Yarn tourism: Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

My husband and I are planning on taking a trip to the Maritimes this summer to visit family. It looks like a perfect opportunity for a little yarn tourism — there are some fantastic farms, mills, and shops in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The well-known Fleece Artist / Handmaiden Yarns are in Nova Scotia, but it doesn’t look like you can drop by.

I’ve compiled a list below of the sites that look interesting to me. Top on my to-visit list is Baadeck Yarns and Lismore Sheep Farm, I think. I can’t choose a short list! Guess I had better save my pennies until August. And try to convince my husband of the joys of yarn shopping…

Nova Scotia

• Loop Craft Café in Halifax
  • Knitting supplies plus an adjoining cafe
• Lismore Sheep Farm in Pictou County
  • Wool shop with handpainted yarns, kits, and wooden needles/hooks. Also a working sheep farm, with the barn open to visitors in the summer. Blogged about here at Chic Knits.
• Have a Yarn in Mahone Bay
  • Carries local yarns
• Baadeck Yarns in Baddeck
  • Local yarns and knitting products. Blogged about here by the Yarn Harlot.
• Gaspereau Valley Fibres in Wolfville
  • Farm and Wool shop with organic, local, and handpainted yarns as well as yarns made on the farm. Blogged about here by Heather at Lectio.ca (scroll down to August 3rd). And by Spin |Knit and Is it a sweater yet?
• Mabou Ridge Centre in Mabou Ridge
  • Farm and a fibre processing plant, with tours and gift shop.
• Wile Carding Mill Museum in Bridgewater
  • Water-powered mill operated as a museum.
• Barrington Woolen Mill Museum in Barrington
  • Museum that was a turbine driven woolen mill with demonstrations
• The Spinners’s Loft in Head of Jeddore
  • Hosts spinning workshops/classes. Blogged about here at A Sheep In Wool’s Clothing
• Atlantic Seaside Farm Company in Rose Bay
  • Onsite store with yarns processed in their mill and with their alpaca herd.

New Brunswick

• Cotton Craft Fine Woolens in St. Andrews
  • Sweater kits and Briggs & Little yarn in exclusive colours.
• London-Wul in Lakeburn
  • A spinning museum, studio, dye garden, and shop.
• Briggs & Little Woollen Mills in York Mills
  • Canada’s oldest woollen mill, with factory tours and shop. They don’t use the carbonizing process (acid bath) for removing straw/debris from the yarn.