Baaad Anna’s hit the road again with a 2018 edition of their Baaadass British Columbia Roadtrip in mid-June. We followed some of our steps from the 2017 Baaadass roadtrip and ventured into a few new corners of our beautiful province!

We brought along our treasured Wollmeise, and also a vast selection of our favorite brands and bases that are mostly unique to our store. In turn, we were introduced to some amazing yarn and fibre talent from across the province that we then brought back with us to Vancouver!

We hosted seven pop-up shops and a yarn tasting event on this year’s trip across BC’s Interior. We had the opportunity to partner with knitting/spinning/weaving guilds, fibre enthusiasts and even popped up at a farmer’s market. Here’s a photo-essay of some of the highlights of our 2000km journey!

Stop #0.5: Chilliwack

We started with an unexpected parking lot pop-up in Chilliwack upon request of one of our regulars who contacted us in hopes of fondling the Hedgehog Fibres. As it was her birthday weekend, we couldn’t say no. Always good fun sharing the love of pretty, pretty yarn!

Stop #1: Kelowna

Kelowna was our first scheduled stop on this trip specifically to join the city’s first annual fibre festival: Yarn Okanagan! The evening program included a wine knit night at a local vineyard, and the Saturday marketplace and classes turned out to be a smashing success. Kudos to the organizers of this year’s event and wishing you all the best in building this festival for years to come! Count us in!

We then took advantage of our day off to bike the entire 88km section of the Kettle Valley trail that runs from Kelowna to Pentiction! That’s one off the bucket list!

Stop #2: Penticton

The Penticton Beer Knit Night was our most hops-filled pop up shop! What a lovely group of ladies (and a few gents) that joined us for an evening of shopping and crafting in the brewing after-hours at Cannery Brewing!

Stop #3: Summerland

We returned to the Summerland Farmer’s Market for a repeat of last year’s fun. Word of mouth went out through local knitters and Facebook fibre art groups so we were able to add to the browsers of the eclectic collection of foods and handicrafts.

Stop #4: Oliver

We were introduced to an amazing new venue in Oliver by another of our local regulars. Maker Place is a mixed media fibre arts space hosted by master seamstress Dianne Gibson. We had a lively evening of yarn tasting where we shared the love of colours, textures and fibery possibilities!

And check out Dianne’s amazing Cat-bus which we got to stay the night in, right on the side of a vineyard!!!

Stop #5: Armstrong

Next we joined a number of Northern Okanagan and Shuswap spinners and weavers at The Homespun Haven, a gorgeous countryside store specializing in weaving yarn and spinning fibre. We managed a good three hours of a spin-in/knit group and pop-up before a glorious storm swept in fast and furious! Thank you Sharon for opening up your lovely farm with us!

And then we were off across Arrow Lake to head over to the Kootenays! I LOVE the small free-of-charge river ferries that connect these communities! I also want to take this opportunity to give kudos to my partner in crime, Lara H without whom this trip wouldn’t have happened!

Stop #6: Winlaw

We were invited by the Slocan Valley Needles Guild to host a show-and-tell style Trunk Show and had an educational evening all round. Housed in an old one-room schoolhouse, this is a perfect place to share the love learning new knitty tips and tricks; and did these ladies ever give me a schooling! Thank you!

Stop #7: Castlegar

Our stop in Castlegar marked our year anniversary return to the Doukhobor Discovery Centre joining the Selkirk Weavers and Spinners Guild at their year-end potluck. We got to catch up with some friendly familiar faces, and hopefully lure a few new attendees to the Lower Mainland in the Fall to join us at Knit City! You ladies are awesome!

Thank you to everyone that came out to meet us on our travels, and if you are in community that could use a visit from the Baaad Anna’s travelling pop-up, please contact us to brainstorm! We so very much enjoy the uncovering the hidden gems of our communities, and sharing expertise and talent of our shared fibre sheds!

Next up…

We will be heading out on our next short baaadass roadtrip this weekend to the first annual Saltspring Fibre Festival in the BC Gulf Islands. If you have a day this weekend to spare, it is a perfect daytrip from Victoria or Vancouver, so come join us for some fibre arts delights!