Baaad Anna's Yarn Store

For the yarn lover that has a satisfying stash, we have a lot of gift ideas to add to your wish list. We countdown our top five favorites…

#5: Put a pom pom on it! We have locally hand-made pom poms that match any yarn or finished project; if you need a quick gift for a knitter or crocheter in your life, you can’t go wrong with a nice worsted or bulky skein with a matching pom pom! Prices range from $11.95-15.95/each.

#4: All of your holiday/birthday/anniversary shopping in a box! If you need some self-spoiling, or a last minute (pre-wrapped) gift perfect for the yarn-lover in your life (or you?!), we still have a few more 12 Days of Knitmas boxed gift sets in store and online. Includes 12 pre-wrapped tools, mini-kits and yarn curated by a yarn-lover for a yarn-lover. Price: $175.00 filled with items of over $210 retail value.

#3: We pride ourselves on supporting local fibre arts talent, and these gorgeous felt buntings are hand-made by one of our own community. Garnish a gorgeous hand-knit baby gift with a small bunting of hearts, moon phases or clouds/shooting stars to brighten any winter-lit room. Price $23.95.

#2: A Canadian Classic: the Saltwater Mittens from Newfoundland and other traditional East Coast patterns can be found in this new book by Christine LeGrow and Shirley A. Scott. Knit in Briggs and Little Sport and Regal which we stock for $8/100g these gorgeous knitware of Canadian lore are affordable and historically classic. Price $29.95.

#1: One of my fav non-yarnie stocking stuffers are these felted handmade soaps from Sarah Elizabeth Fibre Arts. With natural anti-bacterial properties, felted soaps provide a built-in scrubbie and help the artisan soap last longer.  Price $12.95.

Every year Baaad Anna’s puts an open call in December for donations of warm things to be distributed to those in need in Vancouver’s downtown east side. We ask for any good condition pre-loved or purpose-made warm winter items that are not in use in your household such as hats, mitts, scarves or sweaters/hoodies.

As this weekend is our final Give Back Sunday event of the year and will be happening from 1-3pm , this would be a great launch for our month of giving. Come and knit, crochet and craft something for others; it can be anything of your choosing.

We have already been collecting warm winter items throughout the year, and have become a drop-off hub for knitters near and far mostly due to our monthly Give Back Sunday events. Check out this amazing array of knitted goods already collected:

This year we are also joining forces with the amazing students of David Thompson Secondary School’s Hunger Bites project who have taken up knitting needles to work on a warm things donation drive of their own to the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre. We will team up with the Hunger Bites team to make our collective donation this year; and these amazing youth have been gifted yarn donations from many of you who have upcycled your unloved yarns with us over the past few months!

30 pairs already collected and counting… be sure to add yours!

We have also been quietly aiming towards another goal of 52 pairs of socks to donate to another of Vancouver’s Modular Housing projects; this time to the Nora Hendrix Place Temporary Modular Housing which prioritizes Black and Indigenous individuals and opened its in March to 52 residents. We have already collected over half of the 52 needed, from our ‘KnitCity Free Yarn’ giveaway and our Circular Sock Machine hands-on demo! We are hoping to make the goal before Christmas so we could make the donation to Nora Hendrix house for the holidays, and last year we received a record number of sock donations in person and by mail with our holiday call out. Please share any unloved or purpose made handknit so we can reach this goal together!

Awesome signage from last year’s holiday Modular House sock drive.

December may have snuck up on us, but we are still all prepped to get your holiday crafting on. A good time to learn to needle felt, crochet, weave or join us for a yarn tasting.

FRAME WEAVING WORKSHOP

This is a 3-hour workshop with all materials included; and you get to take home the loom, instructions booklet and starter kit.

This one day workshop will open up a world of creativity and leave you with gift of an art piece to take home. You will learn various hands-on weaving techniques on a portable frame loom which you get to keep.

Minimum 2 participants; maximum 10.

DECEMBER DATE: Sunday December 15th from 3:00-6:00pm

COST: $135 (+tax) includes all materials and a frame weaving loom (valued $57) to keep

INSTRUCTOR: Serah Hedin

To register visit us in store, call 604-255-2577, or register online here to reserve your spot!

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WINTER YARN TASTING

Join us on Saturday evening Dec 14th for an evening of yarn mini sampling, pattern discussions and treats. We’ve brought in a lot of new yarns over the Fall and this will be an evening of exploring what colour lines and properties of the many new yarn choices in store!

What is a yarn tasting?

This will be a sit-down event with some refreshments, hands-on knitting and good company! Your reservation will include five mini-skeins from some of our favorite dyers and farmers: Suburban Stitcher, Ancient Art’s newest rare breed base, Isis Fibre Arts, Okanagan Yarn & Fibre and Longway Homestead! Compare different yarn weights and fibre content head to head while knitting up a simple pattern or swatch square.

What: Fall Yarn Tasting Event at Baaad Anna’s Yarn Store

When: Saturday, December 14th 2019

Time: 7:00pm – 9:30

$25 per person; Max 20 participants

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LEARN TO NEEDLE FELT

And there’s only one spot left for our Intro to Needle Felting class! Come by for a 2 hour workshop to learn a new art! Needle felting is quick and fun way to create three dimensional fibre art pieces.

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LEARN TO CROCHET: ONE DAY SCRUBBY WORKSHOP

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.

On this Small Business Saturday I want to take a minute to contemplate our role as retailers and consumers as a local yarn store. Baaad Anna’s was established ten  years ago, around the same time as the ‘Small Business Saturday’ mandate, specifically to serve a niche of creating a community space for diverse crafters, parents, artists and non-conformist knitters in our neighbourhood. As we have broadened our reach we continue that mandate with an aim to strength the greater fibre arts community with open-source resources through building connections amongst fibre artists of all skills.

This aim to strengthen community also determines the choice of stock we hold and our commitment to local and independent dyers and suppliers. The list of Canadian dyers we currently stock listed for our current Anything But Black Friday event is our small way of supporting other independent fibre arts businesses, and hopefully strengthening our Canadian fibre shed.

Both we as a small business, and you as a fibre artist have the power to choose to join in the strengthening of our community, by taking the time to contemplate your consumer decisions.

Here’s some additional food for thought on what brings such pretty yarns and fibres into our lives:

Ash’s adventures in the Canadian Fibreshed: natural dyer, designer and well-round fibre artist Ash Alberg of Sunflowerknit yarns has some amazing blogs to bring some mindfulness to the local yarn creation process.

On this week’s IG post they question the impact of hand-dyeing on her body and its potential longevity.

Anna Hunter’s adventures in moving back to the land and discussing the true cost of choosing wool in her Long Way Homestead blog is a reflection of her commitment to continuously advocate and educate fibre artists on their tools and impact.

And local indie dyer Heidi Braax of Vegan Yarns who has committed to compassionate fibre art through her ethical vegan yarn supply/hand-dye studio shares the trials of balancing a small business built on passion with the daily requirements thrown at a mother, artist and small business owner.

I am proud to call these amazing women my friends; follow and support these and the many other fine small business owners both in the fibre arts world and beyond, because beyond the economics of their offers they are who make the world around us a community.

We are celebrating the Small Business weekend with a celebration of Canadian indie dyers with our Anything But Black Friday event:

20% off yarn from all Canadian Indie dyer from Fri- Sun!

Starting online at midnight early Friday morning, and in-store through our regular weekend hours of 11am – 6pm we will have all of our hand-dyed yarns from Canadian Indie Dyers on sale for 20% off; right through to Sunday night! It is our thank you for supporting so much local talent, and choosing to support local businesses such as these listed above, as well as our little LYS!

Check out the diversity of Canadian talent that is represented at Baaad Anna’s:

Browse through all of these gorgeous yarns here!

There’s nothing better than finding the perfect finishing touch on a project you put your love into. And how better to do that than with a local hand crafted animal-friendly pompom? Yarnboler has been perfecting the art of the topper by visiting high-end fabric suppliers in Toronto’s Garment district to track down the most gorgeous faux furs to create her handmade pompoms. And hailing from the North Shore she is possibly one of our localist local suppliers!

Check out how this pack of three snap-on pompoms that can be interchanged in the flick of a wrist create a completely different look to your handknit. You can wear a very neutral hat that means business in the daytime and switch to a pretty-in-pink look in the afternoon if the moment grabs you… how fun is that?

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Also brand new for the season, let me present these non-breakable baubles that can smarten up any occasion with this awesome Baaad Anna’s and Yarnboler collaboration: Holiday Decor Pompoms, specifically in our Baaad Anna’s custom red and white colourways!

And an added bonus: These can also be tied onto any hat, knit or bag as a perfect finishing piece once you no longer want to use it as home decor! These will be available in store and online within the next week in 3-packs just in time for the start of December!

Why not add some local flair as your finishing touch this year with one, two or three amazing Yarnboler pompoms… available here!

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One of the wonderful parts of knitting is the ability to play with colours, adding pops and highlights or tonal gradients that please the eye. There have been a number of dyers recently offering colour combinations of 10g or 20g mini skeins that both help with colour matching as well as curb the need to purchase multiple full-sized skeins for smaller sections of colours.

One of our recent additions to our mini skein offerings is from one of our favorite Canadian dyers, Lichen and Lace who has paired up unique saturation-matched mix of colours that only require the knitter to decide on a coordinating main colour for their piece! Check out these amazing combinations!

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We’ve stocked this beautiful yarn line from Sackville, New Brunswick for over a year and have been fans of Lichen and Lace since first setting eyes on this indie dyer’s work. Megan describes her work as “hand dyed yarns inspired by the land and sea” and we feel it beautifully representing both Canadian coastlines!

In these sets there are seven mini skeins each of 20 grams/73 yards for a total of 140 grams/511 yards per set.

Fibres:  80% Superwash Merino / 20% Nylon
Gauge:  28 stitches = 4 inches (10 cm)
Needles:  2.0 – 4.5 mm (US 0 – 7)
Weight:  Fingering (1)
Length:  7 x 20 g / 43 yards (67 m) = 140 g / 511 yards (467 m)

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We also topped up on a few a few of Lichen and Lace skeins of Marsh Mohair, her 72% kid mohair mixed with 28% silk. The colours delicately dance on this simmering base like light reflected on water, and we can’t help but want to mix the mohair blends with merino fingering into all knits! These are not available yet in our online store so come in and play with colours with us!

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Now’s your chance! Two week workshop, starting this Saturday morning!

INTRO TO WHEEL SPINNING

This is a two day beginner spinning class using an Ashford Kiwi Wheel, and includes equipment rental for a 10 day period.  Participants will learn how to set up and use the equipment. All materials included ($40 reduction in cost if you have your own Ashford Wheel). Minimum 2 and maximum 4 participants.

Materials (INCLUDED): Participants will receive a three week rental of an Ashford Two Treadle Kiwi Spinning Wheel and 100 grams of Corriedale wool in two colours of your choice.

NOVEMBER DATES: Saturday, November 23rd & 30th. 9:30-11:30 a.m.

COST: $135 (+tax) plus $80 deposit on the Spinning wheel

INSTRUCTOR: Ruth Griffiths

To register visit us in store, call 604-255-2577, or register online here to reserve your spot!

Anyone starting to feel the holiday spirit? Have you heard your first Christmas song on the elevator?? Maybe now’s the time to start thinking about how you want to treat yourself over the start of the colder months…

Baaad Anna’s is proud to launch our 2019 edition of the 12 DAYS OF KNITMAS knitty advent calendar!

The 2019 Baaad Anna’s 12 Days of Knitmas advent calendar has all new items and includes a focus on local this year with TWO full skeins of Canadian hand-dyed yarn. The rest of the gifts are yarn tools, quick craft kits or whimsical knit related items curated for the yarn lover, by a yarn lover.

With 12 presents for the yarn enthusiast, this is a great way to treat yourself or a loved one to a hand-wrapped collection of specially designed and picked yarn-lover gifts. Curated by staff at Baaad Anna’s this will include knit /crochet tools, yarny surprises (including two full skeins of some of my favorite Canadian yarn!).  Only a limited number of these will be available, so spoil yourself before they are gone! Great for a holiday gift, but savvy-loved ones have been known to purchase these as b-day presents, anniversary gifts or I-finally-found-the-perfect-something somethings for the yarn lover in their lives.

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The 2019 Baaad Anna’s 12 Days of Knitmas advent calendar has a limited run, and will be available both in-store and online. And as our online store has free shipping for all orders over $200, you are on your way to getting your holiday shopping done in one browse through our online store!

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If you want to peak at what was included in our previous year’s 12 Days, check us out on Instagram at #baaadannas12days or check out last year’s post here. These are ready now for immediate shipping or in-store pickup.

This year you can choose between NEUTRAL, BOLD or SURPRISE ME colourways.

PLEASE NOTE:  Any pictures of open advent gifts are from the 2018 and 2017 advent calendar; this year’s calendar includes a completely new set of gifts. Check out last year’s reveals on IG #baaadannas12days

Happy Remembrance Day. Please spend the morning with those you love knowing the sacrifices made by fellow Canadians. We are only open in the afternoon from 1-6pm on the 11th.