Crofters Yarn

08/09/2026

As yesterday showed, there’s something rather special about being part of the Crofters Yarn community.

Because when we look back at what we’ve been up to, we realise…

We really do know how to have fun with yarn!

There was Knitting on the Train ‘26, 190 knitters, four carriages, plenty of yarn, laughter, friendships and a whole lot of knitting happening somewhere between Dunedin and Oamaru.

Then there’s the excitement building around Stephen West’s Mystery Knit Along. The colour combinations are being debated, changed, photographed, admired and debated again.

And while all of that is happening, we’re already looking ahead.
Because Strut Your Stuff ‘26 is coming!

A celebration of our community, our creativity and the wonderful things we make with our own two hands. Plus it’s our major Charity Knitting fundraiser.

Saturday the 14th of November, circle the afternoon in your dairy.
We thought you might like a little heads-up, tickets will be available soon.

If there’s one thing these events have taught us, it’s this:
It’s never really about the knitting.
It’s about the people you knit with.

And we reckon our people are pretty damn fabulous😍

We're open today for you to come check us out
10 to 12pm, 12:30 to 3pm, then at Arthur Street School 6:30 to 8:30pm

Tomorrow 10 to 12pm, then at Toitu 1 to 3pm

Saturday 10 to 1pm.

Book your seat here https://croftersyarn.co.nz/products/community-knits-session or just come on in.

07/09/2026

While I’m taking a little time to recuperate, something rather wonderful has been happening at Crofters Yarn.

The community is being looked after.

And these are the fabulous humans making sure of it
🧶 Mackenzie
🧶 Jane
🧶 Adam
🧶 Aurora
🧶 Mr CY, AKA Graeme (or Kitchen Bitch or Security)

They’re welcoming people, helping with colours, sorting yarn, packing orders, answering questions, making a cuppa, keeping things organised and generally making sure the Crofters Yarn magic keeps happening.

This reminded me of something I’ve always believed…. Crofters Yarn is us, not me.

It’s the person who pops in for one ball of yarn and ends up staying for a chat.

It’s the knitter who helps someone choose between two colours.

It’s the crocheter who brings in a newly crocheted toy.

It’s the person who teaches someone a new stitch, untangles a disaster (no skeins were harmed during these events!), offers encouragement or simply sits down and has a yarn.

It’s the laughter, the friendships, the creativity, the kindness and all the little moments that happen around the yarn.

These five are a huge part of that, and I am incredibly grateful to each of them for stepping in and looking after our community while I’m resting.

So today, I’d love you to help me celebrate them.

If you’ve been welcomed by one of these lovely faces, had a colour crisis rescued, shared a cuppa, had a laugh, received some yarny wisdom or simply enjoyed their company…

Give them a little ❤️ in the comments.

Tell them what they mean to you, share a favourite Crofters Yarn moment, or just say hello.

Because these aren't just the people helping to keep the doors open. They are part of what makes Crofters Yarn what it is.

And so are you. It’s us. Not me.

Come visit this week to experience some or all of the above, we are in the studio:

Tuesday 12:30 to 3pm
Wednesday 10 to 12pm, 12:30 to 3pm
Thursday 10 to 12pm
Saturday 10 to 1pm

Book here for a seat at a Studio Community Knit, there are plenty of spaces available this week: https://croftersyarn.co.nz/products/community-knits-session

Or just pop in to visit the studio and all our woolly fun.

We're out in the community for our Community Knits:
Wednesday, Arthur Street School Library 6:30 to 8:30pm, $5 per session
Thursday, Toitu 1 to 3pm - gold coin donation

Our community will welcome you, no matter where you're being a Crofters Yarnie 🩷🧶🩷

06/09/2026

Still thinking about joining our Westknits Mystery Knit Along?

We know some of you have been waiting to see what this year’s MKAL would look like before committing.

Well… we’ve been busy.

The colour choosing has started, yarn is flying off the Wool Wall and our seats are filling up.

If you’ve been thinking “I might do it…” this is probably your little mind niggle saying Do It! We promise you won’t regret it.

This is our fourth year doing the Stephen West Mystery Knit Along at Crofters, and this year we’re doing things a little differently.

Your colours. Your yarn. Your mystery.

No pre-made kits.

You choose the colours you love, and we’ll help you build a palette that is completely yours.

Then, throughout October, you’ll get to knit the mystery alongside your Crofters people, with Adam and Aurora leading the way while I join the team as one of you, a knitter who will laugh, swear, unpick and use the mohair, I love the mohair dare!

Four Tuesday evenings in October
6.30 – 8.30pm
In person or virtual

And yes, we still have spaces… but not as many as we started with.

So if you were waiting to see what everyone else was doing before you jumped in, this is your chance to come and join us.

You don't need to be an experienced Westknits knitter.
You don't need to know exactly what colours you want.
And you definitely don't need to have it all figured out.

That's what we're here for.
Come choose some yarn. Come meet your fellow knitters. Come follow the clues. Come watch your shawl appear.

And trust Stephen.

Crofters Yarn Westknits Mystery Knit Along 2026

Your yarn. Your colours. Your mystery.

Book your spot here: https://croftersyarn.co.nz/products/stephen-west-mystery-knit-along-2026

05/09/2026

If you are looking to visit Crofters Yarn from out of town, Dunedin will not disappoint you!

Look at out great coffee culture! We are well spoilt for choice ❤️❤️❤️

Even if you live in Dunedin…. What’s your fav spot to hang out in?

And we promise Crofters Yarn won’t disappoint either ❤️🧶❤️

https://seethesouthisland.com/best-cafes-in-dunedin-new-zealand/?fbclid=IwRlRTSAUJYf1wZG9mBWZkaWQWUN32TdVz_VqNpLuisKCI_J7UnliigGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR4UlFoplt3ii55k69tGxHVbWWkSOxI8I5FWhukGUUIc-nUehlJSz06HmAzf-w_aem_Zm65Lz8vK8of4HzWr1OOOQ

There are dozens of cool cafés in Dunedin, New Zealand, from St Clair to the city centre -- check out our list and visit as many as you can!

05/09/2026

Have you been been watching our little train hints?

We know some of you have been waiting to see what our Knitting on the Train 2027 adventure was going to look like before deciding whether to come along.

Well, we thought we’d give you a little update…

The train is filling, like 60% full already!

The response since tickets went live last week has been fantastic, and we’re now starting to see those seats disappear.

If you've been thinking “I’d quite like to do that…” but haven't quite got around to booking, this might be your gentle nudge.

Saturday 5 June 2027

Dunedin → Oamaru → Dunedin

250 knitters. SIX carriages.

A beautiful coastal train journey.

Four hours to explore Oamaru.

The Steampunk Festival.

Knitting, games, stories, yarny fun and a whole train full of people who understand exactly why taking your knitting on a train is a perfectly sensible thing to do.

And honestly? We reckon it’s going to be one hell of a day.

If you were one of the people who said “I’ll wait and see…”, well, now you’ve seen, please don’t leave it too long. We really don’t want disappointed knitters.

There are still seats available, but they are filling.

Grab your knitting bag, gather your woolly friends and come aboard.

We’re going Knitting on the Train again!

Bookings are made through the link on our events page: https://croftersyarn.co.nz/pages/events

And a little note about the goodie bags…
We’re putting together some very special Crofters goodie bags for our Woolly Train Adventure passengers.

If, when booking, you’re happy for Dunedin Railways to share your name and contact details with us, you’ll get a goodie bag!

If you choose not to give permission, that's completely okay, but we won’t receive your details, so sadly we won’t be able to organise a goodie bag for you.

No permission, no details, no goodie bag. It’s as simple as that!

04/09/2026

Adam and Aurora are in the studio today, and they are pumped! 🧶❤️🧶

They can’t wait to help you choose your colours for this year’s MKAL 2026: Color Kaleidoscope Shawl by Stephen West from Westknits.

Pop in and see them, they’d love to help inspire your colour choices… or you could inspire them!

We had a play with colours before the news was out that we needed 8 × 50g balls (175m).

We can still share our combinations because they might just inspire you.

And remember, this is also a stash-dive project!

Bring along what you already have and we’ll help you build your complete project from there. We love a bit of stash diving!

Pretty & Soft
Warm & Punchy
Deep & Moody
Colour Explosion
Quietly Naughty

If you’re joining us for this Knit Along, either in the studio or virtually, we have a great support network to help you through the project.

Join us for the fun, you won’t be disappointed!

Register here: https://croftersyarn.co.nz/products/stephen-west-mystery-knit-along-2026

We’re in the studio today 10am–1pm. Pop in and say hello, we’d love to welcome you.

And there’s a huge update coming for our Knitting on the Train ‘27! 🚂🚂🚂

Watch for our Sunday post.

Keep King’s Birthday Saturday free next year if you want to hop onboard!

04/09/2026

The mystery is out!

MKAL 2026: Color Kaleidoscope Shawl by Stephen West from Westknits

And blimmen heck… this one is going to be FUN!

Stephen has gone BIG on colour this year. We’re talking 8 different colours of 4ply / fi*****ng weight yarn to create this kaleidoscopic shawl.

You’ll need:
8 × 50g skeins in 8 different colours
OR Stephen has shared 4 × 100g skeins can work too.

There’s also an optional Mohair Dare if you’re feeling brave! I always am very brave on the mohair dare!

And now comes our favourite bit…

Let’s play with colour!

We’re NOT making up kits for this one.

Instead, we want you to create your own colour story. Come into the studio and play. Pull yarns off the shelves. Put colours together. Change your mind. Try something completely unexpected.

Maybe you know exactly what you want.

Maybe you have a couple of colours you absolutely love.

Or maybe you’re standing there thinking “WHAT THE HELL DO I DO WITH EIGHT COLOURS?!”

That’s where we come in.

We’ll help you play, experiment and find a combination that feels like YOU.

If you are joining us Virtually for this, reach out, we want to know what colourways you are wanting to play with too.

We’ve already been having a little play ourselves and over the next few days we’ll be sharing some of our colour inspiration…

Pretty & Soft
Warm & Punchy
Deep & Moody
Colour Explosion
Quietly Naughty
…and, of course, my own wild card!

These aren't kits. They're ideas.

Steal one. Tweak one. Take one colour from each. Or completely ignore us and do your own thing!

The mystery unfolds
Clue 1 — Thursday October 1
Clue 2 — Thursday October 8
Clue 3 — Thursday October 15
Clue 4 — Thursday October 22

Four clues. Four weeks. One mystery shawl.

Already booked with us? You're on the list!

Thinking about joining us?

Come and have a play with some yarn.

Let's make your mystery yours.

Who's joining us for the Color Kaleidoscope?

Register here: https://croftersyarn.co.nz/products/stephen-west-mystery-knit-along-2026

We're Open tomorrow 10am to 1pm, there are a couple of seats remaining, or pop in to look at our beautifully curated walls of wool. We'd love to meet you.

01/09/2026

A policeman spotted a person knitting while driving. "Pullover!" he yelled. "No, it's a scarf!" they replied.

Tell us your favourite joke - bonus points if it's a knitting one!

We have had a number of people reach out about struggling to book their seat online. I have quickly whipped up a step by step instruction cheat sheet. The most important thing to remember is to go to your cart and follow through with payment to secure your seat. If you have nothing in your cart then you need to go back and try again 🙂

If you have a loyalty card, you would have received an email with a discount code to use at checkout.

Opening times for this week:

Tuesday - 12:30 till 3pm (Mackenzie and Graeme)

Wednesday - 10 till 12 (Mackenzie) 1-3 (Jane) 6:30-8:30 Arthur St School

Thursday - 10-12 (Mackenzie) 1-3 Toitu

Saturday -10-1 (Adam and Aurora)

Please reach out if you are needing anymore charity wool - we have plenty here! Mackenzie can drop some down to Toitu or Arthur St if needed - just let us know.

Jan is having some much needed rest after her surgery last week. Everything went well and she is doing great! Please, we ask that you allow her to rest during the community sessions so she can get back to 110%.

Happy knitting x

31/08/2026

Have you tried the Soak wool wash? I’m a huge fan. The no rinse wash leaves a lovely subtle scent (unless you buy Scentless of course!!). I love the smell of the bubbles and the gentle wash it gives my precious hand knits and lingerie.

We’ve Fig, Pineapple, Celebration, Scentless, Yuzu & Lacey scents available. The bottles are $25 for the small, $35 for the big. A teaspoon per wash is all you need, so they go a long way.

Mackenzie and Graeme are in the studio tomorrow afternoon 12:30-3pm ❤️