An inspirational customer

So today I met a wonderful lady who was buying wool to knit hats for homeless people. She bought 6 balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran at nearly £6.00 a ball and when I commented how lucky whoever got one of these was going to be, she put me in my place and firmly told me that actually homeless people were some of the unluckiest people and that she was once homeless and that she certainly didnt feel lucky when she was!! She added that if anyone smiled at her or gave her something no matter how small it was back then, it made her day and made her think that not everyone thought she was a worthless lazy good for nothing - that someone actually cared and wanted to help.

So now she knits hats made in 'nice real wool' to keep the recipients properly warm (her words), refusing to use 'the cheap stuff' as she doesnt think that shows much care. She also tucks a £1 coin in every brim......what a lovely lady. 

I gave her 2 of the balls just because in this instance she was right! I have so many customers knitting for charities all over the country and all over the world which is fantastic, but the phrase I hear a lot is 'whats your cheapest ball of wool?' or 'they dont need expensive wool'. I sell hundreds of balls of 'Value yarn' for this purpose which is great as where the finished garments are going to there is very little, so 'value' is better than nothing . But, how nice would it be if every now and then we thought of the people in need as worth more than 'the cheapest yarn' and made someones day by making them something of worth - this lady has made me think hard, and I have just cast on a hat in Pure Wool Merino to pass on to her if she comes in again......

She has inspired me. I have contacted some Homeless Charities in Bristol to see if my next Charity Campaign in the shop can be for them and I will get in some 'nice real wool' which I will discount to people knitting for this cause.....lets see how many homeless people can end up with a properly warm head this winter!!

Heres a few hats a homeless person might NOT want though.....

 

If you are interested in Knitting Hats for homeless people this winter you can find patterns, cheap and not so cheap wools in the shop from January 2014!

Take care and keep warm

Love
Tina xxx
www.thewoolstop.co.uk
info@thewoolstop.co.uk

For the love of Knitting....... 

It seems that all I do these days is Knit! At the last count I have the following projects on the go:
1. Baby Jumper for my Grandson in Baby Crofter (Back and half of front completed)
2. Beret hat for shop in handspun wool (Band and pick up stitches completed)
3. Knitted Bag in Rowan Colourscape Chunky (Knitted up to the handles)
4. Aran Jumper for my Daughter in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (2 Sleeves and Back completed)
5. Shawl for me (Hurrah!) in Sirdar Softspun chunky (Half completed)
6. Crochet baby blanket for my Nieces new baby (2/3 completed) 
7. Crochet Granny Square blanket (squares completed, need to join them together)


I also have several projects that I would like to start on but MUST NOT START YET, mainly due to the large array of new yarns that have arrived in the shop (each time I open a new delivery I say 'Ooh I'd like to knit that') and a couple of customer orders that I really must start right now! My life is choc-a-bloc full of knitting....so much so that I am feeling on the edge of losing control!! 

So, to help me stay 'on the edge' and not fall off into a dark woolly hole I have made a list and prioritised what I need to do first and last, lets see if it helps!

First I have to finish the baby blanket because baby Chloe is already here!! 
Then it will be Georges jumper as I am knitting size 3-6 Months and he is 3 months old and growing fast!
Then the Beret for the shop or winter will be over....
Then my daughters aran jumper as she chose the yarn in April..
Then lastly the stuff for me

Now this does help, however it makes me sad as the stuff for me takes a back seat again so should I rearrange my list and put me up there first somewhere....?? 

No, I will stick to the list and try not to add anything to it and eventually all my projects will be finished. I am sure I am not the only knitter who has this problem and I know I have so much to do because quite simply, I love yarn and I love knitting........and its not all bad, here are some of the projects I actually have finished recently...

 

......and finished projects make me smile :-)

I hope you are all knitting happily and finishing your projects
Speak to you soon
Tina xxx

Helping hand....

I am always encouraging my customers to come back if they have any problems with their knitting so I can try to help. This happens fairly often that someone comes in and 'cant do it', has 'lost my place', or simply 'cant understand the pattern' - and usually all it takes is for me to show them once, or give a simple explanation to get the 'light-bulb' moment where they say.....'oh of course, why couldn't I see that?'.

One lady came in who just couldn't get her increase row get the correct number of stitches. She had tried for hours and had unpicked the row many times - in desperation she had trudged up to the shop to ask me what she was doing wrong. The simple answer was that she had cast on too many stitches! She just hadn't counted properly right at the start of her knitting and never thought to count before she started to increase!

Needless to say she was a little embarrassed, but how often have we all not been able to see the wood through the trees, or the 'knit through the purl'?? I certainly have done some daft things with my knitting over the years - I once knitted a whole back of a jumper with two different size needles having forgotten to change BOTH needles after the rib resulting in an 'interesting' effect...why hadn't I noticed while I was knitting? The answer is....I have no idea! But it seems we are not alone (thank goodness). 

So using the most common mistakes/questions I am asked in the shop, I have compiled a few tips for those of us who do get in a tangle every now and then whether we have been knitting for 5 minutes or 50 years:

Simple Top Ten Tips to stop you Fraying at the edges

1) Read the pattern through before you start so you can find out if theres anything you dont understand BEFORE you start to knit 

 2) Use a highlighter to mark on the pattern the size you are knitting - this is especially useful if you are knitting one of the middle sizes and helps stop you knitting different sizes throughout the garment (hands up who's guilty of this one!)

3) COUNT your stitches regularly to make sure you are on the right track, and if you have lots of stitches place a stitch marker every 10 or 20 stitches to help you keep count

4) If you are anxious about a new stitch or pattern, do a sample square before you start the garment so that when you come to the pattern you know you can do the stitch

5) Do keep checking your knitting - there's nothing worse than getting right to the top and then finding a mistake halfway down!

6) Use a row counter, especially for complicated patterns with a repeat - its easy to forget where you are if you are distracted. There are simple row counters everywhere, but also some great 'Apps' on your Smart phone which you can download easily and often for free :-)

 7) Make sure your stitches are pushed to the back of the needles when you have finished knitting, or use point protectors to stop your stitches coming off the needles when your knitting is in your bag

8) If you do need to unpick, dont just pull the yarn - unpick the stitches carefully one by one (this is sometimes called 'Tinking') if you only have a few stitches to undo. If you have to unpick several rows place your work on a flat surface, carefully remove the needle and gently pull the yarn to unravel one row at a time until you get to your mistake (this is called 'Frogging'). Using the flat surface makes it easier to control the unpick and to re insert your needle when finished

9) Dropped a stitch? Don't panic, you can pick it up with a crochet hook and work it back up to your needle 

10) Do have a look on line for tips and tricks on 'how to's'  - YouTube is very full of simple videos and tutorials, and there are so many bloggers out there also giving tutorials and help. 

My main tip though, is to have a go! While I take my knitting seriously, it IS just wool and is not life and death stuff so if you do make a huge mess of something, it really can be as simple as undoing it all and starting again....or popping into your local wool shop and asking for help

That's it for now, I'm off to start a new project with cables as I really do need to read the instructions first!

Have a great weekend 

Tina xxx

The Wool Stops first post....

Ok so here goes....

Having put this off for a while, I decided its time to start blogging! I have never thought I would have too much to say or blog about and am hoping I come up with a few interesting bits and pieces for you to read....

So I am Tina and I own The Wool Stop in Thornbury, a once small market village in the West Country (home of the amber apple nectar that is Cider) which is now a much larger Market Town. I work in the shop on my own with a little bit of help from my mum, and I have been here for just over a year now.

One of the main things that I have learnt over the past year is about the kindness of others. My previous job in a large corporation was fraught with fear and tension, people looking out for themselves and not caring who got hurt in their search for 'power' or 'place' in the team, and I have to admit having been one of those who ended up getting hurt, it left me with a huge distrust of people in general, and very little self confidence in any part of my own abilities. However, since opening the doors of my very small, un-corporate unimposing little wool shop I have been exposed on a daily basis to the kindness, generosity and enthusiasm of people I have never met before, who have no personal gain objectives and who just want to be involved and help others. A real humbling eye opener, and a reinforcement of my own fundamental core belief that kindness reaps kindness, and mean selfishness can only result in misery all round. Examples of the things that I have experienced in the shop and outside of work (if I can really call it that!) are so numerous that I couldn't mention them all, but for example every single Charity Campaign I have run has resulted in mind boggling amounts of donations (over 1000 baby jumpers, 800 Hats for Troops, and I'm up to 56 baby blankets so far) - all from people who have given freely their time and money to help others. Some of these people are poor, old, ill, and frail and they still come into the shop with a smile and it is these people that make me LOVE my job, have given me my trust and confidence back, and make me realise what a waste of time and energy I spent fighting a corporate battle with people who wouldn't even know what kindness towards others is and who, I am sure dont smile as much as I do these days!

So enough for now....I have some funny stories to tell in later blogs, patterns and yarns to share and just hopefully general wiffle waffle that some one might like to read!

On to my next challenge....Ravelry! Twitter is done and sort of understood, Blog has been started but I now need to get on Ravelry and sort out an account WITHOUT getting lost in everyone elses patterns for hours on end and achieving nothing apart form a long wish list of 'things I would like to make'....!!

Bye for now and I'll speak to you soon

Tina xx xx