New Zealand abounds with twisty bits: narrow roads that wind their way down into gorges, past glacial lakes or up over hilltops from which you might glimpse a flock with some of the country's 27 million sheep. And as a knitter, to me the phrase twisty bits also conjures up images of handspun yarn from those sheep. As you may imagine about a country with so many sheep, yarn shops are plentiful in New Zealand, and they typically stock a lovely range of knitting supplies. You can peruse the New Zealand Yarn Shops forum on Ravelry for info about these shops, but where do you look for that one-of- a-kind hand-spun or hand-dyed fabulous yarn?

The answer is...all sorts of places from pottery cooperatives to flea markets! I'm going to write about some of the great yarn and other marvelous textiles I've found in unexpected places as I traveled along the winding roads in New Zealand.

Our first stop is the Riccarton Market in Christchurch, a flea market held every Sunday, and the spot to shop for everything from folk art to drones to whitebait fritters, a regional delicacy that didn't strike my fancy. This is where I met Barbara Johns and her sister Sue, who were spinning laceweight wool and making needlelace as we chatted. In addition to their own work, they were promoting the Textile and Fibre Arts Network (TFAN), which is an umbrella organization (much like the Textile Center) for supporting textile groups in the Christchurch area. The network was formed after the earthquakes in and around Christchurch in 2011 because many guilds and fiber artists lost their places to meet and work. Barbara and Sue urged me to visit Wool, Yarn and Fibre, a co-op that is a member of TFAN and our next stop on the twisty bits tour.

Artisans' co-ops are great places to find hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn, and Wool, Yarn and Fibre is one of the best, full of eye candy such as this 85% merino, 15% silk hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn that I bought.

Another co-op specializing in textiles is the Fibre Spectrum in Nelson. Both of these co-ops have many finished garments and home decor items as well as yarn, roving, and wool locks for felting. If you are lucky, you may be able to meet the artisan who created the items you purchase, as I did when I met Anna, who dyed locks with dahlias. This co-op also has plenty of hand-spun wool in natural colors. The Oamaru Textile Emporium, yet another co-op, is where I first fell in love with Doespins yarns. The color name alone—Deep Well at Midnight—was enough to entice me to buy her merino and nylon sock yarn, and it knit up beautifully into the socks shown
here.

Her soothingly soft alpaca and silk yarn peeks out of my stash, begging to be petted. One more co-op, Marlborough Creative Artisans in Picton, carries mainly finished goods ranging from hand-crafted herbal shampoo to felted baby booties with Brazilian embroidery and also some hand-spun wool in worsted and bulky weights. The co-op where I was most surprised to find hand-spun yarn was the Stuart Street Potters Co-operative in Dunedin, where I was lucky enough to buy yarn directly from the co-op's one textile artisan, Loris.

The twisty bits tour now takes us out into the rural areas, where people with flocks of sheep or alpacas may sell their own wool. One such place is Awakeri Wool Craft outside of Whakatane, where Charlotte sells balls of natural and hand-dyed alpaca, kits and finished wearables, all from her alpacas, which eye you curiously from a nearby field as you step into her tiny shop. We rented her holiday home, where we could watch the alpacas, pet the cat, and feast on free-range eggs laid by her hens.

If you happen to be driving the twisty bits in rural New Zealand, keep in mind that yarn producers in the countryside may not have easy access to yarn stores or spin enough to ship to the cities, but still want an outlet for their yarns. I've seen yarn for sale in a rural restaurant as well as in gift shops and clothing stores.

Quilting and fabric shops are another possible source of specialty yarn. At the Quilters Barn near Blenheim I found hand-dyed silk and merino, dyed by a friend of the clerk. Another quilting shop is Cottage Flair in Rotorua, where I took a break from looking at geothermal hotspots long enough to buy sheepskin soles for a charming pair of baby booties.

Lastly, there are a couple of yarn shops that I will mention because a large portion of their stock is hand-dyed or hand-spun. The first is Creative Yarns & Knits, also in Rotorua. The storeowner told me that she dreams up the colorways for their hand-dyed yarn while her husband does the actual dyeing on days that he can't work at his outdoor job.

If you happen to go on a cruise around New Zealand (lucky you!), the easiest yarn shop to visit is New Zealand Fabrics & Yarn in Auckland, which is near the Ferry Building and an easy stroll from where all the cruise ships dock. As the name implies, their specialty is New Zealand textiles and fibers, which they stock from 50+ small distributors all around the country. Hand-dyed or hand-spun yarn they carry includes Doespins, a Corriedale boucle, and an undyed merino and possum blend.

We've explored only a few of New Zealand's twisty bits here; there's always more just around the corner. Sheep vastly outnumber the country's ~5 million people, so the amount of yarn is unsurprising. But what is surprising is the variety of venues where locally sourced fabulous yarn is available, so it's important to look around carefully when traveling and yarn-shopping here.

Resources and Contact Info:

Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners
3 Garlands Road, Woolston, Christchurch
Shop at the Tannery   |   Facebook   |   Blog

Textile and Fiber Arts Network (TFAN)
Website   |   Facebook
TFAN - Christchurch Needle Work Guild Inc.
TFAN - Christchurch Guild of Weavers and Spinners Inc.

Fibre Spectrum
280 Trafalgar St., Nelson
Website

Marlborough Creative Artisans
35 High Street, Picton
Facebook

The Oamaru Textile Emporium (TOTE)
13 Tyne Street, Oamaru
Facebook

Stuart Street Potters Co-operative
14 Stuart Street, Dunedin
Facebook

The Quilters Barn
The Vines Village, 193 Rapaura Rd., Blenheim
Website

Cottage Flair
1127 Fenton, Rotorua
Website   |   Facebook   |   Instagram

Awakeri Wool Craft
110 Angle Rd., Whakatane

Creative Yarns & Knits
1145 Pukutua St., Rotorua
Website

New Zealand Fabrics & Yarn
Queens Arcade, 34 Queen Street, Auckland
Website   |   Facebook

Doespins Yarn
Website   |   Ravelry