While in Melbourne I made a special effort to drive out to Bendigo just to go to the Bendigo Woollen Mills factory shop.
It took almost 2 hours to get there and the weather was shocking for driving. It was 9 degrees when we left Melbourne and almost 5 when we got to Bendigo at 10am.
It is a well laid out shop and I really would have enjoyed myself if I didn’t bring the kids with me. My little boy also thought he was in heaven walking into a room filled with squishy “balls”. So once strapped into the pram, he didn’t stop screaming to get out. And my little girl was overly helpful. So even with the distractions I managed to buy a “shitload”.
This photo is from the bargain room looking out into the main store. I was too embarrassed to get my camera out in front of the assistant.

I bought
3 balls of 5ply colonial in Brown

3 balls of 5ply classic in Smoke (for a new milobo)

1 ball of 8ply rustic cedar fleck to take my total to 4

1 ball of 8ply cotton in latte to round out my collection of BWM cotton
then 4 balls of luxury (2 pink,2 white) for my sister
1 ball of red 8ply for Alison (we must catch up for dinner soon, at least to give you this wool)
and a ball from the bargain room 8ply blue/red for my dad – cause he wants an ear flap hat.
Not too bad. 2.8kg of wool for just shy of $130. I also needed to buy a vacuum space bag to fit it all home in my suitcase.
The colonial brown and the blue/red where the only things that I managed to get from the bargain room. And they weren’t significantly cheaper. I guess like all factory outlets you have to be there at the right time. I probably would have found and bought a lot more from in there if I had the time and the patience (sans children).


Regardless of my lack of bargains, going was a highlight of my trip. It was awesome just to see all of the wools together and compare colours and to squish the balls.
The kids ended up having a good day as I took them to an indoor play centre (Bendigo Fun Factory) to let off some steam for a couple of hours before the drive home.




Oh gosh!! Yarn haven!!!!!!! I wanna squish those balls!!!!!!!!
(yarn balls, that is…)
If that’s the only way I can get you out to dinner….then I really need that wool soon!!!
I looked for a dark brown on their website but could not find one. Must be that not everything they have is listed.
Glad to hear you had a great trip.