My husband and I will be visiting NZ's South Island for 3 weeks in Nov/Dec. In addition to lots of hiking, birding, and kayaking AND enjoying the beaches in Golden Bay, I am a knitter and am always on the lookout for ways to add to my yarn stash!

Any suggestions on good yarn stores?

Our intinerary is basically arrive CC, work our way down the East Coast to Invercargill, then over to Stewart Island, then back to Queenstown, head off to the Milford Track. After that, head over to the West Coast and end up in Golden Bay/Nelson area. Return home from Christchurch.
Many thanks.

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CatKnitz

My wife remembers that she bought alpaca and merino hand-dyed loopy yarn in SI. This year she found the same here in the US for about the same price.

i got some nice nz yarn from a little shop in queenstown, which i haven't seen other places (it's somewhere in the main area of queenstown - but can't remember exactly where!). I did notice they had quite a bit of possum yarn though as well which might be of interest to you.

i did a search on google and here's some info that might be of use:
http://www.knitting.co.nz/site/page_...oaffix_index2/
http://www.thetinshed.co.nz/ (this place looks good)
http://www.creativefibre.org.nz/reso...ppliers_s1.htm (this is a good site there's a list of places for south island)

The Tin Shed is Great! I got some great prices on seconds and closeouts of wool knit caps, gloves, long underwear, etc.

I just got back from NZ and wanted to quick knit a scarf for my husband he could use while we were there. I bought the possum fur-merino wool blend that they sell at tourist shops. Here is a warning for you...I do not recommend the 8 ply Supreme Possum Merino yarn. For $12.50nzd per 100 meter ball, it was not strong (yarn melted apart on me several times) and sheds constantly. I felt good about using the possum "road-kill" varmit (that New Zealanders are always finding ways to kill) yarn, but it's just not worth the money. I asked locals why they don't seem to bother with the stuff...I never saw any locals wearing any of the possum stuff, unless they were selling it...now I know why.

To end on a positive note though, the mulit-hued merino wool and mohair yarns I saw in Queenstown, Tirau and Arrowtown (next to Queenstown) were beautiful. I wish I had bought those instead. So, Merino wool and mohair are on the top of NZ quality wools in my book. Talking with a few wool and yarn ladies around NZ, they are just starting to use and cultivate the alpaca for yarns. I am a little weary about the alpaca-merino blend...and would probably wait for a few more years for them to perfect the alpaca-wool yarn production to buy it. That's just me, trying to avoid any kind of issues like my possum-wool debacle.

To go mainstream and for really great deals on yarns, I liked Spotlight. It's like a Michael's, Jo-Ann Fabric, Hobby Lobby type of chain store, but worth the price when you hit the selections in the Sale bins. I found one in Rotorua and I think there was one in Dunedin. There was stuff made in Italy, packaged for NZ that was beautiful, modern, unique and dirt cheap. I know, half-way around the world...but I liked it better than the possum stuff.

Happy knitting! : )

indeed in Aus, spotlight is a great place for yarns - I've used a lot of moda vera (which is probably the stuff you are talking about) this winter and it's lovely.

Thanks for all the good advice.
Lovtraveln, I will stay away from the possum; I was kind of wondering about that anyway...
The merino has always been a favorite. I will be sure to check out Spotlight in addition to the specialty yarn stores others have mentioned.
Again, many thanks to all.