Valerie Baber Designs

Victory in Victoria, B.C…..Yarn finds of course!  One of my favourite things to do while on holidays is to check out the local knitting stores to see what they offer.  I find most knitting stores are very different and each have their own unique style and character.  I managed to squeeze in two fabulous knitting store visits while in Victoria, I wanted to see more of them, but that will have to be on my next trip.  You can only make your family wait so long before they get antsy.  You know how it is, “I will only be a few minutes”, turns into a few hours. LOL

The first store I sought out was the Beehive Wool Shop downtown Victoria.  It was just a few blocks away from where we were staying.  A beautiful walk along the downtown core of Victoria, B.C. with amazing architecture and interesting and unique stores and of course coffee shops!!  🙂  I walked into to this beautiful architectural building and was pleasantly surprised with the vast amount of various yarns.  This is a knitting store worthy of a visit and a great place to get your friends together and spend some time relishing over the unique and vast array of yarns and other wonderful accessories.  I personally have never been in a yarn store so large and I was in my glory.  Didn’t want to leave and could have easily spent the day there, or maybe the whole weekend. 🙂   Very friendly staff and everything you would need or want just waiting for you to enjoy.

Yarn was everywhere, but what impressed me the most was how organized it was.  The colours didn’t overwhelm you as they played amongst the store enticing you everywhere you turned.  It was like a work of art in front of you each skein and ball of yarn perfectly placed.  Sounds strange, but it was really very lovely just to look around and around.   Next visit I will be spending a lot more time in this wonderful wool store, it was like being in yarn heaven.  http://www.beehivewoolshop.com/

My goal was to find some locally made yarn that I could use in my Water Ways Collection I am currently working on for this Fall and Winter season.  It was an easy success at the Beehive Wool Shop.  I choose three different yarns all made in Canada as I wanted to add a local feel to this group of designs.  The 3 balls of yarn on the right are the Rowan Kidsilk Haze Glamour.  I just had to purchase these for me, hmmm what to make.  This yarn is absolutely beautiful to work with an added sequin nicely spaced.

On the top left the yarn is by Sweet Georgia Yarns and is hand painted in Vancouver, B.C.  I choose it as it has the wonderful greens and browns of the very large cedar trees in Victoria and Vancouver. Made with superwash merino wool and nylon.  I have always loved these amazing trees and the aroma that eludes from them.  I even put in a cedar deck at home just so I felt like I was near them.  Felicia, Sweet Georgia Designer of this wonderful yarn was inspired to make this colour way as: “Grouse is one of my favourites… it’s actually named for Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver. It’s where I first learned to snowboard and where my husband and I held our wedding reception two years ago. To me, it feels like an Emily Carr painting of the woods”.  http://www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com/

The skein below this one is by Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts, from the Calgary, Alberta, Canada region. This skein is the 100% Blueface Leicester fingerling weight in the Abalone colour way.  I purchased this skein to use for the amazing plant life in and out of the water ways and ocean.  I love finding out what other Artists are inspired by.  Caroline, the Artist who dyes this beautiful yarn, quoted:  “This is a very popular colour way and came about as part of my love of the west coast.   I called it Abalone as it is meant to capture something that feels sublimely west coast to me… Sea otters and shell fish!  I was particularly struck as a child by the idea of sea otters eating abalone while wound up in sea weed, and of course these shell fish are rare and desirable themselves, so put them together with sea otters and they are rather exciting.  And of course they have very pretty shells.  I remember the first time I saw an otter in the wild in the ocean – it was tremendously exciting as I had read about them as a child, but being a prairie girl I wasn’t able to just go see an otter.  When I saw the otters I was out canoeing on the ocean (no kayaks for us) and it was a gorgeous day.  We watched them playing for quite a while and it is a cherished memory.  We found shells on a little beach nearby later on.  So abalone the colour way captures the colours of the water, the trees on the shore, and of course the colours of something an otter really likes to eat!  http://ancientartsfibre.com/

I was excited to find that these Fibre Artists have a story behind their colour choices which are consistent with what I purchased them for.  They obviously do a great job at choosing their colour ways as I was instantly drawn to them all. Ancient Arts Fibre also has a wonderful collection of yarns that benefit rescue cats.  Be sure to visit her website for more information.

And the last skein is from Zen Yarn Garden, based in Ontario, Canada.  This wonderful yarn is a superwash merino wool, cashmere and nylon blend.  The colours will be perfect for the coral and other sea creatures alike of the West Coast.  Lisa quoted:  “most of our colourways are created to be complimentary, saturated and rich in colour so that’s our inspiration for the majority of them”.    http://www.zenyarngarden.co/

I wanted to support the local yarn Artists in my venture to design with a Water Way theme.  Check out these wonderful yarns and your local Fibre Artists to see what treasures you may find.  Be sure to visit the websites above and see what inspires their work and take a visit to the Beehive Wool store when you are in Victoria, B.C.

While in Victoria I found another local knitting store and spent some time looking at these amazing hand made clay buttons by a local Artist and of course bought more yarn! 🙂  I will blog that on another day.  As well we have a wonderful yarn local yarn store in Edmonton, River City Yarns, where I purchase many of my other unique yarns but I will save that visit preview for another day as I need some pictures of all their new yarns.  Check out their fabulous workshops at www.rivercityyarns.com

Off to be inspired by these amazing yarns and the memory of a beautiful holiday and fantastic wool store.  Here are more pictures to tease you into a visit to this wonderful wool store.  A link to their website and more information about them. Did you know they have been around for over 100 years.  Wow. The changes they have seen over the years.  http://www.beehivewoolshop.com/about.html