OK.  Well it’s safe to say I’m not the most organised of people. Actually that could be the first of many understatements, as organised chaos is about as good as it gets for me.  That’s why I’ve put off writing a blog for the shop for so long, I’m sure I’ll get distracted, or I’ll forget or worse still my terrible grammar and umpteen spelling mistakes will be revealed.  Also I suppose I’ve been a little bit of a coward.  The internet can be such a positive place but it can be a bloody awful one too, with people knowingly or not ripping others to pieces and at times, forgetting that there is another person at the end of their post, blog, Facebook update.

Trying to put these concerns as far in the back of my mind as possible it is with trepidation that I’m going to write my first post –

Why a blog then?

Lots of reasons, we have a Facebook page which is a great way of interacting but there’s only so much you can do before you begin to jam up people’s feed.  I hope to use the blog as a way of letting you know what we’re up to in the shop: the ongoing charity events that we’re participating in, what we’re stocking, what we’re hoping to stock and what we’re clearing.  I’m hoping to eventually do a book/magazine/pattern review section, where I let you in on my knitting porn addiction – I know many of you have the same vice.  Anything that’s new in the world of knitting and crochet (although my crochet skills are poor and that’s stretching it some).  I also intend to upload my own designs, most of which will be quite basic as I hardly ever have the time to dedicate to this love, despite walking around with a head full of ideas.  At present any designs I’ve created have only been available in the shop, so it’ll be handy to have them here in the one place.  Lastly, there could also be the odd bit of cooking and/or baking thrown in.  I try to bake for the knitting group every week and apart from my ever expanding library of knitting books there is an equally growing collection of cookery books.

Beginning with the shop.  It’s called Knit.  I couldn’t believe my luck when I discovered that there wasn’t another business with the name in Ireland.  It explains the shop beautifully, although we have had the odd customer that expected something else?????

We sell yarn obviously and whilst I’d love to be able to say our premises is full to bursting with premium, designer yarns from around the globe,  all hand dyed, 100% natural fibers at give away prices – I can’t.  There are so many yarns I love but the reality is that most of us are no longer able to afford them, so I concentrate on sourcing the best yarns I can, whilst keeping in mind the price point.  That doesn’t mean we only stock 100% acrylic, but it does mean I spend a lot of time shopping around.

In fairness to the bigger, more well known companies, they’ve realised that there is a revival in natural fibers and they’re really trying to bring good quality yarns to the knitting masses.  The larger companies also have the money to invest in pattern design, but they can lack in inventiveness, which is where the independent designers come in.

One thing you will find is that I’m unlikely to stock anything I don’t really like, I’ve tried in the past and it doesn’t work for me. I find I can’t help giving the game away.  If I’ve bought something because it looked nice and I’ve got round to knitting up a sample and discovered it’s awful to use it tends to go in one of the clearance baskets

At the moment we stock yarns from Sirdar, Wendy, Rico, Twilleys, King Cole, Opal, Trekking, Sublime and Schoeller & Stahl.  There is pattern support to go with all of our yarns in the form of single sheet designs, collections and books.  If I find a design I particularly like I will try and ensure I have it in.  As I love all things Elizabeth Zimmerman we keep a few of her more well known designs although I’m hoping to eventually convince as many knitters as I can to embrace ‘uninventing’.

We stock needles, hooks and accessories from Knitpro, Pony and some from Clover.  We also have most of the other things you’d expect: buttons, sewing thread and accessories,  zips, bag handles, the list is endless.

I will leave it at this as I’m conscious i could start to waffle on a little…