My first rep visit: Katia

Yesterday I had the first visit from a yarns rep. It was Alan, from Katia.

It was great to see their wool range: partly like meeting old friends (although relatively new in the UK, Katia has been well established in Spain for many, many years - since I remember).

But, oh! the new ones...! mmmmmm gorgeous fluff. Lovely baby/child range, with some fantastic colours, not just the obligatory pastels, but vibrant, joyful hues too. It made me wish I had more babies in the family, but alas, my close friends' babies are now a bit too big for baby knits... but there's always the shop window... I suppose I will HAVE to knit something for there (what a fantastic excuse fantastic good reason for knitting toddler's clothes I have just created!)

They have gorgeous chunkies, fantastic fantasy yarns, colourful merinos and alpacas... and good value alternatives to Noro, although I wasn't too impressed with the colour blending, so the Japanese brand is still tops in my little list of colour blenders.

Their distinctive superiority comes from the imaginative range - beautiful metallics, thin and thick lace effects, super chunky yet ultralight velvet with vibrant, rich colours, knit-with-your-hands (or a pair of broomsticks) humongously thick and soft rope (it comes out of 'yarn' range!), and some chunky 100% wool especially designed for knitting and felting. ...and then the metallic cords... and the sequin yarn... mmmmmm! (photos in this blog as soon as the shop is open and my order arrives).

I spent almost 3 hours 'ooooeeing' and 'aaaawing' over lots and lots of really nice colour cards and samples. And I was left with their 5 very inspiring magazines from the Autumn/Winter range... as if I needed any more inspiration... lol!

I also had a preview of their Spring/Summer collection: and what a range of goodies are those Spanish peeps preparing for us...! Their customary soft cottons, some really natural looking and flattering linen (think hat & bag knitting and crocheting), and a very special mesh-type yarn... As imagination goes I think they get my price for textures, ...but as we still have the coldest of the winter to come I'll say goodbye for now and pick up my needles: that second entrelac sock is not going to knit itself ;-)

Exciting news!

I'm opening my very own yarn shop! Yippee!

After a career path training sesison at work I had a serious conversation with my husband - you know, one of those about the purpose of life, about what we would really do if we could follow our heart's path etc... and I told him what I would work/play on if money was no object.

Then recently we had a different conversation, again about work/time etc and we decided to explore this 'wool shop' idea. To cut the proverbial long story short: I took the reins, sketched a business plan, looked at finances and we decided on a few places where the yarn shops were a bit thin on the ground... then walking through one of these locations we found a very nice premises, got in touch with the estate agents, put in an offer that was accepted (that was lucky!) and it's now going through solicitors' searches and other official activity ready for the contract to be signed/exchanged shortly.

Now the exciting bit: I've been looking at possible suppliers colour charts and samples - as usual Noro has fantastic colour combinations and is one of the definite ones, as well as the super popular Debbie Bliss, and the very versatile Katia (I'm meeting their rep tomorrow morning), amongst others...

I have also sourced a EU based supplier of qiviut yarn - it's important for me that they're EU based as that way I can keep prices down (very relatively speaking - it's qiviut after all!) but there's no import duty to pay. She only has 5 colour choices but they're absolutely 'lush' colours: natural brown, autumn deep lime green, intense dark turquoise/teal blue, a totally sexy and luxurious purple, and a deep wine red you can almost drink. (I think you can guess I'm excited about this particular yarn...)

Other brands I'm looking into are Manos del Uruguay and Mirasol, not only because the yarns are really nice but also for their ethics. Manos del Uruguay is a trade, not charity organisation; and Mirasol assists women who had been abused and mistreated.

Also featuring will be the all time popular Sirdar/Pattons, and I'm waiting to hear from Colinette.

I have already got some lovely Namaste glass knitting needles and will be stocking Britanny beech needles and crochet hooks.

I want to include something for the spinners (after all I'm one of them), so I'm planning to sell my own hand-painted tops/roving, not only the merino, but also some silks, BFL and others, and some raw fleece (washed!) now and then.

An important part of the plan is the 'enabling': I will be running sessions on different techniques. The programme will be published on the shop's website and will include workshops on intarsia, entrelac, cables, lace, colour work, design your own, etc as well as pop-in and skill share groups.

The premises we've chosen are ideal in many ways: good parking facilities in front and behind the shop, a special semi-enclosed space for toddlers and young children (will be bringing some toys to keep the wee ones entertained), and it's close to other shops with specialist markets (international and farmer's days) nearby on a regular basis. It's also a short drive from Bedford, Milton Keynes, Northampton, and Wellingborough - can you guess where it is yet? ;-)

Well, that's it for now - I'm looking forward to lots of work, fun, meeting new people, making new friends, being very creative and helping people to make really nice things :-)

More news on progress and opening date will appear on Ravelry and in this blog shortly.