Birkeland Bros Wool

Updating my review after visiting the relocated store.
Birkeland Bros. (brand/​store & Old Lady carding machine) was sold to a new owner. Due to the price of retail leases, and the specific flooring requirements for the Old Lady, Karen (the new owner) moved the store to Abbotsford. A bit of a long trip for spinners/​quilters/​dyers/​felters who live in Vancouver and want the raw fibre, but in terms of yarn stores, there is not as much competition out in Abbotsford.
The new store is nice and spacious. The Old Lady is prominently on display (but is only operated during off hours due to safety laws) and looks amazing. Before you could only catch glimpses of her in the back room of the store.
When I visited the staff member was only moderately helpful. She left me to browse, which I was happy to do. The selection appears to be small, but it could be deceptive due to the large space. The front display spaces are ‘leased’ by local artisans who sell their wares, and the back boasts a large room for classes.

Sadly the Main Street location is now closed, and greatly missed.
I believe the shop has been reincarnated in Abbotsford, but that is cold comfort to all the Vancouver-​based knitters. The nearest yarn shop to the former Main St. store is Three Bags Full, on the East side of Main at (approximately) 29^th ave.

People who knit and people who work at knitting shops are awesome people. I walked in to Birkeland today with a pattern in hand and walked out with everything I needed to complete my amazing cowl plus the confidence to do so.
The staff here are super friendly and willing to help you through any projects. Like other reviewers have mentioned, the shop has mainly wool yarns. So if you’re looking for different fibers you’ll have go to the other yarn shop on Main. The good news is that the shops are about 10 blocks away from each other, so you can run back and forth between the two to find that extra special skein of yarn for your knitting project.

Birkeland Bros is my go-​to store for everything wool! From spinning, felting and knitting/​crochet wool — they’ve got a wide range.
The staff here are super-​friendly and, more importantly, knowledgeable! Do yourself a favour and ask when you can see the drum carder in action. It’ll amaze you!
An important part of our history here in Vancouver!

Pearl is the BEST! She is so sweet and helpful. She teaches some of the classes and is always extremely helpful whenever I go into the shop with ideas for projects. They have a pretty decent selection of wool, needles, courses, etc.

Since I learned how to be a natural fibre snob when it comes to my yarn, I’ve come to love Birkeland Brothers. This rustic looking shop carries a lot of house-​spun wool that comes in every thickness and colour, which at first blush seems not so great when you’re looking for the big-​brand names that knitting magazine patterns promote. But the staff of experienced knitters and fibre artists have helped me find the equivalent yarns from their stock, down to calculating the length of yarn I would need for a particular gauge and pattern.
Currently, I am knitting a shrug made from their beautiful silk-​alpaca blend, and am absolutely loving the way it feels to work with it. (Down with acrylic nastiness. Down I say!)

I’m just a beginner crochet-​er and with my amateur knowledge or yarn and wools, I found this place pretty darn awesome.
I walked in with the idea of making monkey ear-​earwarmers. and I walked out with a plan and wool! 24 hours later I have 5 pairs of monkey ear-​earwarmers and 5 very happy people.
I found them very helpful and their selection seemed to be pretty good. They offer a bunch of classes and hoping to take a felting class one day in the future.
The odd three very-​inclined steps here makes this place not wheelchair friendly and not stroller friendly! My nephew DID enjoy the steep ride out but it freaked me out cause I thought he was going to fall flat on his face. lol
Their price range seems to be the average.
On car-​free day they set up a station outside to show people how to spin their own fibre? I think thats what they were doing but I thought it was pretty cool that they set up shop outside.
I will definitely be back for more!
(side note, but they are dog-​friendly!)

I’m not super (or even medium) familiar with wool. I guess I would be considered a newbie when it comes to wool and wool accessories, so I cannot say, by any means, that I’m an expert on wool in Vancouver (I don’t mind not being able to say this) I’m actually really surprised/​pleased this place has even been reviewed three times!
I’ve recently gotten into felting and was recommended Birkeland. The staff (which I know is a pretty regular rotation of 2 people) were pretty shy but relatively friendly and very knowledgeable. They have a wide variety of colours and types of wool, that you can buy by weight, as well as felting kits.
There was also a large dog sleeping on the floor which I appreciated.

Can I just say that I am absolutely IN LOVE with Birkeland Bros Wool? It’s true. I had walked by it many times in the past, and have become very attached to the place since early January. I woke up one morning in December and decided that I had to learn how to weave. I looked it up online, and came across the Birkeland Bros Wool website, and signed up.
Since then, I’ve taken other classes at Birkeland Bros Wool, and just love the welcoming and positive environment that Cara has created. Pearl is also amazing, and is very knowledgable and has a great sense of humour.
I thank Birkeland Bros Wool for introducing me to the wonderful world of beautiful fibres, as well as for all of the wonderful and creative characters I meet everytime I am there for a workshop, or a shopping trip, or just in to say hi. It’s one of my favourite Main St spots to visit.

My experience at Birkland Bros. hasn’t been particularly good, and I’ve been there at least a half dozen times. The staff have been decently friendly, but not outstanding and their prices are quite high compared to some other local yarn sources. My biggest problem with them, however, is their selection of spinning fibres, since I’m predominantly a spinner. The batts that are carded in-​house, in my experience, always have lots of nepps and vegetation (this basically defeats any pleasure you might get from spinning the fibre as you would be struggling against the imperfections and you’d rarely get a smooth draw). Also, not only is the quality of their in-​house fibre not great, but their prices for it and the other name brand fibre are quite overblown. Unfortunately, they are one of the only local sources of fibres such as Ashland Bay, but I find that their stock of it is not even consistent.
I also found that the prices for their classes are quite hiked up; you could take similar classes (with more equipment, more space, and for more hours) at Place des Arts for nearly half the cost. The yarn, notions, and books they sell are also quite pricey and you can find the exact same ones at other Vancouver yarn shops. Basically, one of the main things Birkeland Bros. has going for it is a convenient location and the uniqueness of their massive carding machine.
My other big beef with them though is that they’re not at all wheelchair/​stoller accessible.

This is one of my favorite knit shops — because it’s more than just a knit shop. They have a good selection of natural fibre yarn (even some hand-​dyed stuff), as well as batts of fibre. They offer classes in knitting, felting, weaving, and spinning, and sell everything you need to do these things. I tried the weaving classes, and it was lots of fun (if you’re into that kind of thing).
I also like how the products they sell range from affordable to high quality: you can get the plastic needles or the hand carved bamboo. They card their own batts of wool in the back on a huge 100-​year old carding machine, which you can buy in giant batts.