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Happy Anniversary to Once Upon a Sheep! And some other stuff…

Friends, when I opened Once Upon a Sheep (OUAS) on April 5th, 2003, I had no idea it would still be in operation 20 years later. I remember the ladies from the seniors’ centre barging their way through a group of our shelter residents in order to find the yarn shop before we even opened. It was a great encouragement for me, knowing I was taking a risk.

By 2006 we formed The Shepherd’s Heart Society to oversee the shop and create a financial firewall between The Salvation Army and the shop. This proved to be the secret sauce in keeping OUAS afloat. Our board of directors, five of us since the beginning, and a few others who came and went along the way have done a superb job of keeping the shop on track and making sure the Purposes of the Society are the guiding lights for us.

Since the beginning, YOU helped us raise thousands of dollars for The Salvation Army’s Send a Kid to Camp program. As a child who attended these kinds of camps as a child, I cannot begin to describe the feeling of having a ‘vacation’ away from home. Most of the children we send to camp come from families where a vacation is something they can only dream of. For every dollar you spend at Once Upon a Sheep, we are able to continue to make summer camp a reality for children from Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.

So, to say THANK YOU…

We are celebrating our 20th anniversary with a

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION SALE!

EVERYTHING will be on sale

10% – 50% off

April 25th – April 29th

Some of our new and older yarns…

Bramble Ridge Yarns from Mission
United Socks
Little Darlings – Soft
Stellaris sparkly threat
Pom Poms from Yarnboler
Cascade Anthem for budget-minded knitters/crocheters
Cascade Ultra Pima – one of our best cottons ever!
Cascade Cotton Puff – new to us
And so much more….!

We are changing our hours. We tried staying open later till 6:00 pm to accommodate our customers who work. However, very few people took advantage of that, and we want to utilize the precious time our volunteers give us working in the shop. So we will be returning to regular hours again in May, and hopefully back to pre-Covid hours in the fall, which will be 10:00 am – 4:00 pm.

Tuesday	12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Wednesday	12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Thursday	12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Friday	12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Saturday	10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Sunday & Monday	CLOSED

Shop Hours as of May 1st, 2023

We appreciate your patronage and want to hear from you. Help us to better meet your needs by filling out the above survey. Click on the photo to go to the Survey

Like most businesses, we are struggling with the economic situation right now. Many shops in the Lower Mainland did not survive Covid, and now with the high cost of everything, more are in danger of closing down.

We also know many of you are struggling as well. When we tighten our belts, the first thing to go on our shopping list is discretionary spending. We understand and so we are doing our best to bring in some good quality yarns you can afford so you can continue your needlework during these next months. We survived the last 20 years through ups and downs in the yarn world. We will continue to survive!

Happy Knitting/Crocheting…. Kathie

See you at the SALE… and in the meantime…remember…

Merry Christmas to all…

It was a whirlwind year at Once Upon a Sheep. We had new volunteers join us and a new social media wizard, Jenna. If you did not yet see her Instagram and Facebook posts, you must check them out. She has a couple of live videos that are so great. Here is one she recently posted.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Once Upon a Sheep Yarn Shop (@onceuponasheepyarn)

Samples for Sale

There is still time to purchase some of our knitted items for Christmas presents if you ran out of knitting time. Samples will be on sale until Dec 24th

Yarn Arrived!

We just received a new order of Haynes Creek Aran weight yarn – 189 metres of luscious 100% Highland Wool. It has a beautiful hand, and lovely drape, and makes great sweaters! Come and see the many colours we have available.

We are currently waiting for a fresh order of Bamboo Pop Sock Yarn for those who cannot knit with sheep wool due to allergies or sensitivities. After Christmas, we have some other new yarns arriving we are excited about.

Knitting/Crochet Help

If you need assistance with a project, some of our volunteers are willing to help. However, you must book a time with someone in advance. Call or drop by the shop to enquire about this.

Our Knit Social on Wednesday from 1:00 – 3:00 pm is every week (except between Christmas and New Year when we are closed.) This is a good place to find a special community of fellow fibre/needlecraft enthusiasts.

Christmas is Almost Here…

Click here for Berroco’s Free Minutia Patterns

Every year it never ceases to amaze me how fast Christmas comes and goes. We spend time buying gifts, baking, decorating, and frantically knitting in between these activities. And yet, Christmas should be a time we slow down and take time to reflect on the meaning behind the celebrations. Yes, for Christians it is all about the birth of Jesus. However, for others, it is a cultural celebration of giving and time with family and friends. However you celebrate Christmas this year, we hope you will take the time to give love, receive love, and celebrate love.

If you are alone this Christmas and want to be involved in something meaningful, The Salvation Army and Once Upon a Sheep participate in The Christmas Haven. Check them out on their Facebook page and you will even see our very own board member/volunteer, Anne, showing off a lovely crocheted blanket she made for The Christmas Haven. They provide a meal, toys, and festivities for people in the community who are alone or do not have the means to provide for their families at this time.

Christmas Hours

Our Wednesday afternoon Knit Social from 1:00 -3:00 pm is still going. However, we won’t be having our knit nights again until the new year. Dates will be announced.

The shop will be closed for the holidays between December 25th to January 2nd, opening with regular hours again on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2023.

Merry Christmas & God Bless You

WWKIP

This coming Saturday, June 11th, Once Upon a Sheep will be hosting a gathering outside the shop. There will be some cookies and cold drinks served and we have something special for you…

Trunk Show with Bramble Ridge Hand Dyed Yarns

Meaghan Mitchell, the owner of Bramble Ridge, will be coming to the shop for the day and will have a display of her yarns for you to see. We will be carrying her yarns soon and want all our supporters to have an advanced peek at what is coming.

SALE

10% off all cotton and cotton blend yarns and PK Cardholders get an extra 10%!

These yarns and many more!

Flash Sale

**Hurry, before all the yarn is gone!!!**

We’re having a FLASH SALE this weekend. Run on over to ONCE UPON A SHEEP for a May long weekend special.

There are cottons, baby yarns, and lots more on sale.

10% off selected yarns and for PK card holders, 20%

Plus YARN BUSTERS throughout the day.

SEE YOU THERE

Knit/Crochet Drop In

1940, Bayford, Hertfordshire, England, UK — Bayford Housewives Knitting on a Doorstep — Image by © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS

Courtesy of http://clipart-library.com/knitting-group-cliparts.html

One of the casualties of the pandemic was the loss of community that happened each Tuesday night at Once Upon a Sheep. There was a group meeting that night every week since 2003 and for two years we missed each other. Now that the province has loosened the restrictions, we feel we can move forward and open up our Tuesday Drop-In again.

We will have two rooms open for people to gather in. Bring your latest project and come for that wonderful sense of community that happens when women knit/crochet together. One of my favourite things to do on Tuesday nights when we first started was teaching people to knit. Passing on these ancient fibre crafts is an honour and a privilege.

Let’s also be ready to share with each other the new knitting/crochet techniques we learned since we last met. If there is something you are really proud of accomplishing, bring it along to share with the others.

To Mask or Not to Mask,

That is the Question!

We would urge those who are not vaccinated to protect themselves with masks and social distancing. In that case, you may want to consider if it is safe for you to meet together with others. However, each of you is to be led by your own conscience and common sense. If you have a cough or a sore throat (or other symptoms) be considerate to others and do not come to the drop-in until you know you are not sick with COVID-19.

Starts Tuesday, May 24th – 7:00 – 9:00 pm

We hope to see you there!

Mad About Ewe 2022

As in life, change brings about opportunities. This year the opportunity before us to embrace something a little different for our annual sale, Mad About Ewe.

Let me give you some history – the first time we ran this sale it was held at night and the name “Midnight Mad About Ewe” was a take on Valentine’s Day. We opened at 8:00 pm and stayed open until 12:00 am – midnight. We wondered if anyone would show up but we decided to be optimistic and had volunteers ready. We arranged with the Baptist church across the street to allow us to use their parking lot. We had volunteers escorting shoppers across the road to our shop inside The Salvation Army Caring Place. We had coffee for the husbands who did not want to let their wives go alone at night to the shop in such a “dangerous” area.

The sale was a HUGE success and the knitters & crocheters were lined up outside waiting their turn to come in. The volunteer salespeople were run off their feet while we had hourly 15-minute flash sales. Oh my goodness! It was crazy fun! We conducted the sale this way for a few years, however, the sale eventually evolved into a daytime sale over Valentine’s Day weekend. We still brought in the same level of sales, but the pace was a little slower and not as crazy.

Now we are in a different location than we were at the beginning and it is a smaller space. Normally this is fine, however, COVID-19. Last year we were back to line-ups outside due to social distancing rules for businesses, and it was not fun for anyone. Our customers did not let us down, though, and we still had a wonderful sales total in spite of the limitations.

This year we are going to embrace change again in order to keep everyone safe , which includes our volunteers. Rather than Valentine’s Day weekend, we are going to conduct the sale over a two-week period. You will still be able to access the amazing sale yarns in the back room and everything in the shop will be on sale.

Here are the details:

Dates: February 15th – February 26th

Hours: 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm Tuesday – Friday and 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Saturdays

Up to 50% off selected yarns!

EVERYTHING IS ON SALE!!!

THESE AND MANY MORE YARNS ARE AVAILABLE!

Snow Day! – January 6th, 2022

Once Upon a Sheep will be closed today due to the weather. Our volunteers safety and yours is utmost, so please stay home if you can and enjoy the scenery. Roads on side streets are bad and many cannot drive their cars safely on these streets. Take care and come and see us tomorrow if the roads clear. We will post again here and on our Facebook page if we continue to stay closed.

Thank you.

The Board of Directors

Winter storm warning in effect for Fraser Valley, Metro Vancouver

Shop Holiday Hours

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day yesterday. The new layer of snow has made everything seem so magical. However, many have been affected by the new Covid varient called Omicron, and their Christmas celebrations disrupted. It’s hard to know what to do and how to keep ourselves safe. Knitting or crocheting is always a great way to distract ourselves.

We made the decision this year to close our shop between Christmas and New Year to give all our hard working volunteers a break. We will be closed from December 27th and will reopen in the New Year on January 4th with our usual hours.

Tuesday to Friday 12:00 – 4:00 pm
Saturday 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Enjoy the Christmas break and come and see us in the New Year.

Christmas

We wanted to show you some of the lovely things you can make this year for Christmas. This is a cute pattern from Berroco and the free pattern can be found here. You can use Berroco Ultra Wool and we do not carry plush, but have Sirdar Alpine which could work.

We bring in several yarns from Estelle and their Estelle Bulky with Merino is one of our more popular ones. Here is a lovely pattern you can use from their website and find the yarn in our shop.

The 220 line has been popular since Once Upon a Sheep opened in 2003. This particular yarn, 220 Superwash Merino comes in many colours and we have a great collection of colours in our shop. Search this yarn on Ravelry and you’ll find 7,193 projects being done in this yarn. It certainly is popular. Here is an example from Tin Can Knits called Vivid.

If you have any last minute knitting needs, we’re still open Tuesday to Friday, 12 pm – 4 pm and Saturdays 10 am – 4 pm. Stop by and see us.

Merry Christmas!

I leave you with this cute poem for crocheters.

FLASH SALE!!!

You know we love our customers and it’s been a tough time for many during this pandemic. We wanted to show our customers some love so come by the shop for a FLASH SALE! If you haven’t seen our new yarns, see our previous blog post – lots of great photos of what you can expect.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2021

10:00 AM – 4:00 PM

15% off all yarns

If you’re a PK member, add your 10% for 25% off

If you haven’t made a donation in a while and updated your PK Card, why not make this Saturday the day to do it. All funds we collect go straight to The Salvation Army and help us send over 40 children to a great summer camp experience on the Sunshine Coast each year. Minimum donation is $10.00 but we hope you’ll dig deep and give a little bit more. You will receive a donation receipt and you can request not to be put on a mailing list.

We hope summer 2022 the children have an opportunity to go and have this wonderful experience. Click on the logo above or go to campsunrise.ca for more information about this awesome camp!