Baaad Anna's Yarn Store

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 to celebrate the spirit of the season we would like to offer 15% off your ENTIRE PURCHASE in store from 1-6pm on Boxing Day (December 26th) WITH A DONATION OF ANY THREE OF THE FOLLOWING REQUESTED FOOD ITEMS for the Vancouver Food Bank:

Bring some food donations by and we will be happy to offer you 15% off your total at the till! 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:
Tuesday Dec 24: 11am-4:30pm
Wednesday Dec 25: CLOSED
Thursday Dec 26: 1-6pm
Friday Dec 27: 11am-6pm
Saturday Dec 28: 11am-6pm
Sunday Dec 29: 11am-4pm
Monday Dec 30: 1-4:30pm
Tuesday Dec 31: 11am-3pm
Wednesday Jan 1: CLOSED

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

We have been so thrilled with the response to this year’s Warm Things Drive as just in the first three weeks of the month we have been able to donate:

• This selection of scarves, wraps and shawls to the Hunger Bites knit club of David Thompson Secondary School to add to their donation to the Downtown Eastside Womens’ Centre

• 46 hats to tə cecəw (The Beach) in the Little Mountain Temporary Modular Housing in the Little Mountain (near Main St & 33rd) area of Vancouver

• 52 hats to the Hummingbird Place Temporary Modular Housing in the Olympic Village area of Vancouver

And we have collected 45 pairs of socks to date towards our goal of 52 pairs for each of the residents of the Nora Hendrix Place Temporary Modular Housing in the DTES/Chinatown area of Vancouver which prioritizes Black and Indigenous individuals.

I know there’s additional donations of scarves, hats, and shawls already made and we will post more after the holidays as to where they have found a home! And as always we will continue to collect any underloved handknits all year round for distribution amongst those in need.

Thank you to everyone in our community that thinks of others need for warm head, feet and hearts at this chilly time of year. This is what truly makes us a community, regardless of where one calls home. Happy holidays!

For the yarn lover that has a satisfying stash, we have more gift ideas that you can’t find at other yarn stores to add to your wish list. We countdown our top seven favorites for the week leading up to Knitmas…

#7: THIS JUST IN! Yesterday we opened a package of this amazing new 100% organic cotton bedding in Twin, Queen or King-size (with pillows). Duvet cover set with photographic print comes in soft percaline cotton with a thread count of 160 designed in Amsterdam and made in Portugal. Get your oversized comfy knit with NO PILLING guaranteed!

King $230; Queen $215; Twin $190 (but we only have one of each size available; pre-orders for a early Jan order are also being taken)

#6: Have you ever had the chance to use hand woven tea-towels in your kitchen? They are gorgeous, absorbent and can thrown in the washer and dryer to come out as pretty as ever. Purchased on our travels during our summer yarny roadtripping , these come from the Kootenays and the lovely ladies of the Selkirk Weavers and Spinners Guild.

Price: $70

#5: A affordable bit of luxury: Our collaboration yarn Baaad Sarah’s was launched in the Fall to make local Canadian hand dyed yarn accessible to all fibre artists! Check out what Baaad Anna’s and Sarah Elizabeth Fibre Arts were able to achieve together!

Price: $15.95 for 100g of pure wool

#4: We put together two grab-and-go packages for the fibre artist in your life including one for ‘Every Yarnie’ and one for the ‘Sock Knitter’. An easy gift with a few staples and treats for any yarnie.

Price: ‘Every Yarnie Needs’ set $55; ‘Sock Lovers’ set $105

#3: Celebrating our love of self-striping socks, check out these hand-dyed Hogwarts, Cakes & Sprinkles and Foxy Gentlemen inspired stripes by Canadian dyer Yarn Enabler!

Price: $35.95/100g… enough for a pair of socks!

#2: For anyone interested in dappling in fibre arts as a new year’s resolution, there is no more immediately rewarding fibre art than needle felting. Here’s everything you need to get started!

Price: $73.00

#1: And we can’t forget our absolute favorite! A full wall of recently arrived sweater-quantity Hedgehog Fibre Arts in sooooo many colours! Yummmmm…

Price: $34.95/100g of BFL fingering weight.

Just a small selection of the wall of colours available… come in and see for yourself!

Many of these unique gifts are new for the holidays and are yet to be found in our online store, so if you are not able to make it in, but are interested in any of these awesome gift giving ideas, give us a call at 604 255 2577 and we can mail those out for you!

Hey lovely knitty community. I am wondering if I can ask for your help in this busy, busy season? Last year at this time of year we did a call-out for the last few pairs of hand-knit socks needed to complete a donation for a pair of socks to be donated to each resident of the Franklin Street Modular Housing, with the hope that we could deliver these before the holidays. This year we are three quarters to being able to do the same!

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 Nora Hendrix Place Modular Housing units opened its doors earlier this year to 52 homeless or marginally housed individuals from within our East Vancouver community. These units located in the Strathcona-Chinatown area are named after a local icon who always gave of herself and it has been said that what is most valued by these residents is keep the top and bottom warm: socks and hats which is definitely something we can help with!

38 pairs of socks complete to a goal of 52!

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!

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And for some additional good news we’ve already been able to put together holiday gift package of 46 hand knit hats to the tə cecəw (The Beach) Modular Housing units located at Little Mountian which opened its doors earlier this year to 46 homeless or marginally housed individuals from within our East Vancouver community. Look at all of the love and talent represented by this donation!

Thank you to our amazing community for their ongoing support and sharing of the love of hand knits!

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?

BUY NOW!

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!

BUY NOW!