Vancouver Yarn Tour

On Monday 9^th March, an orchestra landed in Vancouver to start a three week concert tour across North America. 

In its midst were three, very switched on musician-knitters intent on taking in as much of the local knit shop culture as possible within the constraints of their schedule (Tuesday 10th March).

So, being a Project Manager by profession, I thought it best to get organised. In Vancouver (the city itself rather than suburbs or surrounding area), there are a number of places that I have found to trawl for yarn and fibre:

1. Sweet Georgia Yarn Studio, 4th & Main (Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays)
   
2. Birkeland Bros Wool, Main
   
3. Three Bags Full, Main (Closed on Tuesdays)
   
4. Urban Yarns, W10th
   
5. HomeCraft Importers, W4th
   
6. Maiwa Handprints Supplies, Granville Island
   
7. Silk Weaving Studio, Granville Island, primarily weaving but some hand dyed knitting silks too – this is a new addition to the list!
   

I have created a Google Map to show you where these places are (approximately). If you are passing through Vancouver, you should be able to print out a printer-friendly copy of this map to wave under your tour guide or cabbie's nose.  You may need to zoom out to see all of the placemarkers!

View Larger Map

Just as a small disclaimer I have not listed these places in any order of preference - they all have their own unique style and merit - and this list is not guaranteed to be complete!

I have listed these places in a suggested order of viewing. Just in terms of what might make a logical yarn crawl day out in Vancouver. How much you can pack into a single day though is really down to your own individual pace and endurance!

Here is how the day panned out for us - timings are approximate and include travel between woolly venues.

10:30:  I picked up Klozknitz, Flautogirl and E from their hotel downtown

11:00: Sweet Georgia Yarns

The day that we were there, Felicia was sorting out one her Fibre Club parcels, I believe that the colourway is called Gum Drops.  okay, so I may have come away with a bit of sparkly carded roving!

12:00: Birkeland Bros Wool

Birkeland Bros is well worth a visit, even if it is just for a glipse of the huge carding machine at the back of the shop! From the look of that swift in action, I think that a canny knitter or two may have snagged themselves some skeins of bargain Fleece Artist and Handmaiden yarn?!

13:00: Drive past 3BF as it is Tuesday and they are shut. It is a must if you are in town on any other day (selection of yarn available and the lovely people who work there)

13:30: Lunch at Burgoos.  Yummy and conveniently across the street from Urban Yarns!

14:30: Urban Yarns

More yarn, project and book fondling plus purchases ensued!

15:30: Photo Opportunity on Spanish Bank

Can anyone spot the odd knit blogger and Facebook user amongst my tour party?!  

15:45: Skipped Home Importers - I estimated that jetlag was starting to take its toll!

16:00: Maiwa Handprint Supplies

17:00: Bridges Bar and Restaurant

There's nothing quite like a good end of tour drink and drool over stash before heading home!

The full slideshow of the photos from the yarn tour are here on Flickr!

It was a really excellent day out in fabulous company. Actually, at that point, Klozknitz was the first person from home (sort of) that I had seen since I arrived in Vancouver. It was just so good to see her and chat about things that we both knew, without needing to give any additional explanation e.g. I-Knit - shop, days etc. It really underlined how much I miss everyone from home.

Klozknitz has documented her travels on her blog, if you would like to see how 3 musician knitters can squeeze 21,445 miles, 11 flights, 14 concerts and 14 yarn stores into a three week orchestra tour! 

My apologies to my tour party for taking so long to post these pictures plus their poor quality – I have done my best to recover them in Photoshop. When I got home and reviewed the images from our day out, I realised that I had a serious problem with my camera and its lens!