Welcome to the Village Yarns weblog. Village Yarns has been located in the Village of Islington for 30+ years, now amalgamated with the city of Toronto. We are in the west end of the city and a 5 minute walk north of Islington Subway station. We are a full-service retailer of hand knitting & crochet yarns, patterns and classes.
Village Yarns features a wide assortment of wool, cotton, alpaca, cashmere, silk and Qiviuk fibres from producers such as Noro, Debbi Bliss, Filatura di Crosa, Rowan, Berroco, Dale of Norway, Ozark Handspun, Colinettte, Alchemy Yarns of Transformation, Trendsetter, Alpaca With A Twist and Prism Yarns.
Village Yarns is also a proud retailer of Canadian hand-dyed yarn lines Fleece Artist and Hand Maiden.
We invite you to visit our store weekdays from 12 Noon - 7Pm and Saturday 10am - 5pm. We have free parking directly behind the store and curbside parking as well. For those of you from outside of Toronto, please read our other posts on this weblog for additional product information or visit our store website . We ship to customers worldwide everyday and you may contact us directly toll free to order.
You will always see interesting window displays featuring new products and newly created patterns. The window display picutred features an elegant shoulder wrap designed by Robin Hunter featuring hand dyed Pearls and Dover by Prism Yarns.
Inside the front door we have a focus table of new arrivals, class and workshop schedules and feature projects and kits.
We invite you to take your time, look and touch at your leisure. Store samples of garments and accessories abound for you to try on. Linda looks fabulous modelling our Fleece Artist Kid Silk Shrug....
Don't be surprised to walk in and find a impromptu design class in progress at Village Yarns...
We are always happy to work with our customers on modifying projects to suit their personal tastes and body shapes...
Pictured is a Modular Wrap that will be available as a kit for Spring 2008 featuring Berroco, Prism and Trensetter yarns...
Village Yarns - Where Creativity Abounds...
Our customers love the variety and selection of fibres we retail from around the world. Adventurous knitters especially love the Prism Yarn line created by Laura Bryant. Who can resist all the gorgeous colours and textures that make up the Prism Yarn Line.
Working from their own designs or using Laura's fabulous "Yarn Stash Workbook" as a guide, Village Yarns customers can create fabulous one-of-a-kind creations from the many garment and accessory patterns in this book.
Pictured below is Athena, our foremost "fearless" knitter who is intimidated by no knitting technique or pattern. Her current project is Laura Bryant's Lapel Coat from the Stash Workbook.
Athena chose to use a Prism Fiber Art Bag in the Rusts colourway, combined with Berroco Ultra Alpaca for the base yarn.
Worked in Linen Stitch, the combination of texture created by the stitch technique and the individual Prism yarns is truly stunning.
We'll update you with more pictures when the garment is completed.
Another creative genius and lover of all textures and colours is Ghazal, modeling an asymmetrical jacket she created using Prism Neat Stuff in the Mozambique colourway.
Neat Stuff is comprised of 30-40 different yarns, all gauge related and hand dyed by Prism in Florida. Ghazal was smitten with Neat Stuff from the day it arrived and having bought one skein for a scarf, this soon developed into a full scale garment with stunning results.
Here are some detail shots for you to enjoy and to admire the way in which the jacket was constructed:
6 half skeins (150 yards each) of Prism Neat Stuff used in total....
The colours and resulting fabric are truly stunning...
Finding patterns to fit a curvy, 5'1" frame is challenging but Ghazal has an innate sense of proportion and knows how she likes garments to drape and fit.
Ghazal can live with sleeves that are a wee bit long in her opinion because she is so pleased with the resulting fabric and colours. We agree!
Hand Knitting & Crochet Classes at Village Yarns
We offer five Project Groups every week in which student customers bring current projects to work on and have a teacher present to offer guidance and assistance. Lively and informative, Project Classes allow you to see what other knitters are creating and follow their progress from week to week.
Mary joins us Monday evenings and is a prolific knitter and crocheter preferring to focus on socks and accessories. Persons lucky enough to be on her gift list receive beautiful knit scarves made of Wool and Silk with yarns by Hand Maiden. Mary is modeling the Hand Maiden Textures Scarf Kit...
and additional Textures Scarves colourways knit by Mary are below...
We also provide personal, one-on-one classes scheduled at the convenience of the student and teacher 5 days a week. Please feel free to drop in or call us to discuss booking a private class.
Pattern Drafting classes are offered where students have the opportunity to make their own, personal Bodice and Set-In Sleeve pattern to their measurements.
Andrea participated in the Pattern Drafting Class and then used her Christmas holidays to create a Cardigan based on an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, in which the entire garment is knit in one piece with shaping being done by decreasing on the body and then on the sleeve according to calculations. No easy feat! Andrea applied her true body measurements from the pattern created in class and created a beautiful, understated cardigan using Filatura di Crosa Zarina, a delicious 4 Ply weight Merino Wool.
Below is a detail shot of the subtle yet intricate shaping that happens where the sleeve is decreased into the body and then the reverse happens when shaping the crown of the sleeve.
Worked in one piece with a 1x1 front band that blends into a Shawl Collar and fully-fashioned shaping for all curves and seams, you can see how adding subtle waist shaping makes for a flattering fit.
It is very gratifying to see customers return proudly wearing or showing completed projects. Nothing beats the look of accomplishment and pride that you see in their eyes of a job well done.
As part of our "Edutainment" series of workshops, Village Yarns was proud to have hosted Cornelia Tuttle-Hamilton just before Christmas for a workshop on the Evolution Of The Stitch Pattern. Pictured below is Karen Dinner of Village Yarns and Cornelia on her right.
Guests were treated to an informative presentation of Cornelia's work as published in her 5 Pattern Collections for Noro Yarns. Cornelia led guests through a stitch sampler while discussing and showing garments that utilized the same stitch technique, and how the shape of the garment dictated how the stitch pattern was incorporated.
Always a good time at Village Yarns events!
For more information on classes, workshops or upcoming events please visit our store website at www.villageyarns.com or contact in Toronto toll free 888-343-8885 or local 416-232-2361.
We look forward to welcoming you to Village Yarns!
Enjoy Your Passion.
