Yellow Pages
Here we collect very handy information for anyone doing fiber hobbies in Groningen to have: where to get your stuff, and where to find workshops to learn more things about your stuff.
Local Stores
Achterpand
An essential stop for anyone who needs yarn or thread. They have all the good brands and an overly tempting wall of handdyed skeins, and the shop owner and employees are all very friendly and knowledgeable.
They also host various events at their location: help with patterns, a knitting cafe, and a queer knitting circle. Please see their contact page for up to date information!
Cordi Atelier
Adorable store next to Noorderplantsoen which packs together more fabrics than you realised could exist in one place at the same time. The lady who runs it is very friendly and helpful. She also has a few yarns (including for weaving) and beautiful embroidery thread, and of course endless sewing notions.
The shop is also the basis of a few workshops, such as quilting basics, art quilting, fandango, sashiko, and many many more! See this info page for up-to-date information.
Local Fiber Artists/Workshops/Organisations
Chilli Vintage Artwork
Making artworks and mending with vintage fabrics!
Groningen Fair Fashion
Workshops, actions, lectures... all about fair fashion!
Textielhub Groningen
Maybe we can contact them at some point to see if they have any advice/resources for our spinning division... They seem to organise a lot of other textile-related initiatives, all focused around sustainability!
Groningen Werkt Circulair
...
Mooimiek
Felting and sewing workshops and lessons! She also gives private workshops, so if we end up with enough interest in the guild itself we could book one!
Atelier Lotte Jansen
Sewing and felting workshops! Her place has also done clothing swaps in the past, so keep an eye out.
Penduka
An initiative to empower Namibian women! They have great 100% linen summery/flowy clothes and cool pretty bags and much more. I hear that if you buy their stuff but it breaks you can come by their workshop (you can find it if you google Penduka Groningen, the website seems a little bit outdated and unclear on the location) and they'll repair it for you! Watch the sparse opening hours for that :)
Afrikassi/Spark050
Incredibly colourful African fabrics and stuff made from said fabrics. Based in Stadspark!
Frogmouse Studio
Indie yarn dyer based out of Groningen! Has a webshop, has also shown up at Handwerkbeurs Groningen before. Has yarn and knit/crochet piece care instructions/tips on her website!
Local Sources of Wool
These are not webshops, and are very likely to only have wool available during or right after shearing season. Be nice!
Kinderboerderij Stadspark
The local petting zoo has five Zwartbles and two Ryelands (and some more rams out in a different pasture) who get shorn every year around the end of May. If you send them a nice email and bring them something nice to have with their coffee, they will let you rifle through the fleeces and pick the best bits to take home - they usually throw it out otherwise. The wool is usually lightly to very full of hay, but the Zwartbles is beautifully poofy and the Ryeland is incredibly fine and crimpy. Ask around amongst the guild's spinners and you probably will find someone who still has some they can show you if you want to touch and look at some!
Stadskudde Grunn
Ever see some sheep grazing the green borders around the city? That might've been these professional landscaping services! We have yet to contact them and figure out if they share their wool for spinning, though their Facebook page does describe giving it to the local gardeners for mulch, so we're optimistic. To be contacted before shearing season 2027.
Marktplaats
Last but not least, Marktplaats is a great spot to find local raw wool (use search filters!) for free or at least cheap, in or out of season.
Dutch Webshops
Because sometimes you just can't find what you're looking for in the city.
Schaap en Draak
Karak and Voskop's favourite dyer, for the vibrant and saturated colour combinations. They go to lots of craft fairs and have a newsletter you can sign up to! They have spinning fiber, including silk mixes, and various weights of yarns, with their colourways available across the gamut. They also have spindles.
Purewol
A webshop that sells a wide (really wide!!) variety of (raw) sheep's wool. You can find so many breeds here, and Voskop personally loves perusing their "woldragers" tab. They sell the raw wool, washed & carded wool, big buckets and nets for washing, and some felting supplies. Generally good quality, pre-picked from most dirty stuff.
Schapenvacht en Lifestyle
A wide variety of commercially dyed spinning- and felting wool, in various micron counts and countless colourways, from solid to multi-coloured and variegated. Also has felting supplies and home decor.
Fairy Tail Fibers
Hand-dyed wool, supplies, and dye-it-yourself kits.
Kaarderij Wollust
Delightfully handmade website that sells natural dyestuffs and alum mordant. They also sell wool, but this does not appear to be readily available - the website says to email/call, and we who run this website have not yet tried this. They're based in the north of the Netherlands and as such their list of events they're going to is very handy for us in Groningen as well!
Spinspul
Spinning (and weaving, and related) tools and supplies.
Studio spintol
Lots of (Turkish) spindles! Some fiber also. We love their spindle loading icon.
Whimsy Wood Wool
Sneaking in a Belgium-based (supported) spindle maker!
WolLokaal
Found at fairs! Spinning supplies, very pretty and colourful roving, etc.
Woolmakers
Spinning wheels and drum carders.
Golden Fleece Carders
Anything you might need for any kind of carding. Also rug hooking gripper strips and frames.
Marrie's Atelier
Marrie's Atelier appears at craft fairs/festivals/markets and caters to quilters and sewists, experts and beginners. She has many little quilting kits that include everything you need except for needle and thread, including printed instructions, and if you find her at one of the aforementioned fairs, she usually hosts workshops where she'll guide you through the beginning of the project for the same cost as the kit. Because Marrie is getting older, she no longer hosts a webshop or even a site, but she does still respond to emails and sells her supplies and kits through there! Her email address is info@marries-atelier.nl.
Other (National) Guilds/Groups/Initiatives
National Spinning Group "Landelijke Spingroep"
National spinning guild with paid membership! Members can advertise things or services, and find each other to form spinning groups. The guild also has a presence on facebook and instagram and receives requests from local farms/festivals for spinners to demo their craft during events, and often has a presence at craft fairs in general. They have a monthly members' newsletter listing all sorts of events.
Dutch Quilters' Guild
Quilters' guild! They have a quarterly magazine with lots of interesting articles and whenever Handwerkbeurs Groningen comes back from purgatory I hope to see them there again with another incredible quilt exhibit.
Stichting Hartendekens
Volunteer crochet project/charity! Currently closed for new crochet contributions, but you never know. Very sweet initiative to give troubled youth (troubled as in, has troubles and cannot just be a carefree child as they should be able to be) something nice.
More "knit/crochet for charity" initiatives are available on the internet. I've not personally interacted with Stichting Hartendekens, it is just one I still had in my bookmarks so it's going up here as an example. If you run or have experience with a charity that people can contribute to, let us know and we'll add you here!
Pleed
Pronounced Dutchly, so like "played" in English phonetics. An organisation whose main initiative is called "wool rescuers", who have published two books that Voskop has a strong eye on, and who we found at Joure Onder De Wol one year. They do events, workshops, and other such activities, and have a newsletter (reviews soon...).
Did we miss someone or something, or do you want to list your own website on here? Let us know through email with the URL and a description! You're also welcome to let us know your own reviews of any listed entity and we may use that to add to its description here!