Yarn Club FAQs

The Beyond Merino Yarn Club is like a mini-course in breed-specific wools, shipped right to your door! The club will run from January to December 2023, with six yarn boxes shipped throughout the year. You can choose to pay for all 6 shipments at once, subscribe on a bi-monthly basis, or purchase just one box to try it out. Your purchase includes your yarn boxes (shipped every other month), access to our Zoom sessions with Catherine (from Small Bird Workshop) and an invitation to join our club-specific Facebook group and Ravelry discussion thread.

The pricing for the yarn club is as follows (all prices in CAD, not including tax):

• Bi-monthly subscription: $64.80 + shipping per box (automatically charged every two months)
• Full year, prepaid: $432, includes free shipping to Canada and US
• Single Box: $72 + shipping

If you choose our bi-monthly subscription option you'll be charged for the first box on the day you subscribe, and your payment method will be automatically charged every two months from that date for the subsequent boxes. 

If you choose to pay for the full year you'll only be charged once for all 6 boxes, at the time of purchase.

If you choose to buy just one box you'll be charged once for that box, at the time of purchase.

You'll receive the next available box after the date you subscribe. Please refer to our subscription cut-off dates here. Boxes are shipped bi-monthly, by the last day of the month. You'll receive a shipping confirmation email when your box is shipped, and in most cases you should receive the box within 1-2 weeks of the shipment date.

You can cancel your subscription at any time. You can access your subscription options through your customer account or through the link you'll receive in your confirmation email. Subscription charges are not refundable, so if you've already been charged for the next box at the time of cancellation you'll receive one final box to fulfill that payment.

You can update your information at any time through your customer account, or contact us by email and we'll make the change for you.

Yes, you can join whenever you like, please see our subscription cut-off dates here. We won't be adding extra boxes after the cut-off date, so if you miss one you won't get to try that particular yarn, but you can still enjoy the rest of the yarns we'll be sampling later in the year. Also please note that we have a limited capacity for this yarn club, so subscriptions will be closed if all spots are filled for that month.

We'll schedule each Zoom session at least two weeks in advance, and hopefully most members will be able to join us live. We completely understand that the timing may not work for everyone though, so we'll be recording the sessions for members who can't make it. These recordings will be available to members only and will not be posted publicly.

(If you're joining us for the live Zoom session and would prefer not to be recorded, please let us know and we can discuss the best way to accommodate you so that you can participate comfortably.)

YES!! We'd love to have some crocheters join us, you are more than welcome! Some of the swatching ideas provided for each box may be knitting-specific, but we'll include crochet projects in our pattern suggestions.

Yes. We take the responsibility of creating safe and inclusive online spaces seriously. Any yarn club subscribers participating in our Zoom sessions or online groups must adhere to our Members Code of Conduct.

All the yarns in our subscription boxes will be sourced by Catherine of The Small Bird Workshop, who will be drawing on her extensive network and knowledge of farms, mills, cooperatives and wholesalers to bring us a unique selection of breed-specific yarns. All the yarns for this club will be sourced from the UK, the US or Canada. Each box will include traceability information regarding the origin and processing of the yarn included.

Each box will include two skeins of yarn. One will be a natural undyed colour and may be cream, grey or brown depending on the colour of the sheep! The second skein will be hand-dyed in the Sweet Paprika studio and the exact colour will be a surprise but you'll be able to choose whether you would prefer warm, cool, or neutral (you'll receive an email for each box to confirm your choice). We'll ensure that all the hand-dyed colours have enough contrast with the natural skeins to be used together for colourwork patterns if you wish to do so.

We'll be choosing yarns ranging in weight from fingering to bulky, and each box will contain two skeins. You'll have enough yarn to make one or two small projects, such as hats, mittens, cowls, shawlettes, cushion covers, slippers, etc. We'll provide pattern ideas for each box that take into account both the weight/yardage of the yarn included and the particular characteristics of the sheep breed, spinning process, and finished yarn.

Maybe... it'll depend on the yarn. We'll likely dye up a few extra skeins "just in case" for each box, and we'll list those for sale on our website after all boxes have been received. Some of the yarn bases may also be available for purchase from Small Bird Workshop, but our hand-dyed colours will be unique for this club.