop in any time this weekend or join us to knit or crochet from 1-3pm this Sunday!
Pairs 17 to 28 of our Kaslo Street Temp Mod Housing welcome package project!
