Wool Revival

I tried to visit this shop at 2:00 pm on Saturday, within their sort of posted hours. There are several small pieces of paper stuck to the inside of the door with random hours listed on it. There was no one in the store, and with a two day old snowfall, the sidewalk hadn’t been cleared either. I won’t waste my time again. So much for shopping local.

As an out of towner, I really took a chance on visiting a store with no publicized hours (online anyway) or phone number (the one posted on Unilocal is out of service). On their door, there is a small sign that has their business hours as tues-​fri 12noon to 5. And Saturday 11−5pm. As luck would have it, they were closed when I went, but they were having group knitting starting at 7pm on Tuesday. I was graciously welcomed and asked if I needed any help. As previous posts have mentioned, there is a large selection of yarns but only a few skeins of each colour. There is, however, a good size collection of Rowan yarns.

Now without a vehicle, I went in search of a new Local Yarn Shop that was easy for me to reach by bike or transit. Wool Revival fit the bill. I’d always meant to stop in, but it was nearly always closed when I’d driven by in years past.
To my delight, it was open last Saturday. Another customer was being helped when I arrived, but I was assisted soon after. I had time to peer over the yarn selection, which was large. However, the shop seemed only to have one or two skeins of each colour within a brand/​style – not enough for the majority of my projects. (However, I suspect more skilled fair isle/​intarsia and very small item knitters might find the quantities adequate.) The owner answered my questions to the best of her ability, but I had neglected to bring my pattern and her suggestions for me were thus constrained. I’m still pretty passionate about supporting LYSs, though, so I scratched my head for other things I might need.
I was excited to spy a tower of embroidery floss drawers in one corner of the shop (I’m a cross-​stitcher, too), as I was in need of a single colour, but she was out of it. I also needed a very small crochet hook, but she had none. Not to be daunted, I decided I’d get some yarn in a colour I really liked … and then I learned she only accepts cash and cheque. I walked out the door with apologies and empty hands.
In sum, I’d love to give Wool Revival my highest rating, but it’s a shop for a different kind of knitter. I’d still encourage anyone to stop by to see if it suits them, but I doubt I’ll be returning.

I wandered into this store while house hunting in the Highlands area. I hadn’t heard of this place before, so I was quite excited to accidentally discover a new yarn store. The woman working was very friendly and offered plenty of help. I had a hard time here though as it was a bit cluttered and disorganized. They also had a lot of artificial fibre yarns and unfortunately that is just not my thing! If you are looking for novelty yarns though this is a great place to go. They had some pure wools and alpaca as well.
This is not a great store for beginner knitters as you can get your yarn, but will have to go somewhere else to get those other essential tools — needles! They don’t carry them! Which is a bit confusing to me. They also only take cash at the moment, so if you find something you MUST have, be sure to have cash on hand.
They do have knitting groups but unfortunately don’t have regular hours or any real way to get a hold of them, so stop by if you are in the neighbourhood and you might get lucky! I wouldn’t count on this place as a regular stop though if you are in dire need of a yarn fix.

I’ve been to this shop a couple times, and it kind of feels like a yarn monster exploded inside. In a semi-​orderly way. Organized yarn chaos perhaps?
This store is a favourite with local knitters. There are frequently knitting groups here and the staff is super helpful.
Unfortunately, they don’t really keep regular hours, and they don’t have a phone. So stop by and hope for the best! It’s part of their charm.

This is the kind of shop I’d expect to see in a small town. The neighbourhood has a small-​town feel to it, and the store has the ambiance of someone’s (a passionate knitter’s) living room. When you walk in, the owner is inevitably sitting there working her needles and chit-​chatting with a few customers who share the love of needle craft. Meanwhile, others browse the stacks upon stacks of colourful and varied wools to choose from. There’s everything imaginable here. If you don’t knit, but love to wear knits, there are a few items of clothing for sale and lots of fabulous socks, mats, scarves and mittens. They must do some mean business during a long, cold Edmonton winter.