Thornbury in Bloom......

Thornbury is my favourite place. I have lived here for more than 40 years, and have never fallen out of love with it.  I have always loved the High Street - I've watched it change so much over the years, and fondly remember some of the old shops that used to be here.....Dorothy Gubbins and her penny sweets (we used to get 4, yes 4 blackjacks for a penny!), the old pipe makers shop next door and the smell that used to come from there, Mrs Rugman and the pet shop, and many more including my favourite shop ever and the reason I am owner of a wool shop now - Pats Wool Shop. Here I bought my first ball of wool when I was 14 years old, and here I thought.....'I'd love to own a wool shop, what a great job'.

 

(Photo above is Thornbury High Street in the 1960's when I moved here and as I first remember it!) 

Well, several careers (and many years) later, I was in a position to do just that and The Wool Stop was created just over 2 years ago. I am 'living the dream' and having the most fun in any job I have ever had, however its not as simple as it seemed all those years ago when I just thought I could sit and knit the day away.....customers, stocking up, ordering, accounts, orders, cleaning, tidying, workshops, banking, posting, supporting and marketing via social media take up most of my days. And on top of all this there's the charity knitting - always something on the go for a charity, always lots of wonderful knitters out there willing to help out. Most recently (and the point of this post!) is the Thornbury in Bloom project. Thornbury enters the Britain in Bloom competition every year, and wins prizes every year. You cannot fail to see the beautiful hanging baskets and floral displays around the town, and this year I very proudly got to be a tiny part of it......I was asked by the Thornbury in Bloom team to make some hanging baskets for some of the empty brackets on some of the shops. With a wonderful team of ladies working with me, we managed to produce 11 beautiful flowery baskets which today went up on show about the town for judging day. They look fabulous, and there have been so many comments from customers and non customers popping into the shop it has made all the hours of knitting, crocheting and wiring worth it. 

What I am most chuffed about (apart from all the ladies who made such an effort to help!) is the fact that little old Tina Mason, quiet as a mouse and picked on all throughout school, is now running a shop in my favourite town in my favourite High Street and that shop is becoming part of the Community  - a community where most people care about their surroundings and the people in it. I am today, very proud.

A huge thankyou to all of my ladies who knitted and crocheted their fingers off to make the baskets, you are all fab! Drinks are on me at Knitter Natter :-) And thankyou to Guy and Andrea from Thornbury in Bloom for asking us to take part - I really hope the judges liked the pretty flowery town as much as we do!!

The woolly baskets will come down today, as they are needed next week for the National Judging day on the 30th July - good luck to Thornbury, the town looks beautiful.

And now I have finished knitting flowers, I just dont know what to do.......

(I'm sure I'll find something though!!)

Hope to see you soon

Tina xxx

Our day at CountryFile with the BBC

Imagine my surprise when I got a call which went like this....

Hi, can I speak to Tina please
Yes speaking
Hi, my names Katy and I'm a researcher from the Countryfile programme at the BBC, and I've been looking at your yarn bombing on the internet
Really??
Yes really
What the BBC?
Yes, the BBC....

So once I actually picked myself up off the floor, Katy asked me if I would like to be involved in the Countryfile Summer Show being filmed at the Cotswold Show in Cirencester

Of course I said Yes (please!!)

Over the following two weeks, the requirements changed from 'making pom poms with the public and decorating a tree' to knitting something for the presenters to wear during a cricket match, knitting squares with the public and spinning a newly shorn fleece into a tea cosy!! All we could do was promise to try to get everything done, but due to the smelliness of a newly shorn fleece, we decided to take a back up of our own clean sheep fleece, a kind of plan b!!

The day arrived and we excitedly drove to Cirencester. When we told the parking attendants we were with the BBC, we were ushered into a little private parking area (no parking with the masses for us!!) and were quickly met by Katy who was as lovely person as she was on the phone and shown our area for the day. We set up camp, and were totally surprised by the friendliness and hospitality of the BBC crew - several came up and introduced themselves including the producer and director (who to our delight said they too had decided the sheep fleece would be too smelly to spin - phew!). Everyone was interested in what we were doing, and throughout the day we were looked after, even though they were all so very busy. Such a fabulous team of people.

During the day we sat and knitted and spun, and chatted to so many members of the public about knitting and yarn and stuff - it was great to get to chat to such a variety of people. The spinning wheel was the draw for the day, my mum is surely a YouTube sensation by now as she was filmed so many times. We had samples from raw fleece to spun hanks of yarn, and so were able to describe the process from start to finish and I think maybe there might be a few people now interested in spinning. Success!! All this while sat amongst the crew and presenters while they were filming the show. Not only very enjoyable, but also very interesting watching how a show like Countryfile is filmed - we said hello to Matt Baker five times on camera due to them having to retake the 'scene', it will be interesting to see the show all edited and put together having seen it so disjointed and 'bitty'....

Highlights of the day....

Making a cup of tea in the 'green room' next to John Craven 

Having my photo taken and chatting to the lovely Matt Baker (I was a little bit starstruck!!)

And knitting with John Hammond who was a very good knitter! 

 
All in all we had a brilliant day. The show will be aired on 10th August - we're not sure how much of us will be in the programme (if any) but we had such a lovely day, we dont mind!! If we're not shown, I'm hoping that my Cricket Jumper Tea Cosy will be as it was used for the High Tea scene after the cricket match!!

A huge thankyou to the Countryfile Team (especially Katy, she was fab) for making us part of their team for the day....I've already told them we are free for the next one :-)

If you watch Countryfile, I hope you enjoy the show and maybe spot a little bit of us

Lots of love

Tina xxxx

Yarn Shop Day.....and other news!

Yarn Shop  Day was a great day at 15 The Plain - I am so touched by the amount of people who came out especially to help celebrate their local Yarn Shop - people who I have known for ages and people who I haven't....I think it has made me realise what a wonderful community spirit exists in Thornbury and the surrounding areas. I am so proud to be part of it....!!

Heres couple of photos I managed to get on the day, not too many as I was quite busy.....

Knitting on the pavement with tea and cake...

 My Nan Dorothy, the oldest knitter in town at the grand old age of 92

And Jen (wearing her awesome newly knitted cardigan) having a cuddle with new shop puppy Reg :-)

And in the background of the last photo you can see a very serious looking Jacqui, trying to fathom out how to work the website....Jacqui already runs workshops for us at the shop, but is now joining us as a part time Shop Person (Hurrah!) so you might be lucky and get her next time you come into the shop instead of me - there's not much she doesn't know about anything to do with anything crafty, she's fab!

I hope you had a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend, and big thankyou's again to all of you who came out on Saturday to see us. You are all amazing :-)

We were included in the Lets Knit Magazine Blog (They organised YSD), you can find it here www.letsknit.co.uk/blog/yarn-shop-day-2014 

I have to say I love Jacquis prediction for the future at the end.......Lets hope it really happens :-)

Lots of love

Tina xx

 

Sad day...happy day :-)

Today is the last working day in what is now lovingly referred to as Ye Olde Wool Stoppe, before we begin the move to the new shop just down the road.

I am sad because this little shop has been an amazing place to start afresh  - it has brought lots of new happy people into my life, and helped put all those miserable memories (and people) of my past working life to the back of my mind - and so it will always hold special memories for me as a place of healing and mending. I love this shop and all the people who come in every day and make my working life so lovely. 34 High Street I will miss you xx

However, the new shop holds so much promise for The Wool Stop and all I want to achieve - more space for more yarns and haberdashery, more room so people can stop and have a chat and a cuppa, a workroom where we can run as many workshops as we like, a big pavement outside for sitting in the sunshine and knitting, and on and on.....so The Wool Stop future is looking great, and I am looking forward to reopening next week and beginning yet another episode in my life as a trader in Thornbury - a great town and one I am proud to live in and promote.

So, I look forward to you all coming into the new shop and spending some time chatting and browsing - see you at 15 The Plain, Thornbury for a cuppa :-)

Lots of love, Tina

Yes, I am a proven mind reader.......and generally as helpful as I can be!

So, a lovely lady came into the shop and asked if she could have a look at the patterns....sure I said and off she went into the little room. 10 seconds later she came back and said...

'To save me looking through all the patterns, you might be able to help. I'm looking for a thickish sort of vest style cardigan or wrap, but it must have a pointy bit at the front. I also want it to be quite fitted but not too tight, with a fairly wide front and a tie not a button, although if it had a button I could adapt it. I dont want it to have a collar, and I dont want a round neck but I dont want it to be too slopey at the front...I dont want a pattern on it but I dont want it too plain, but I could always add my own pattern, Oh and I dont want sleeves but if it has sleeves I can take them off....can you help?'

I said 'Errrrrrrr, maybe......'!! We then had a quick discussion about designing her own garment, or Ravelry but she wanted something now, so thinking this was an impossible ask, and desperately trying to imagine what her ideal cardie looked like I went to the pattern folders. Pretending to know exactly what I was doing (!!) I started with the chunky ladies patterns. We looked at a lot of patterns which were  'too wide at the front', 'too narrow at the front', or 'no, not what I'm looking for'... and after a little while suddenly I thought of a Sirdar Pattern that I had - one that was a slouchy sleeveless shapeless wrap with a tie not a button. And my lovely customer simply (and to my relief and happiness) said..'that's nice, I'll have that one!!'

So, more by luck than anything else I had managed to help what I though was a customer with an impossible request. It turned out that she had some of her own handspun yarn that she wanted to use and would adapt the pattern to her specific requirements. I cant wait to see it.....

Recently I did a Facebook thingy - which Mr Men Character are you? - and it said I was Mr Bump which is just silly!! I rather think I am this one after today....

It always makes me happy when I can help. I hope my customer was happy too.

Have a lovely day
Tina xx

........enough to make you tense!

I have been a knitter for  more years than I care to admit to, and in all those years I have never ever had an issue with tension. If a pattern says use 4mm needles and DK yarn, my tension is spot on. If a pattern says use 6mm needles and a chunky yarn my tension is spot on. Cables, rib, bobbles...you guessed it, spot on. 

So last year I taught myself to crochet Granny Squares and never even thought to check tension as my knitting has never given me any issues - I have crocheted several lovely blankets and have been as pleased as punch with them. However, I have now hit a problem.....deciding I wanted to learn more crochet, I went to a Crochet a hat workshop where we were learning to crochet a beanie hat using chunky yarn and 7mm hooks. After a few rounds of crochet, my piece of work was literally half the size of everyone elses and to rectify this I had to change up to a 9mm hook as I realised I was a 'tight' crocheter....
 
Today, I decided to try to follow a pattern and crochet some baby booties. I stuck to the 4mm hook and DK yarn, and merrily followed the pattern, getting more and more pleased with myself that I could actually read and follow a crochet pattern......until I finished and realised that I had made a GIANT bootie .......

The pink bootie is crocheted in DK yarn with a 4mm hook. The green booties are knitted in DK yarn with 4mm needles. I am confused as to what the heck is going on with my tension?!?! With chunky I was crocheting sooo tight I had to go up 2 sizes, now with DK I am going to have to go down to a 3.5mm or even a 3mm hook to get it right! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!

What I think I am most cheesed off about is that I have found that I LOVE crochet and want to do more, but that I will, after many years of never needing to do a tension check, I now am going to have to start checking it with every crochet project I do......or, just continue make randomly sized garments that is decided on on the day by my very loose or very tight crochet hands!!

Anyway, if anyone as a baby girl with a very large right foot there's just the bootie waiting here for her.....

Chat to you soon

Tina xx

All Change...


There's some big news from The Wool Stop...we are moving premises to a larger shop where we can run all our workshops on-site (yay). This means much less running up and down the High Street for me when one is taking place and much less time spent carting all the equipment around town. I shall have my own little workshop/craft room where I'm hoping people will want to come and spend some time..there will be tea and coffee available and a cosy place to sit and natter - not quite the Wool Shop/Cafe I always wanted but we could have cakes too if required..!!
 
So here's the new shop as it is now, I have 4 weeks to paint, decorate, change the plumbing and alter the kitchen area, move a zillion balls of wool from the old shop to the new, undo old shelving and remake it AND keep the old shop up and running at the same time....I'm a little bit daunted by all of this but also touched by all the offers of help - knitters are lovely people :-) I dont usually ask for or take offers of help as I cant pay in anything other than cups of tea and copious thank-yous, but this time I might just do so as I cant actually be in two places at once!

       


I will keep you posted with news of the new shop of course, and for those of you who are local the new Address will be: 15 The Plain, Thornbury, Bristol, BS35 2BD. We will be in and open by Easter (Fingers crossed!!) Feel free to pop your head round the door if you see me in there painting, hammering, building shelves or counting balls of wool.....I'd love to see you

Hope to see you there soon

Tina xx

I really should take my own advice.....

Just a quick blog to show you a wrap I have knitted in Manos del Uruguay Alegria, a beautifully soft 4 ply yarn designed for socks but equally lovely used in other projects. Here is my finished wrap....

Which was made with this colourway. Beautiful.

I shamefully have this garment on display in the shop, because what you can't see in the photo (because I photographed it from the 'good' side) is the GLARING mistake I made because I did not follow my own advice from an earlier blog and I did not READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST!!

There are short rows in this pattern, and halfway through I was not happy with how the 'wrapped' stitch was showing, and couldn't work out what was going wrong.......until I read to the end of the instructions which told me exactly how to knit up the wrapped stitch so that it doesnt show. AAAARRGGGHHHH. Usually I would have taken the whole thing out and started again, but with so many projects on the go, I decided to carry on regardless and display it as a lesson to all who look at it to (as my Mum used to say) 'do as I say, not as I do'!!

Even with the mistakes, its still pretty though and I will wear it - with the good bit on the outside.....

Speak to you soon

Love from Tina xxxx

About time for another blog.....

Blogging really does not come naturally to me, and I have sat here for aaaages wondering what to write about, and have come up with nothing!! Any bloggers out there who have any tips for me please please pass them on - some people seem to do it with such ease and so well, and I am wondering just how I can match up and become a 'more often than once every couple of months' blogger!! You would think with running a wool shop I would have lots of tales to tell, and I do - but I start to write stuff, then worry about offending anyone it might involve....so I try to rewrite it and then end up trying to think of something else!! Blogger Block Big Time.... 

So, today I am going to share a couple of photos of my Grandson George who visited the shop yesterday (with his Mummy of course) and hopefully be able to come up with something knitty to blog about soon :-)

Heres George....

As you can see, he liked the crochet blanket, but only to eat! One day I'll teach him to knit and crochet, I'm hoping for the next Kaffe Fassett and someone else in the family to share my love of yarns with......!!
Or maybe he will be much more creative than I am and I can get him to write blogs for me.....

Well thats is for now, hopefully I will chat to you again very soon

Happy Knitting and crocheting

Love from Tina xx