A while ago I started thinking, not very seriously, about opening a shop selling hand knitting wools, cottons, bamboos etc. I was regularly going to a knitting group at my local library run by the rather brilliant Sara Noble and feeling happy, calm and inspired. We got to chatting about wool and where we all bought ours from and how there really was nowhere locally selling interesting and good quality yarns. I started checking out all the places that did sell yarns locally and they were almost exclusively selling a small range of cheap acrylics and I started talking to knitting shop owners about their experiences of owning a yarn shop. After one particularly enlightening and enjoyable weekend in Scarborough visiting my friend Kim and nosing round the two yarn shops there, Multi-ply and Knitter's World, sitting drinking tea and chatting to the owners I made up my mind that I would open a shop in Crouch End. I had no experience but what the hell, that was the message that was coming across to me, just do it!
After checking out shop rents in Crouch End, £30,000+, I realised that perhaps I wasn’t ready to open a shop – more or less on a whim – and it would be a good idea to look into ways of selling yarns locally without all that financial risk. I started investigating local markets and decided upon Archway Market on Holloway Road. A lovely little market, still trying to establish itself, it seemed almost just right for my little venture. The only problem with the market is it is outdoors so I had to think of a solution to the problem that wool cannot get wet at all and then be sold.
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