New Yarn – Kremke Stellaris

Posting date: 5 June 2020

This is an entirely new yarn for our store, and we are excited by the creative possibilities it brings.

Kremke Stellaris is more of a thread than a yarn, and while it can be used on it’s own to create wonderfully fine cobweb-weight projects, we feel that it really shines (literally) when held together with another yarn to add a bit of sparkle to your work.

It is soft, easy to work with and comes in a wonderful range of colours.  Nina’s new capelet design shows how easy it is to add an elegant shimmer to transform the simplest of projects.

We started out with just a few of the available colours, but it is already popular and selling well, so we will definitely be getting more in soon!

 

New stock – Drops Brushed Alpaca Silk

Posting date: 5 June 2020

We just received an order with lots of wonderful new colours in one of our favourite yarns: Drops Brushed Alpaca Silk.

This is a light-weight yarn that is as soft as a cloud, knits up quickly at a loose gauge, has tremendous yardage, comes in a terrific range of colours, and is remarkably inexpensive.

Nina has worked up a new design using this yarn – you can see a picture of her capelet sample in the project gallery.

 

Cabot Trail – restock & new colours

Posting date: 21 May 2020

This morning we received our restocking order of Trailhead Yarns Cabot Trail (laceweight tencel), including a few new colours.  We know that some of you have been eagerly awaiting this, in order to knit Nina’s new Checkerboard Tunic, or the summer version of her popular Layering Tunic.

If you think you know what colour you want, order online now, to be sure you get your preferred colours – there were only five of each new colour, and several have been sold already!

Buttons!

Posting date: 19 May 2020

We made a big addition to the online store today.  Buttons!  Hundreds and hundreds of them – literally.

It turns out that browsing online for buttons is actually quite a good way to shop.  Or even just window-shop.  Because you can filter by size, shape, and colour, you can narrow down your options and easily see what might really work for any given project.

Of course, colour representations are never perfect online.  But, we are a full-service yarn store, so if you are buying online, we offer a button-matching service. We will suggest buttons to match a yarn that you are buying, or we will check that buttons you have selected match the yarn you have purchased. Just add a note with your yarn order requesting a button match (or to check any already selected buttons), and we will contact you with button suggestions and not ship your order until you have a added a matching button selection, if desired.

We can also offer button-matching for any yarn previously purchased, so long as it is a yarn and colour that we still have in stock for comparison.

Store re-opening on Tuesday

Posting date: 15 May 2020

Per provincial guidelines, we will be re-opening the store on Tuesday 19 May.  This is very exciting, after such a long shut-down, and we are really, really looking forward to seeing many of you again.  However, we must work with some limitations and restrictions:

  • Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 10 am – 6 pm; Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm
  • No more than two customers in the store at one time.
  • Maintain 2m (6 ft) distance from other people at all times within the store.
  • Please wear a mask while in the store.
  • Please keep visits short, both to minimise any contagion risk in shared indoor spaces, and to allow other customers time to visit.
  • Customers are invited to use our hand sanitizer (available at the counter), or washroom (at back of store) to wash hands on entering and/or before leaving the store.
  • Please stay home if you have any symptoms of cough or fever

Additionally, the online shopping portal is still available, with shipping or curbside pick-up options.

We are sorry, but we still cannot offer hands-on knitting assistance yet.

The coronavirus is still with us, and there is an expectation that numbers of new cases will rise as businesses all over Toronto start operating again.  So it is very important that we follow all of the provincial and Health Canada safety guidelines.

Persons considered ‘at risk’ should not visit any store, including ours, until further notice.  Persons at risk include: anyone in poor general health, anyone with immuno-compromisation issues, anyone with cardiovascular issues, anyone with diabetes of any type, anyone with chronic respiratory issues.

Online Store Updates

Posting date: 15 May 2020

We have had another busy week, expanding the online store.  We now have most of our yarns catalogued in the online shop. There are a few low-volume yarns still to add, and those might take a while, but all of our most popular lines are now available.

As always, you can find the newest yarns under the ‘New’ menu tab, and our sale yarns under the ‘Sale’ menu tab.  Our latest sale items include deep discounts on some gorgeous, hand-dyed luxury fibres from Handmaiden, one of our favourite Canadian yarn dyers.

This week, we have also added a number of Nina’s original design patterns.  We’re not done – there will be more added over the next few days, but we do now have up a good selection of her new patterns, and the most popular of her older patterns.

And while you’re here, check out the customer project gallery.  We are posting customer project photos here as you send them to us. Thank you for all the pictures you have sent! You have made some beautiful things!

It will likely still be a while before we can gather at the store together with our knitting projects for ‘show and tell’, so please continue to share your projects with us here!  Email photos to projectgallery@creativeyarns.ca, together with any notes about the pattern and yarn used.

Babyull Lanett – restock & new colours

Posting date: 13 May 2020

Babyull Lanett from Sandnes Garn is a big seller, and not just for baby projects.  Its a high-quality, cruelty-free, easy-care, economical, baby-skin-soft wool yarn, blended with enough yarn to make it durable enough for socks and other tough-duty projects.  No wonder it’s popular!

Now restocked in our most popular colours, and a few new ones to round out the selection.

Noro Ito – new colours

Posting date: 11 May 2020

We’re not just loading existing stock into the online shop, we are also getting completely new stock in some yarns and colourways.  The latest addition is several new colourways of the popular Noro Ito.

This is a great yarn for quick-knit projects that hold your interest at every stitch.  The balls are huge – 200g – and you can knit an entire scarf from one ball, or an adult man’s sweater from three.

Customer Project Gallery

Posting date: 9 May 2020

One of the things we miss most during this prolonged COVID-19 shutdown is seeing all the wonderful projects our customers bring in to show us.

So, we have started a customer project gallery on the website – a sort of virtual ‘show and tell’ page to help bring us together while the physical store is closed. Our first customer project entry is up already: Karen’s lovely crocheted baby sweaters.  We’d love to feature more customer projects every week.

To make this easy, please just email us your project photos to this address:

projectgallery@creativeyarns.ca

Include a note with:
  • The name of the pattern/designer
  • The name of the yarn you are using
  • Your name (or Ravelry ID, if you prefer) so we can identify you
  • Any comments you would like to share about the pattern or yarn

Patterns now available online

Posting date: 8 May 2020

We have now added patterns to the online store! There are only a couple to begin with, but we’ll be adding more over the next week. We know you miss being able to see and knit along with Nina’s new (and old) designs, so the pattern store will allow you access to these again.

You have the option of buying just the pattern, but as always, Nina’s patterns are free with purchase of yarn for the project.

Online Store Updates

Posting date: 1 May 2020

We have had a busy week adding lots of products to the online store.  More are being added every day, but here is a summary of what is new this week.

  • More needles and interchangeable needle set components.
  • A whole new department for notions.  You can find crochet hooks here, as well as needle felting supplies and all the usual knitting accessories.
  • More than 50 yarns, which you can find under the ‘New‘ tab on the online store main menu.
  • A new section for sale items.  33% off select yarn!

New yarn highlights include lots of Malabrigo, lots of sock yarns in general, and beautiful hand-dyed Canadian yarns from Ravenswood Fibre Co, Log House Cottage Yarns, Rhichard Devrieze, and Zen Yarn Garden.  But there is lots, lots more – take a look!

Now Available – Online Shopping

Posting date: 25 April 2020

Today is Local Yarn Store Day.

Normally, we’d be celebrating with some sort of in-store get-together, but nothing is normal during a pandemic.

It seems fitting, however, to launch our Online Shopping portal today. Our mission has always been to provide an oasis of calm in a hectic world, a place where we can share joys and sorrows as well as inspiration and creativity. We are more than a store, we are a community, and on Local Yarn Store Day, we are reaching out to connect, once again, through virtual media.

We hope that you will visit our Online Store and let us know what you think – it is a work in progress, and we will be adding new products every day, as well as adjusting to your feedback. Please also tell us how the current crisis is affecting your knitting/crafting life on this LYS Day, and any suggestions you may have for celebrating a future LYS Day in a more normal world.

Wishing you peace, health, and safety in this unusual time.

Coming soon – online shopping!

Posting date: 23 April 2020

First, a big thank you to those of you who have reached out to us by phone to order yarn.  We know that this is not a good way to shop for yarn, unless you already know what you want!

So, we are very excited to let you know that we will soon be able to offer online shopping.  As you know, Creative Yarns has always been about the in-person experience, and we had not previously had plans to do online sales.  But, we hadn’t planned to close down, either, so something had to change.

The online store is now partially stocked, and being tested.  We expect to be able to open for business in a few days, and will make another announcement then, with a link to the storefront.

Safe Shopping!

Posting date: 24 March 2020

Update (26 April 2020): Now that we have implemented a better online shopping mechanism, complete with photos, we would like to redirect orders through the online store as much as possible.  This will not only help you with your choices, but also help us to handle inventory more precisely, and provide better service to all of our customers.  If you are unable to access the online shop, or if the yarn you need is not yet loaded for online purchase, you may of course still contact us by phone or email.


Per Ontario health guidelines, we are closing the store to in-person shopping.

We are, however, still doing business, by phone and email, with pick-up or mail orders available.  Please use one of the following methods to contact Nina:

  • Call the store and leave a message: (416) 331-8085
  • Email the store: creativeyarns@gmail.com
  • Email Nina directly: nina@creativeyarns.ca
  • Call Nina’s personal cell: (416) 430-0788

Nina will be at the store once a day to handle all calls and emails, and prepare orders for pick-up or mail-out.  If you leave a message at the store, she will call you back at that time.

 

Classes cancelled

Posting date: 20 March 2020

Following the latest health guidelines, we have now decided to cancel all scheduled classes.  We will be contacting all registered students personally to give a full refund.

COVID-19 Update

Posting date: 17 March 2020

Dear friends and customers,

Like everyone else, we are evaluating the virus pandemic situation on a day-by-day basis.  At this time we have made the decision to remain open, following Canadian public health guidelines.

The following groups of people are considered to be at high risk:

  • anyone over 70 years of age
  • anyone with asthma or other known respiratory problems
  • anyone with existing cardiovascular issues
  • anyone with immunocompromisation issues
  • anyone who has traveled outside Ontario within the last 14 days

If you fall into any of these categories, please do not come to the store in person.  Instead, please call Nina (416-331-8085) to discuss your needs.  We can prepare any purchase and either make it available for pick up by a friend, or mail it to you.

Store hours are also changing.  We will be open from 10am to 6pm, Tuesday through Saturday, and the Thursday evening social knitting group is cancelled until further notice.

Scheduled classes will be continuing until further notice, as class sizes are small and the large classroom allows appropriate distancing.  If you cannot attend because you are in one of the risk groups identified above, call Nina for a full refund.

We apologise for any inconvenience.  We want everyone to stay healthy, and we will get through this together.

More Classes!

Posting date: 7 March 2020

Did you miss the Toe-Up Socks class at the end of February?  It was really popular.  There were so many people on the waitlist, that we decided to run it again right away.  It is already more than half full, but there are a few spots left, so call right away if you want to take advantage of this second chance.

We are also running a beginner class for Stranded Colourwork at the end of April, also with Liane Schwarz.