It's in a fantastic location, the medieval Blackfriars building, very close to the city centre. The shop itself is upstairs in the central building in this photo:
Isn't that just an amazing spot? Much better than in a shopping centre!
The proprietor, Anne, welcomed us in and made us all a cup of tea while we looked round the shop. Here are some of the KnN ladies leafing through books, choosing yarns, and of course, nattering:
I should apologise in advance for being rather vague - I'm not a knitter and as Anne makes a point of stocking unusual and hard to find brands, I didn't recognise any of them, though the real knitters in the group fell upon them with cries of joy.
There are rare breeds wools too, and hand and naturally dyed wools:
There's also a lovely seating area next to an amazingly extensive reference collection of knitting and crochet books in the cabinets behind. Couldn't you just spend all day here?
I was a bit too good and didn't buy anything, though now I wish I had. I was particularly tempted by some hand dyed unspun wool that would be perfect for felting:
And some beautiful silk yarn:
I've no idea what I would use it for, but aren't the colours just fabulous!
While this is a terrific shop for anyone who knits or crochets, as an embroiderer I was feeling a bit envious. I spoke to Anne about the difficulty of finding anything more exotic than DMC stranded cotton in any local shop - I buy just about all my threads mail order - and she was interested to hear that this may be a niche worth expanding into. I do hope she does, even if it will end up costing me a fortune!
In all, this was a wonderful way to spend a lunchtime, and I have no doubt that we'll be back, probably regularly. If you're in North East England and in the Newcastle area any time, try and pop in!
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Great post! I'm a terrible knitter, too, and mention it in my own post today. We also have a lovely knitting shop nearby, but I sympathize with you about embroidery shops. We have a few, but to get goldwork supplies I would have to go into Los Angeles, which is a bit like going to the moon. So I tend to order almost everything on line.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's not just me! Admitting that I can't knit always seems like I'm confessing something awful. Knitting has become fashionable in a way that embroidery hasn't, so lots of shops seems to cater for it, while we have to hunt about online and in the ads in the backs of sewing magazines.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, there are a lot of great mail order retailers, and the fact that we can order threads from all over the world is amazing. All the same, a good needlecraft shop nearby would be nice...
What a lovely shop! I've just started to dabble in knitting to. I kind of get the knit stitch and that's about my limit. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI love shops like this, Ruth! It looks like a great place to while away the afternoon! It would be great if she expanded into embroidery threads! Deadly, but great!
ReplyDeleteWhat brilliant photos and write up - thank you! I really enjoyed meeting you all. See you soon.
ReplyDeletePS Did I mention my Welsh backgound and love of Dragons????