Posting date: 9 June, 2021

Six years ago, we hosted a wonderful workshop with Sylvia Olsen, as part of her cross-Canada knitting tour.  She taught a fascinating class on Coast Salish knitting techniques, and shared stories from her book, Knitting Stories: Personal Essays and Nine Coast Salish-inspired Knitting Patterns.  Together with her partner, Tex McLeod, they spent six weeks travelling from Victoria to Newfoundland, and conducted workshops in more than 40 locations (including Creative Yarns).  She taught knitting, listened to stories from hundreds of knitters, and told her own stories.  Along the way, Sylvia gained a new appreciation and formed a new relationship with her country.

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Posting date: 9 June 2021

On Friday, 11 June, Creative Yarns is re-opening (again) for in-person shopping, at reduced capacity. Our hours will be:

• Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Creative Yarns will be following all city and provincial rules and guidelines for safe Step 1 re-opening.  In particular:

• Please read and follow the City of Toronto patron screening criteria before deciding to visit.
• Masks are required for all persons able to wear one.
• We cannot accommodate more than two customers in the store at one time.  Please be mindful if there are others waiting to enter, and keep your visits as brief as you conveniently can.
• We cannot allow extended ‘sit and knit’ time in the seating area.
• Hand sanitizer is available when you enter, and we are cleaning all customer-used surfaces after every visit.

Online shopping with curbside pickup is still available for anyone not comfortable with visiting in person, but we hope that this opportunity to look at our yarns for yourself will be helpful to many of you.

We are very much looking forward to the time when COVID restrictions are no longer necessary!  There is nothing we enjoy more than having a store full of knitters, relaxing together to chat, knit, and share creative ideas.

In the meantime, thank you very much for your continued patronage through this very difficult time.  Your words of encouragement and support, as much as your purchases, have made it possible for us to keep operating and have hope for the future.

Posting date: 10 April 2021

There’s a huge amount of yarn in one of these giant balls of lightweight Noro Kakagori.  So, your single-skein projects can be quite ambitious!

It’s a single-ply blend of cotton and silk, with a small amount of viscose and nylon added for strength and drape.  It’s the perfect mix for cool, summer projects.

Noro’s is famous for woolen-spun, long gradient colour blends, in nature-inspired colourways.  And this yarn is a standout example.  So, the texture and the colour combine to make simple knits become dramatic and eye-catching.

Try it for go-everywhere sweaters and cardigans, shawls and wraps, ponchos and accessories.

Posting date: 9 April 2021

I’m sure you already know, but retail stores in Toronto are closed again.  As of 7 April, our physical store is open for curbside pickup only during the current lockdown phase.

We will be happy to assist you by phone (416-331-8085), or through our online shopping portal.  Curbside pick-up and home delivery are both available.

Stay well and stay safe!  We look forward to seeing all our friends and customers again in person when it is deemed safe to reopen.

Posting date: 1 April 2021

We are particularly excited by our latest new offering.  Artfil Mericana DK is a wonderful, soft, smooth, squishable, hand-dyed DK weight yarn.

It’s available in a huge range of space-dyed, tonal, semi-solid, and speckled colours.  All of them are gorgeous!  It’s a very flexible weight of yarn, suitable for projects big and small.  It has a nice, multi-ply, high-twist character, making it sturdy and pill-resistant, but still soft and smooth.  Use it for sweaters and outerwear that will look stand up to years of love, wear, and laundering.  Use it for cowls and delicate accessories that  you need to be next-to-skin soft.  Use it for snuggly blankets that your family will consider heirlooms.  Or buy just one skein for that perfect hat.  And then maybe a second skein for matching mittens.  Because you will never run out of things to knit with Artfil Mericana DK.

Posting date: 30 March 2021

We’re now stocking the fun, new Bubble Tea yarn, from Hikoo.  This is a yarn with a lot going on – thick-and-thin texture, softness and drape, balanced with just enough ‘memory’ and elasticity.  It’s ideal for lightweight accessories, or loose, drapey wraps and cardigans.  And it’s a very easy yarn to work with.  The simplest patterns will come out looking terrific, because the yarn does all the work.  No complex knitting tricks required!

Posting date: 29 March 2021

There’s always room on the shelves for more beautifully hand-dyed sock yarn!  Nina’s latest ‘find’ is the ‘Tough Sock‘ yarn  from Martin’s Lab, a small independent dyer in Toruń, Poland.

This comes in a gorgeous range of vivid colours, and the 75/25 Merino/Nylon blend and high twist means that it lives up to it’s name – although deliciously soft, it is tough enough to be perfect for socks.  Or anything, really!  Sweaters that don’t pill; shawls that can be blocked aggressively and carried around for everyday in-and-out-of-a/c use; next-to-skin accessories; you name it.

What’s not to love about a hand-dyed sock yarn?

Posting date: 23 March 2021

This recent arrival falls into the category of affordable luxury yarns.  Illimani Santi is a gorgeous blend of ultra-fine merino, baby alpaca, yak, and mulberry silk.

This is a very versatile yarn.  DK weight,  it has great drape so it can be worked loosely for a garment with liquid flow.  But it also has terrific stitch definition, so you can use it at a tighter gauge for denser projects with cables or textured stitches that really pop.

And, it is very, very soft and smooth.  So you can use it for next-to-skin garments, including luxurious cowls.

Posting date: 22 March 2021

This has been in stock for a while, but is new to the online store.  Katia Easy Hat is exactly what it claims to be.  It might be the easiest hat project you’ve every tried, and it’s definitely the yarn you’ll reach for if you ever need a hat for Right. Now.

This is a self-patterning yarn, jacquard-style, so it looks like clever knitting.  But even the contrasting brim colour is part of the single-ball pattern.  There are no extra ends to weave in when you’re done.

Available now, in three beautiful colourways.

Posting date: 8 March 2021

As of today, retail stores in Toronto are re-opening, with strict COVID-safety restrictions.  Creative Yarns will be re-opening starting Tuesday 9 March, and our hours will be:

• Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Creative Yarns will be following all city and provincial rules and guidelines for safe re-opening.  In particular:

• Please read and follow the City of Toronto patron screening criteria before deciding to visit.
• Masks are required for all persons able to wear one.
• We cannot accommodate more than two customers in the store at one time.  Please be mindful if there are others waiting to enter, and keep your visits as brief as you conveniently can.
• We cannot allow extended ‘sit and knit’ time in the seating area.
• Hand sanitizer is available when you enter, and we are cleaning all customer-used surfaces after every visit.

Online shopping with curbside pickup is still available for anyone not comfortable with visiting in person, but we hope that this opportunity to look at our yarns for yourself will be helpful to many of you.

We are very much looking forward to the time when COVID restrictions are no longer necessary!  There is nothing we enjoy more than having a store full of knitters, relaxing together to chat, knit, and share creative ideas.

In the meantime, thank you very much for your continued patronage through this very difficult time.  Your words of encouragement and support, as much as your purchases, have made it possible for us to keep operating and have hope for the future.

Posting Date: 14 February 2021

This is a new addition to the popular Cumulus line of yarns from Jupiter Moon Farms.  Cumulus Rainbow has the same yarn base, but adds beautiful colour gradients to make your soft cotton projects more exciting.

If you’ve already worked with Cumulus, you know how luscious it is.  Cotton yarns are sometimes disappointing – they look and feel great in the skein, but end up feeling hard, even stringy, when knitted up.  Not Cumulus!

Juniper Moon Farms brag about the long staple length of the Israeli  Mako cotton they use for this yarn, and it’s justified.  That extra staple length allows them to spin this yarn thicker and with more loft than lesser quality cotton fibre.  The result is a yarn that’s thick and bouncy, but with a smooth surface that makes it soft enough for the most sensitive skin.  It also holds up well to wash and wear.

Nina has a new design based on this yarn (Gallery pictures & pattern coming soon!), and there is additional pattern support from the yarn distributor, like this beautiful, but simple, Watery Ripples shawl from Vicki Myers.

Posting Date: 13 February 2021

Here’s another great general-purpose yarn that we are now carrying in a wide range of colours.

Estelle Superwash Merino DK is particularly well-suited for baby items.  It is next-to-skin soft.  It knits up quickly, but isn’t too heavy.  It’s 100% wool, so it’s naturally flame resistant, but it is also Superwash treated, and is machine washable.  Plus, it comes in at a lower price point than similar yarns, and is tremendous value for money.

It is very similar to Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (now on clearance), and can be substituted without modification into any pattern where you would use Cashmerino.

It’s also an excellent choice for light-to-medium weight sweaters, as it has good stitch definition to highlight cables and other interesting textured patterns.  And it’s soft enough for cowls and neckwear.

In short, a terrific all-rounder that checks all the boxes!

Posting date: 12 February 2021

We have another marvelous new yarn in stock, the aran-weight Hayne’s Creek Heathers from the Canadian company Gathering Yarn.

This is a brand new yarn range, and we love everything about it.  The soft, heathered colours are beautiful and visually interesting; the lofty, woolen-spun structure is warm without being heavy;  the yardage is truly excellent for this weight of yarn; it is spun from 100% Peruvian Highland Wool in a Fair Trade certified mill in Peru; and the cost per skein is remarkably low.

We recommend this yarn for quick-to-knit outerwear projects of all kinds, but especially for cozy warm sweaters that you will come back to season after season, but won’t break the bank.

Of course, it will also work well for hats, mittens, scarves, and any felted projects.

Posting Date: 1 December 2020

Our annual mini-sock tradition will be available online this December, as the store is still closed for in-person shopping due to the coronavirus.

These decorative mini-socks are made from scraps of sock yarn, and no two are alike. They might have one colour of yarn, or a dozen, but every one is locally handmade with love – love of our craft, and love of our shared community at Creative Yarns.

Each sock has a loop for hanging – on your Christmas tree, if you have one, or perhaps on your key chain or zipper pull to add a note of whimsy to everyday life.

We are making these available through the online shopping portal and, yes, you can buy them if you want more than one. But we would much rather give them away for free!  So, put one in your cart and enter the code MINISOCK at checkout to get one free mini-sock with any order, while stocks last. Coupon is valid one time per customer.

Note that every mini-sock is different, and socks will be picked at random.

Posting date: 26 November 2020

Our physical store may be closed for in-person shopping, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

All yarn orders placed between Friday 27 November and Monday 30 November will receive a 25% discount.  That’s 25% off all yarns, no exceptions.

To get your discount this weekend, just go to our online shopping portal, make your purchase selections, then enter the discount code BLACKFRIDAY at checkout.

Your order will be made ready for curbside pick-up, or shipped to you directly according to your preference.

Posting date: 21 November 2020

Following provincial and municipal rules for the Covid-19 lockdown, our physical store will be closed for in-person shopping after Monday 23rd November.

We will be open this weekend, with some extra hours.  Hopefully this will allow those of you who need some last-minute yarn selection advice more time to visit without crowding :

• Saturday 21 Nov 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
• Sunday 22 Nov 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Masks and physical distancing are, of course, still required, as per city bylaws.

After Monday, we will be happy to assist you by phone (416-331-8085), or through our online shopping portal.  Curbside pick-up and home delivery are both available.

Stay well and stay safe!  We look forward to seeing all our friends and customers again in person when it is deemed safe to reopen.

Posting date: 1 November 2020

This is a reminder that our winter hours are currently:

• Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
• Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Of course, Covid-19 is still with us, so we are following all health and safety guidelines and Toronto bylaws.  Masks are required in the store at all times, and you are requested to maintain physical distance from other customers. 

If you are uncomfortable with visiting the store in person, we are still offering curbside pick-up for orders placed online, or by phone (416-331-8085).