my ideal wool shop

[wartywarthog]

would be over several floors, packed floor to ceiling with yarn and have little ladders on rails so you could root around in the top shelves.

it would have a whole range from really cheap to ultra expensive and would have every colour conceivable so that you could actually buy several matching yarns in the same brand for eg. cath kidston rip-offs or knit a kaffe fassett jersey using the colours he suggests.

it would have a tea shop at the back where you could scour mags and patterns for your next project whilst sipping piping hot tea and gobbling gateaux.

it would have directories of yarn according to washing instructions (i'm sick of finding gorgeous wool for my dd only to find it has to be hand washed at half moon while the wind is blowing from the north east and dried flat in a room with bouquets of lavender and an ambient temp of 12 deg), and listings of which yarn is appropriate for a needle size.

it would be open late a couple of nights a week for knitting groups or just to finish ufo's.

would you shop there?

what would your ideal be?

This one is nice. Well, not as orderly, no tea store. It is open late on Thursdays, but then all shops in Toronto are.

It would have a huge variety of natural fibres in a fantastic range of colours. All ethically produced of course. And staff who welcome children in the shop - no disapproving glances just because a child has gently touched some wool to see how soft it is. And wooden knitting needles and crochet hooks. And no vile patterns. Or pastel colours.

ow wow mif! my brother lives in portland and i was just there! arghghghghghgh well portland does seem to have amazing shops - powell's for instance. i could spend hours in there. i'd basically like the equivalent of powell's but for wool, and similar to nqc's shop although i'm less likely to go to toronto.

i'd just like one of these shops in my neck of the woods. i'm stuck with ridiculously expensive poncy wool shops that have hardly any wool at £70 a ball. i kid you not. and i'm sick of tinternet as i've had too many colours that are slightly wrong and the texture being not what i thought.

john lewis just doesn't have a big enough range. sigh

aviatrix - you've got a deal! just need to get some dosh to start it now. errrr

This is absolutely nothing to do with the topic, but it's about knitting and I just had to share my incredulity with you!

I've been making felted hats for friend's babies recently. I bought some Merino Aran wool from Debbie Bliss which said it was machine washable at 40 degrees. I presumed therefore that it would felt if I washed it at 60 degrees.

So I tried at 60 degrees.......nothing happened.

I tried at 75 degrees ........ nothing happend.

I tried at 95 degrees, yes, 95 degrees and......... nothing happened.

I've been left with a large blue saggy, woolly bag which is worse than useless!

The moral of this story is: If you want to knit a jumper which is indestructable in the washing maching, use Debbie Bliss Merino Aran

Ok - as you were. Back to the real topic!

my dry cleaner was telling me that manufacturers by law don't have to test their washing instructions! so most of them put a very conservative instruction on and don't bother to test.

that is infuriating littlefish.

i once bought some cashmerino that had been got at by some moths. every metre there was a break in the wool. couldn't make anything with it. could have taken it back to the shop but lost the slip, so my own fault really.

yes, back to the topic...

I shouldn't laugh littlefish, but I'm afraid I just did. I am beginning to think merino is the cockroach of the yarn world - would survive a direct hit from an atomic bomb unscathed.
Warty, do you want to join my and motherpeculiar's plan for world domination in London, south of the river? I have been whingeing loudly about the Royston Vasey qualities of my only nearby wool shop "John's Outsize Fashions and Yarn".
We are going to win the lottery, as you do, and start with a couple of branches that are very like yours in concept. As it is S London we also need a roll-down metal security shutter, CCTV and a panic alarm .

We also plan to stock real knockem dead kits, buttons, gadgets and accessories.

I am really surprised that John Lewis have not picked up and run with this. It seems to my suspicious mind that every time I go in there the haberdashery section has shrunk by a few more feet. And the scrum going on should surely be telling them that there is increased demand for the four and a half brands they sell!

I didn't know that about the temperatures Muminfife. I'll read the labels a bit more carefully next time. I just looked for 100% wool.

That's interesting about the washing instructions Warty. What a cop-out!

In my ideal knitting shop, I'd like to have several expert knitters who could help me amend any pattern I like bits of.

I'd like my knitting shop to be open until 10 o'clock at night so that I can go in after dd is in bed at night. She's a nightmare in knitting shops and spends all her time pulling the balls of wool out of the displays!

I think you're right Marina . Got any napalm? (no idea if that's how you spell it!)

marina, yes, i'll join your and mp's plan for world domination. well ok, south london. perhaps we can just wind merino wool round the shop for security?

mif - i love portland too! a very untypical us city.

i've been seriously thinking about this, and have realised that the investment in stock (yes, it won't lose value), coupled with outlandish rental (you'd have to be near a tube) and council tax / rates would make this unfeasible. i guess you could supplement income by having an internet shop too, and hopefully the tea shop would break even.

so it would be a good way of spending lottery winnings

someone tell me there is a way to make this viable!

I sympathise LittleFish- I was determined to get Koigu to felt in spite of its machine washability, but it defeated me. I think machine washable yarns have been treated with something, haven't they, and that prevents felting. If you can get Jaeger Shetland Aran ever (discontinued but still on eBay) that's the best felting yarn ever IMHO. Peace Fleece comes out well but shrinks way more lengthways than widthways, bizarrely.

yeah good idea. a kids corner so you can browse in peace... perhaps with it's own couple of shelves of rubbish yarn to wreak havoc with...

I think this is pretty close to my ideal - classes and cinema! You should make a trip to Glasgow MuminFife

welcome to our bid for wool shop domination in SE london warthywarthog ('tis me, motherpeculiar as was). Good to have another stake in the lottery on board

As I told Marina, have found the perfect shop (although a bit on the small side for what some of you knitters are dreaming of, only one floor) but unfortunately it is being taken over by a fishmongers...I have been trying to see some potential synergies between the two trades that might allow us to start off small, with a counter in the corner or something, but my brain just isn't doing it for me...(although the guys in the butcher's next store could see lots of aran fisherman knit kits happening...they still laugh when they see me actually...)

now, how could we build in the crucial tea shop bit?

difficult one. the table with aran jerseys in the corner could work. the tea shop angle... tricky with the strong smell of fish. unless we sold fish pies.

pah those butchers can laugh, but they'll be laughing the other side of their faces when we take over their shop!

fish pie'n'earl grey over a nice spot of intarsia, anyone?

Message withdrawn

marina
last time I was in johnny lou lou's they told me that once the refurb has taken place, they have bagsed a really big corner (where the baby stuff is atm) so we can all flop down and knit to our heart's content. actually I'd rather the Whole Shop was wool etc - with a small cafe in the corner..complete with free webaccess for MNing.