6 AMAZING YARN SHOPS TO VISIT IN AUSTRALIA
If you’re a knitter you can’t miss out on an opportunity to check out local yarn shops on a trip for some souvenir yarn or souvenir stash! I wanted to share some of the amazing yarn shops and wool producers I visited on my recent tour of Australia teaching knitting workshops across the country for the whole month of August. While many of us in the northern hemisphere might hold the misconception that there isn’t much knitting happening in Australia because it would be too warm, well let me tell you that is false! Australia has many knitters and crocheters as well as creating lots of amazing yarn. Australia is known for being a large producer of merino yarn that comes in so many different styles and feels from matte velvet to a silky shiny feel- seriously that much variation depending on where the flock is raised! So if you’re tempted to plan a trip down under or you’re an Aussie knitter planning a trip to another state, let me share some shops to help plan your trip or new yarn crawl.
CALICO & IVY
Swanborne, Perth, WA
A wonderland for all your crafty needs from fabric for quilting and sewing garments/ clothes to yarn for knitting and crochet- there is something for every crafter! The lovely and friendly team at the shop have a range of skills in both knitting, crochet, quilting and sewing garments. They run regular knit and stitch gatherings midday and evenings multiple days during the week. The shop is a buzz of activity with people coming in to browse, shop and gather. It is a large and spacious shop with excellent lighting! There is a very well curated yarn selection with Australian merino yarn and hand dyers as well as curated yarns from abroad including some familiar to me like John Arbon Textiles.
The shop is located in a lovely area between the city centre and the cute port city of Fremantle (worth a visit). Easily accessible by train as the shop is just across the street from the station.
Australian yarn highlights
Cleckheaton midlands Merino 8ply (DK): a single origin mulesing free Merino from southern Tasmania. A super soft and round Merino yarn- perfect for anything next to the skin as it is so soft and squishy! Available in an earthy and jewel tone palette
Heirloom Merino Fleck 8ply (DK): a really nice tweedy Merino yarn. If you like the tweedy look with a soft feel this is the perfect yarn. The tweedy neps are in natural shades set against dyed base in a range of colours.
White Gum Wool 8ply (DK): this ethical mulesing free Merino is from a single flock of Merino in Tasmania’s Midlands cared for by a shepherdess. I love her statement that “happy sheep make happy yarn” - so true! This Merino is very unique as it have a velvet feel to it- not what you think of with Merino.
Millpost : a soft DK Merino yarn from a family farm in the Southern Tablelands of NSW. This yarn has seriously strong stitch definition! My students used it in the Baltic Braids and Vikkel twisted stitches workshops and those braids and twisted stitches really popped from the roundness of the yarn.
YARN TRADER
Port Adelaide, Adelaide, SA
This is a yarn haven in South Australia located in charming Port Adelaide. It is just a 20 minute drive or train ride from the CBD (downtown Adelaide). The shop carries an array of yarns as well as lovely and funny accessories – think cute project bags with pun quotes. For yarn, you’ll find well known hand dyers from abroad like Uschitita and Hedgehog Fibers alongside local indie dyers and producers. The shop is located in an old historic building with large widows filling the space with natural light for checking out great yarn colour combinations and a large space in the back for workshops. Yarn Trader run a wide variety of workshops and fun social events working with their neighbouring small businesses and cafes.
Australian yarn highlights
Nomad Farms 8ply (DK): This is a naturally dyed Polwarth yarn from a flock outside of Adelaide (about 1.5hrs by car). Verity is the woman behind the brand, shepherdess and dyer. The yarn is spun in the neighbouring state of Victoria. It is a plush, round non-superwash yarn that has amazing stitch definition. I had several students using this wonderful yarn for their workshop swatches and the vikkel twisted stitches and knit braids really popped with this yarn!
Cola Girl Collective: This brand is dyed locally in Adelaide by Nicole who you will also find working in Yarn Trader. She creates a nice mix of speckled and semi solid colours dyed on Australian merino.
Circus Tonic Handmade: Hannah Grin is a local Adelaide dyer who creates gorgeous fade sets and soft as well as rich shades across a number of bases under her brand Circus Tonic Handmade. She dyes on bases like merino, yak, and possum blends.
SUNSPUN
Canterbury, Melbourne, VIC
A cozy shop in Canterbury, a suburb outside of downtown Melbourne. You’ll find a nicely curated selection of yarns with a wide array of fluff options for all the mohair and fluffy yarn lovers. There is a great selection of favourite Danish brands Isager and Knitting for Olive. What is lovely is that beside the stocked cube shelves of yarn are long scarf swatches of each of the yarns for customers to get a sense of how the yarn knits up. The staff and owner Virginia use a skein of each line of yarn to knit a stockinette scarf swatch. You’ll also find a little QR code next to the label for each yarn on all the shelves with a link to the yarn on the website for further information about the yarn and pattern suggestions when you need some ideas.
The shop is located a short 5 minute walk from the Canterbury train station with train lines running into downtown Melbourne’s Flinders Station.
Australian yarn and some New Zealand yarn hightlights
Zealana Air & Rimu: These are brushed possum and wool blends from New Zealand. Rimu is a DK weight possum and merino blend and Air is a lace weight possum, cashmere and mulberry silk blend. These yarns a super warm and light weight with a slight halo, all characteristics from the possum fibres. The possum fibres give the colours a slightly heathered and smokey look as the natural colour is a grey beige similar to yak.
White Gum Wool 5ply (sport) Silk Merino: From the same brand and Tasmanian shepherdess as the lovely 8ply DK I found at Calico and Ivy, this is a light and shiner weight yarn. The added silk to the the blend of velvety merino gives the yarn a lovely shine and more silky feel to it. It comes in a range of dyed colours which would compliment any natural shades for some colourwork or roosimine.
TARNWARNCOORT
Warncoort, VIC
Located in rural Victoria just a short drive (about 5-10 minutes) from the cute small town Birregurra (a 2 hour train ride from Melbourne). Tarnwarncoort is a homestead from the 1840s with a heritage flock of Polwarth sheep. This flock is used to create Tarnwarncoort’s beautiful Polwarth yarn in a 4ply and 8ply (DK) weights with both hand dyed and commercially dyed ranges. The yarn is created from 3 natural shades of Polwarth – cream, light taupe and a slightly darker brown. It’s a really nice super soft non-superwash yarn that is round and squishy. It has great stitch definition making it great for braids.
It is a family business that has been passed down generation to generation currently run by Tom and his partner Jason. Tarnwarncoort is a homestead and farm that you can visit and even stay for a short holiday in one of their luxury accomodations on the property. They have a wool shop on site where you can find loads of wonderful Polwarth yarn made from the sheep in the surrounding fields. Your purchases of wool (including my maybe large Tarndie stash haul) helps to continue the preservation and maintenance of the homestead as well as continuing the heritage of the Polwarth flock.
GRUMPY GINGER YARN CO
Wyong, NSW
This shop is home to a wide array of special hand dyed yarns by Aussie dyers both local and from other states as well as a few international dyers from Canada. Their passion is special hand dyed yarns on array of fibres. You can see the hand dyed yarn in all its glory displayed on all the walls of a room in the converted worker’s cottage where the shop is located. The large expanse of walls covered in hand dyed is affectionately referred to as “the great wall of skeins”. Grumpy Ginger Yarn Co. owner Aleashia along with her team run wonderful social events bringing the community together as well as neighbouring small businesses.
Left to right: Great Southern Yarn, Three Trees Fibrecrafts Polwarth minis and Possum Merino blend
Australian yarn hightlights
Great Southern Yarn: This is the sister brand to Grumpy Ginger Yarn Co. Owner Aleashia and her husband Jarrad bought the yarn brand after opening Grumpy Ginger Yarn Co to breath new life into a loved Australian yarn brand. Great Southern Yarn is a super soft non-superwash SRS (soft roll skin) merino that is mulesing free. The merino is sourced from a farm in NSW and spun in New Zealand. It is next to skin soft! Aleashia and Jarrad then hand dye all the yarn in their small dye studio in their beautiful garden creating an array of semi solid and variegated colours.
Three Tree Fibre Crafts: Rhonda is a local NSW hand dyer who dyes rich semi solid and variegated colours on an array of bases. She has a possum base that is stunning with a subtle halo and super light weight while being chunky. Rhonda also dyes non-superwash Polwarth mini skeins that I fell for as I think they would be great for some roosimine.
SKEIN SISTERS
Dulwich Hills, Sydney, NSW
This shop is conveniently located in Sydney not far from the airport and a short (10 minute) walk from the light rail/ tram line (Dulwich Grove station). In the shop you’ll find a variety of yarns from local hand dyed Skein Sisters brand as well as favourite imported yarn. The Skein Sisters Janine and Deb have created a colourful space where you can catch them chatting about their new projects with knitters in person as well as their short videos on Instagram. There is also lots of comfy seating for their knit nights or just taking a pause to decide yarn for your next project.
Australian yarn hightlights
Skein Sisters: This is the inhouse yarn brand for the Skein Sisters shop. The colours are developed and hand dyed by the niece of one of the owner’s on Australian merino. You’ll find an array of semi solids and variegated yarns in palette that beautifully spans bright bold neon like colours to softer muted tones. They have 2 bases: a 4ply sock yarn and a 4ply fingering single ply yarn.
Hopefully that has you dreaming of planning your own Australian yarn crawl or maybe a bit of stash enhancement!
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