Yarn Crawl: Wool-Tyme

In keeping with my New Year’s Resolution, the one that says I’m supposed to branch out yarn-wise and shop-wise, I’ve been tootling about the yarn-world quite a bit lately! Last Friday, guided by clever Elizabeth of Chez Lizzie, I visited Wool-Tyme in our Canadian capital city, Ottawa. What a great time we had!

Wool-Tyme has long been a favorite of Elizabeth, whose taste I admire, so it was a real pleasure to be introduced by her to this well-organized, beautifully stocked store. It is incredibly convenient for drivers; there is ample, free parking and the shop is located in the south of Ottawa which means no driving through the nation’s capital. This is especially speedy for those approaching from the west as we do coming from PEC or Kingston.

There is truly something for everyone at Wool-Tyme. I was struck immediately by the huge, gorgeous array of Scandinavian yarns, Sandnesgarn in many weights and fibers and Kauni, the much sought gradient yarn from Denmark. Elizabeth was drawn to it over and over, entranced by the many desirable color ways. (Btw…that fabulous cardi she’s wearing is her new Wolf Island Gansey which I’ve been dying to knit since I saw the first prototype over a year ago!)

In addition to Danish, Norwegian and Swedish delicacies, Wool-Tyme is well stocked with work horses as well, with yarns like Cascade 220 in regular and superwash and Cascade products in lace, fingering and sport weights. Cascade Eco is beautifully represented also, with a ton of gorgeous naturals and Eco+ in many dyed shades.

I was very happy to see a bunch of sock solids! With the popularity of variegated, hand-dyed and self-patterning sock yarns, sock solids can sometimes be hard to find. I was delighted to find lots of colors to whet my appetite for color work socks.

Along with the yarn-y yumminess, Wool-Tyme stocks piles of printed patterns, books and tools. I picked up this double pack of pompom makers because I’ve got a bit of a thing for pompoms lately 😉 There were fluffy faux fur pompoms too in several colors and sizes.

Seriously, this shop is a real gem. They’ve a great online shop and will ship anywhere, but if you are within 200km or so, it is truly worth the drive…just plan on spending a couple of hours!