Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Another week has gone by.

There was another article about us in the local Guardian. I would put in a link, but the article did not make it online. It has been a great way to get the word out about the shop.
I am working on a new section for the website, a gallery. The idea is that when you finish your project, you can send me a photo, and I will put it up in the shop, and on the website. As I have not started yet, here are a few:

Here is Felicia from the knitting group with a lovely collar that she made from Silkwoods Contessa thick and thin. She still has to weave in the ends, and sew on a button.

felicia

Next is the cardigan that Jill made from the book "One Skein". She used Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cotton. I love the little flowers.

jillcardi

You can now click on the photos to see them larger. I just discovered the wonders of Flickr.

Other news in the shop is that new yarns from Feza, which come from Turkey, should be arriving next week. This yarn is a combination of several yarns tied end to end, great for making scarves, ponchos, or anything that you want to add a bit of excitement to. We can't wait to start knitting with it.

We also have lots of new books arriving every day, lace seems to be quite popular these days, along with socks.

I have updated the class list with loads of new classes for September and October. Upcoming events include a crochet class with Nicky Trench of Rooster yarns. We will also be having Louisa Harding in the shop on Saturday 4 November to sign books, and talk about her exciting new yarns for Autumn. I will have some other events to add to the calendar, keep a watch on the website.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

View From Above

We are into our third week now. The group was in today for the usual Wednesday meeting. I think all of the regulars showed up. Here they are in action, though is it a bit bright due to all of the windows.


We have put out quite alot of sample skeins of the yarns that we stock so that anyone who comes in can do a row or two and see how they like the yarns. It is so difficult to know if you are going to like a yarn until you actually get to try it out. This is what is on the table upstairs as well as downstairs.



Here is a view from above. The tables have finally arrived, which makes it much easier to sit in the chairs and knit. Now there is a place to put your pattern and yarn.


There's Ingrid sitting down there having a look through some new books that arrived yesterday, and Nathalie helping someone figure out a pattern, something which she is much better at than me. Thank goodness one of us is good at maths!

We have had some other good blog reviews such as this one that came through in an email yesterday from Katie who came in with a friend the other day. Thanks Katie!

Today we had a visit from Christine of The Big Pink Cookie fame. Nathalies mom found her blog, and we have all been following it. I was hoping that she would stop in, and here she is with her lovely Koigu shawl.


It was really nice to meet her after following the blog. Hopefully we will see her around again.







Alot of people have been asking about our class schedule. I have a bunch of classes lined up, two in July, and then starting again in September. I hope to have that up on the site in the next day or so. Keep an eye out.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

News Worthy

It was a beautiful sunny day here in Southwest London. It has been very busy in my house as my parents are visiting, and my in-laws arrived today as well. It is my BIG birthday this weekend. I have been quite busy with the shop, so haven't been dwelling on it too much. The exciting news today was that we were featured in the local newspaper, The Wandsworth Borough News. They wrote a full page story about us including photos.


I don't think we look too bad considering we felt quite foolish while the photgrapher was there. I'm not sure if it had any impact, but the shop was full of people today. We had our first workshop run by Nic. Then Purly Queen arrived with some of her friends, who seemed to be having a nice time deciding what to make, discussing patterns, and swatching a bit. They stayed for a good bit of the morning, which was nice. We are really happy that people seem to be enjoying the hanging out part of the shop, which is what we really want it to be all about. The tables arrived today, so we will now have a place to put our patterns while we sit in the comfy chairs. I am also working on a new feature, a Wish List. You can come in and fill out the form, which we will keep on file and will list the things you really want, sort of like a Wedding Registry without the china. Then you can send your friends and family in to buy your birthday present and they will know exactly what you want! Nathalie though of that one, and I am off to work on it now.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Week One

I was going to post some photos, but since so many people have put photos of
us on their blogs, I thought I would just point you in their direction.

Our first day was great, lots of people came in who live locally and have been
watching our progress. There are alot of knitters in the area who have been
waiting for a yarn shop. Apparently there used to be 3 wool shops in Putney
years ago. Well, no worries, we are here now.
One of our first customers was Wibbo, who I had met at Olympia. It was really nice to see her again. I think she enjoyed her visit, she took lots of photos, even one of me! I hope she comes back again soon, bring along a project and we can get some coffee!
Our next online review came from the Purly Queen  (I love that name). She seemed to have a good time as well, which was confirmed by her blog entry.

Another familiar face was Yvonne of And all that Stash fame. I am very glad that she enjoyed the air conditioning, as well as other things. We are very happy at the moment with that
investment as I am completely melting at home. Don't think that I haven't
considered sleeping at the shop! I think the first week went quite well, looking forward to the next one. Now that our work is slowing down a little bit, I have my first project in a while, a tank top in Lana Grossa Binario. Hope to get a photo in a few days, you can tell I have been lazy with that one. Oh well, the shop has been keeping me busy.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Finished Product
















Here it is. This is a good portion of the yarn, I'm trying to figure out what percentage. I would say a little more than 1/3. There is quite a bit more that I couldn't fit into the photo. This is pretty much the view when you walk through the door, which is where I was standing when I took it. There are more bookcases to the left of the staircase, and some right next to the door to the left. When you go up the stairs, there is a classroom with seating for 8. The chairs came today as well, and they are quite comfy. The display boxes for the front window came today. We have to unpack those tomorrow and set up the window. Otherwise we are ready to go. The knitting group is coming on Monday for a preview, then the real opening is on Tuesday. Looking forward to this week as my sister and parents are coming to visit as well. Its going to be a very busy one.