Baaad Anna's Yarn Store

In this time of what feels like disconnect and hopelessness, there are still beautiful things happening in the world around us. Another new modular housing unit of 58 new beds quietly opened up in our backyard close to the Nanaimo Street Skytrain station, and yesterday I was lucky enough to be able to pass along 58 pairs of hand knit socks for each resident, that have been collected from community members over the past year.

Naomi Place opened two months ago with 58 studio homes, including six which are wheelchair accessible, and all are self-contained dwellings with a private bathroom and kitchen. We are so happy to be able share the love of handknits with the new residents of this supportive housing building.

Check out all of these beautiful unique socks…

And a great representation of our community working together are these socks, which come from donated sock yarn that was then cranked into tubes at our voluntary circular sock machine hands-on demo after which volunteers hand knit the toes, cuff and heels into pairs of socks… how great is that?!

Thank you to everyone who donated their yarn, time and effort into this project; we are starting another collection of handknit socks again (we already have 8 collected) towards a goal of 52 more pairs for another temporary modular housing unit in the downtown eastside. Please join in this collaboration with a donation of whatever you choose to give!

While we all stay a little closer to home this summer we are excited to offer two new project based Online classes with Rebecca to inspire your creativity.  These classes will teach new techniques on fun, portable summer projects as well as providing an overview of how to apply these new techniques to other knits.

In June Rebecca will be teaching Beyond the Basics: Basic Lacework in which you work together on Market Tote.   It is the perfect summer project, knit with cotton and ready to take with you to the local farmer’s market or beach.

Beyond the Basics: Basic Lacework – Online via ZOOM

Market totes are both the perfect summer project and summer accessory. In this four week class you will be working together on the lovely Daisy Market Bag by Rebecca Coday.

Techniques that will be covered are knitting the round, picking up stitches, decreasing, eyelet/lace work with written instructions and the I-cord bind off.

Suitable for: Advanced Beginner

Skills Needed: Knit, purl, cast on and bind off.

COST: $75.00 (+tax)

DATES: Saturdays June 13, 20, 27th and July 4th from 2:00-3:30pm.

To register call 604-255-2577, or register online here!

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In July’s class, Beyond the Basics: Into to Colourwork, you will be will introduced to Fair lsle Knitting while you work together on the fabulous Clayoquot Toque by local designers Tin Can Knits.  “This modern fair-isle hat is a great ‘blank canvas’ for testing yarns and colour combinations.”  Tin Can Knits.   

Rebecca has been knitting since she was 7 years old and has always had a love for textiles and colour. Teaching people how to knit and crochet expresses one of her greatest joys; sharing her creativity and passion with people. Originally from the UK, she has called Vancouver her home for the last 5 years. 

Our Sunday tradition continues and this time our treat to you affords the opportunity to stock up on some summer knitting yarn! We have a self-stripping cotton DK would traditionally lend itself to simple shawls or baby clothes, but it would also be the perfect yarn for this summer’s hit knit: the various Ripple handknits by Jessie Maed Designs.

Today only get 40% off our collection of Uneek Cotton: originally $19.95/skein down to $11.95 for 100g/ 251 meters(275 yards):

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Check out how this yarn stripes up as you knit:

Enjoy your Sunday, and be sure to check back every Sunday for your weekly pick-me-up!

We will weather this together, as we are stronger as a community.

These are the skeins you are looking for. Though Star Wars Day was earlier this month, it’s still May and who wouldn’t be excited about knitting up a new pair of socks in a colourway called Tatooine? Or maybe the gamer in you would prefer Pokemon, The Legend of Zelda, or World of Warcraft inspired colourways? Or maybe the one called David Bowie? Another new yarn line for spring has arrived and can be found in our online store: Black Cat Custom Yarn Everyday Sock in eleven colours, and they’re all shades of awesome.

BROWSE HERE

Black Cat Custom Yarn is another of our gorgeous local indie hand dyed in in Chilliwack, BC, and every batch is one-of-a-kind! This 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon blend fingering-weight yarn is fun and versatile for a variety of projects. Sarah, our store manager, has been knitting up the pair of socks pictured below in the Starforce colourway. The pattern is King Edmund the Just by Becky Greene and we love the subtlety of all of those gorgeous greens together.

Black Cat Custom Yarn in the Starforce colourway. 

Everyday Sock base:

• Fibre:  80% Superwash Merino / 20% Nylon
• Gauge:  30 – 36 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm)
• Needles:  2.0 – 2.25 mm (US 0 – 1)
• Weight: Fingering (1)
• Length:  115 g / 400 yards (366 m)

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Black Cat Custom Yarn colourways from left-right: Espeon (Pokemon), Jolteon (Pokemon), Link (The Legend of Zelda), Frozen Throne (World of Warcraft).

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We are dreaming of the David Bowie colourway and how awesome it will be to knit it up into a pair of socks that put a little Ziggy Stardust in our step. While socks might also come to mind for you, the vibrancy of the Black Cat colourways lend themselves perfectly to shawls and other accessories (we’re looking at you Stephen West patterns!). What’s not to love about how Stephen West plays with colour, texture and design? If you’re new to Stephen West’s designs treat yourself to a browse through his Ravelry patterns, they’ll have you looking at colour possibilities in a new and exciting way. His Texture Time shawl has long been a favourite and so many of these colourways would be perfect accents for his shawls, like Sedona and Espeon.

Black Cat Custom Yarn in colourways Roaring 20s (left) and David Bowie (right)

You can purchase your Black Cat Custom Yarn in the online store or you can call us between 11am-2pm each day to place an order over the phone. While Baaad Anna’s is still closed to the public we are continuing to offer inclusive shipping options as well as curbside pick up.

This is week it seemed to sink in how much of a long game this situation will be. We are happy to offer another amazing local (Canadian) hand dyer for our weekly pick me up, so we hope this week’s one-day sale every Sunday might act as a treat to all of the makers out there that deserve something special.

This week we will offer our entire remaining stock of Lichen & Lace at 40% off.

Enjoy your Sunday! We will weather this together, as we are stronger as a community.

We’ve been having a lot of discussion behind the scenes with our staff as to how we are feeling about the slowly expanding bubble amidst the unclear unfolding of spring and summer here in Vancouver. We want to start with a hearty THANK YOU for supporting us through shopping in our online store and connecting with us by phone or curbside at a distance… we are sincerely grateful for the support we receive and hopefully in turn are able are able to give to the community.

Me and others of our team have children underfoot at home going squirrelly, while others are living and playing with immune-compromised loved ones in our bubbles. We would all like to return to some semblance of normalcy, but alas we are in it for the long game. As such we are committed to keeping our storefront closed to minimize exposure to both our staff and the yarns and fibre art materials that go out from our shop. Without a glass ball and some magic we are unable to foresee how long this will need to remain, but safety is of utmost concern so for the time being so for now until the end of June we will continue to serve our community with our online store and via phone in/curbside ordering.

This limits the amount of browsing, returns/exchanges and special requests we can offer, although we have a wide range of unique buying arrangements we can offer. Over the past two months we have delivered to doorsteps, done window-shopping-real-time-phone-orders, played pattern/yarn match-maker, partnered with local designer to provide access to classes via online delivery, and offered some head turning flash sales.

We intend to continue using our out-of-the-box brainstorming to provide more access to fibre arts over the upcoming summer months as vacay planning also becomes more creative. In turn we ask that you consider supporting small and local over the upcoming slow season for knitters; if there have been any lovelies you have been eyeing for that special special project, maybe now is a good time to consider taking the plunge? Staycations have never looked so good!

What we can offer:

* Most of our store is available online with real-time stock availability at www.baaadannas.store

* Staff are on call from11am to 2pm EVERY DAY of the week for phone-in yarn choice help or immediate ordering

* We are providing curb-side pickup for both online and phone in orders, much of which same-day!

* There will be a SURPRISE sale every Sunday which goes live in our online store at midnight for 24 hours

* Free winding upon request on any order (note: wound yarn cannot be returned)

* We can put a selection of yarns in the window for live-by-phone window shopping at 604 255 2577

* Our staff can take and send photos of yarn colours of our current inventory

* Gift certificates

* Some local delivery of items with paid shipping to minimize the number of hands a package goes through

* A full array of knitting, crocheting and felting classes

* Weekly rentals of spinning wheels, knitter’s looms, swifts, winders and wheel carders still available

What we can not offer that this time:

* In store browsing

* Returns or exchanges; any item we normally offer returns or exchanges on as-new yarn and we will honour a six month window for these to happen once the store front opens

* Gift certificates cannot be redeemed in our online store; please call in your purchase in our phone-in hours with GC number

* Cash payments

* Paypal doesn’t offer payment via debit, and unfortunately we are not letting people into the store to ‘tap’; if you do not have a credit card, please call on Thursdays from 11am to 2pm on the day the owner is in to discuss options.

(we will update this list as our situation changes; last updated May 22/20)

Thank you for your support of local and shopping family owned!

Ready to clean up or try your first SHORT ROW? Designer Holli Yeoh is here to help with a three hour workshop tomorrow!

ADVANCED BEGINNER SHORT ROWS WORKSHOP with Holli Yeoh – ONLINE via Zoom

Photo courtesy of Holli Yeoh.

THIS IS AN ONLINE CLASS via ZOOM, so you will also need to have a decent internet connection and download the free ZOOM app. Instructions will be emailed before 1st class.

Learn several methods for working short rows and see how they compare so you can decide on your favourite method.  Features techniques found in the Ebb & Flow blanket and Eventide pullover.

Included will be the wrap and turn and Japanese short rows among other lesser known methods. The Ebb & Flow blanket from the book, Tempest is a wonderful beginner’s project for practicing short rows.

Skills needed:

Knit, purl, cast on and bind off —advanced beginner.

Materials Needed:

• Worsted weight plain wool in light to medium colour
• 4.5 mm (US 7) needles
• self-locking stitch markers
• basic knitter’s toolkit

Materials can be purchased at Baaad Anna’s Yarn Store.  (Current Canada Post shipping turnaround is min one week, please be sure to order supplies with enough time for them to arrive before the start of class; OR call (604) 255 2577 for more immediate curbside pickup which can be arranged any day between 11am-2pm)

DATE: Saturday May 23 from 9:30-12:30 PDT

COST: $95 (+tax)

Minimum 3 and max 12 participants

INSTRUCTOR: Holli Yeoh of Holli Yeoh Designs

Holli feels strongly about fine craftsmanship, believing that while there’s more than one right way to do things, it’s important to do it right! To this end, she teaches skills that enable knitters to feel justified pride in their finished objects, while accommodating different knitting styles and preferences. Students leave her workshops with an arsenal of valuable techniques, deep understanding of the choices to be made in knitting, and new confidence.

To register call 604-255-2577, or register online here!

Are you or someone you love ready to jump in to a summer of fibre arts but don’t know where to start? How about a three hour workshop this weekend that will teach you the basics of crochet and the world can be your oyster! This is a great time to encourage your friends and loved ones to join you on a summer of crochet, so join with a friend or give the give of the hook to someone you love!

BEGINNER CROCHET: SCRUBBY ONLINE via ZOOM

THIS IS AN ONLINE CLASS via ZOOM, so you will also need to have a decent internet connection and download the free ZOOM app. Instructions will be emailed before 1st class.

This is a beginner class for someone who has never crocheted before or is looking for a refresher. Participants will learn the basic stitches for crochet including; chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet & magic ring. The class project will be a reusable washcloth or face scrubby.

Materials Needed:

• One 5mm crochet hook
• Cotton worsted weight yarn, such as one ball of Sudz Crafting Cotton, available in Solid, Spay and Tonal.

MAY DATE: Saturday May 23 from 2:00-5:00pm PDT   ~ or ~

JUNE DATE: Sunday June 28 from 2:00-5:00pm PDT

COST: $45 (+tax) plus materials

Minimum 3 and maximum 6 participants

Instructor: Rebecca Glazier

Rebecca has been knitting since she was 7 years old and has always had a love for textiles and colour. Teaching people how to knit and crochet expresses one of her greatest joys; sharing her creativity and passion with people. Originally from the UK, she has called Vancouver her home for the last 5 years.

Happy Victoria Day weekend! To celebrate we want to spotlight one of our favorite Canadian yarn companies of the past: Americo Originals . Although this company is now retired, we still love a few of their yarn bases as a favorite go-to summer yarns.

So this weekend we offer all skeins of Americo Cotton Flamme at 50% off to start you on your summer knits! Check out some of their free patterns with purchase below that we will email out to each customer who makes an online purchase of this today!

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Americo Original Yarns was a Toronto-based small business that did all of their own sourcing, visiting the farms and mills that produce their yarn lines from Soth America! This gorgeous thick-thin 100% pima cotton knits up to produce a unique and stunning airy texture perfect for the warmer months. And Americo Originals was also an amazing brand because they provided free patterns with purchase for their unique yarns which I will pass along with purchase as well!

Check out this three skein Hawthorne Pullover:

Or this two skein summer Aspen Wrap...

Or this two skein wrap that was featured in Canadian Living magazine and is now available free here.

All of these patterns are easy beginner level because the textured yarn does the heavy lifting, and are great grab and go garments as the weather gets warmer in the weeks ahead!

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Enjoy your Sunday! We are still in this together, and we are stronger together as a community.

We are so excited to be to offering the following workshops and classes ONLINE via Zoom with amazing local designer,Holli Yeoh of Holli Yeoh Designs.

Holli feels strongly about fine craftsmanship, believing that while there’s more than one right way to do things, it’s important to do it right! To this end, she teaches skills that enable knitters to feel justified pride in their finished objects, while accommodating different knitting styles and preferences. Students leave her workshops with an arsenal of valuable techniques, deep understanding of the choices to be made in knitting, and new confidence.

Check out our array of classes we worked with Holli to make available worldwide through an online classroom; and share with any friends you know that would benefit from some refined crafting in their lives. Even better, do a class WITH a friend and rekindle some bonds over a set of needles!