The first leg of our trip was a drive from Christchurch to Queenstown with a NZ friend. He knew I wanted to visit yarn stores, so when we passed this place on the way out of Christchurch he insisted we check it out.

The shop sold mostly knitwear, but there was yarn too. I bought some deliciously soft merino/possum yarn in a tweedy royal blue. I’m thinking a fitted, raglan-sleeve cardigan would work for this, possibly knit top down. It’s very warm yarn, so I’ll avoid cables or a bulky stitch pattern.

There was also some lovely yarn from coloured sheep. I chose three of the five or six colours available – they’re 200 gram hanks. I’m considering making either a fair isle garment or a crochet sampler blanket out of this.

Next my NZ friend dragged me to Ashford. Now, I didn’t want to go because I was worried I’d succumb to temptation and end up carting a loom around for the rest of the trip. But I did restrain myself, only buying a ball of yarn for the rug. The shop and complex looks like a great place for crafty day trips or weekends and there were the usual exotic yarns like Noro and Rowan among more familiar ACS and NZ brands.

The shop I wanted to go most out of all the NZ shops was Touch Yarns. This meant a side trip to Clyde. The shop was a little smaller than I expected, but full of beautiful quality yarn.

A woven scarf on display nudged me into buying this:

I’d barely given it a second look until then. But the yarns I’d never consider knitting often make great weft yarns. I also bought some more yarn for my rug here, before we headed on to Queenstown. Next: beautiful scenery and unexpected yarn finds.