Yesterday was quite an interesting one to say the least!ITV West country emailed me last week to ask if they could film a knit club for a programme to be shown on ITV this Friday 15 August at 6.00pm

Well I thought it might be fun so of course I said yes! I was flattered that they had picked Spin A Yarn to film. It turned into a marathon 4 hour session from which they will pick about 1 or 2 minutes apparently.

Yesterday morning wasn't officially a knit club day but everyone was eager to come along so before I knew it there were 10 ladies sitting around the table with their various projects.

Clare Manning the presenter arrived and joined the camera man and the soundman as well as Ali & I.

As you all know I have a very small shop!

Claire Crompton came along to teach Claire, Anneken was knitting her exquisite socks with her Mum and daughter, also there were Christine, Mary, Sue, Jackie, Becky.

At least 10 customers arrived along with a delivery of 2 huge bags of yarn from Sirdar.

My shop was by now looking exceedingly small!!

My worst moment was when the sound man decided to fix a mike so that I could be interviewed.  As anyone of you probably knows I can chat happily to anyone all day in the shop, however.... when i was provided with a mike and asked questions I just went bright red and couldn't think what on earth I was saying. I'm dreading watching the show on Friday! 

Claire & Anneken did very well however and Claire Manning seemed to be genuinely enjoying learning to knit. In fact she was doing very well by the end of the session.

Do watch but please excuse whatever I'm saying as I really can't remember! 

I closed the shop the other week for the first time since I opened it on 4 July and had a wonderful week in Crete. It was brilliant to see the sun even if it was only for 1 week.

I, even managed to persuade my husband to take a trip out to the hills because I saw some interesting photos of ladies spinning and weaving. We found ourselves in the town of Annoya (probably Spelt wrong!) and wandered around looking for ladies spinning. Eventually I found 2 old ladies with beautifully woven rugs and tried  by sign language to ask whether they spun the yarn and what type of loom they used to weave the rugs with.

Eventually I showed them my knitting that I had in the car. (I'm still knitting Lima using Mirasol Sulka). They thought the yarn was very beautiful, then showed me the natural brown yarn ( I think goat) that they were using. I gave them a small amount of money and the old ladies got quite agitated and insisted that I go with them to see their loom which is featured in the photos and then kindly gave me another large skein of brown coloured goat! What I'm going to do with it I don't know! But as usual I have come back from holiday with new yarn!

Just realised that I haven't mentioned the terrible fire in Bovey Tracey. The Old Thatched Inn across the road from Spin A Yarn burned down a month ago. I was fortunate because my door is supersealed against flooding so there wasn't a hint of smoke inside the shop.

The poor young family that lived in the pub though lost everything, their home and business.

Now we're all waiting to find out if the beautiful old building will be rebuilt.

I enjoyed my trip to Sirdar and was looked after very well. Very impressed with the window displays. Must try to make my window more focussed!

I was surprised to find that the spinning equipment has gone and that all yarn is brought in, mostly from China and Italy. It seems a shame that such a great tradition has been lost from here.

In the South West I feel I great movement towards spinning our own British yarn again. Certainly I get a lot of local smallholders visiting and wondering if they can get their own fleece or Alpaca spun into a marketable yarn. Also, there is now fully new working mills at Launceston and Cold Harbour Mill. Perhaps Devon will become the new centre of a spinning industry?

I'm just about to catch the train up to Wakefield to attend the Sirdar presentation which they have organised for their suppliers. It will be really interesting to visit the Spinning Mill and design studio and gain a new insight into spinning yarn on an industrial scale.

Meanwhile I thought I would mention that I have a some new interesting yarn supplied by a knitwear company called Keep & Share. This is an alternative knitwear company which has decided to make yarn from its Offcuts, a brilliant idea!!

Each yarn is individual so I have put each colour that I have onto the website. As you will see each has a different mix. All have a luxurious feel however and sparkle. I can't wait to knit up a jacket. I have a feeling it is going to look very pretty and different!

Just realised that way back in March I stated the intention to publish lots more photos and thoughts. Its now June and there's not been a squeak since!

Just today I've published the photo that I took way back in May, when Alison Crowther Smith taught a yummy kidsilk haze workshop. I do find it a magic yarn that changes its character however you knit it.

Other highlights of the workshops were the Modular knitting when Claire brought along lots of samples from her soon to be publishes Knitted throws and cushions and showed how effective and fun patchwork knitting can be. Knitting with wire was also popular. I've promised to buy in some fine wire as soon as possible.

Anniken's Lace knitting workshop was wonderful. Her designs are exquisite and it is no wonder that magazines are now publishing her new patterns. Unfortunately both my cameras went on the blink and only one photo has survived. We'll have to repeat this workshop just so I can take photos of the beautiful wraps that she brought to show us.

All the crochet beginners became quite expert by the end of the day's workshop so I have promised to organise a beyond the basics crochet workshop next term.

I'm aiming to publish a lot more photos this year to show you what is going on in Spin A Yarn.

The first workshop Claire taught this year was Professional Finishing techniques, which is always the most popular one.

This photo shows everyone working very hard. Its quite a demanding day as so many techniques are covered during the day.

The next photo shows 3 happy participants on the knitted Flowers and Jewellery workshop. They were very pleased with the knitted flowers that they produced in the morning and then made some pretty necklaces in the afternoon.

Spin A Yarn knitting clubs are getting more and more popular. Last Tuesday I managed to fit 8 people round my little table. Fortunately no one seemed to mind. As each new person arrived everyone squashed closer together and the laughter and conversation got louder. Amazingly lots of knitting was done and lot s of coffee was drunk.

Thought I'd post this photo to give you some impression of the atmosphere.

I've had access to my website again for a week now so it must be time to bring you up to date with all my news.

I've had delivery of lots of new yarns since my last entry - lots of beautiful natural yarns such as Artesano alpaca in 4 ply, DK and Aran weights, the stunning hand painted Araucania yarns from Chile and the Beautiful Mirasol yarns from Peru. The Baby Llama , miski yarn is incredibly soft. Everytime I hand a skein to a customer to feel there is the same reaction --ooh ...ahh...!

Two weekends ago I went to my first trade show, Stitches at the NEC Birmingham and had a wonderful time. Designer yarns invited me to a champagne reception that they held for their customers. It was very exciting as I got to chat to Debbie Bliss, Louisa Harding and Jane Ellison who were all really nice. They really seemed to appreciate the effort that retailers make to sell their designs and yarn.

The whole show was wonderful and I loved meeting all the different yarn company owners and discovering all the different beautiful natural yarns.

I was very good and didn't order anything at the show apart from 10 muti coloured sheep kits from Cornish Organic. They were so cute, I couldn't resist them. I've already planned to build a tower of them in the window.

Since the show however I have been trying to working out if I am able to resist the Lantern Moon knitting needles which are being marketed by the same company which is looking after Mango Moon and Alchemy yarns amongst others.

The Alchemy yarns are gorgeous spun silken skeins in amazingly  brilliant colours. They are very expensive so I think I might just buy a few individual skeins to look at and put in the window!

Its not as though I need any more yarn to fill the shop. My problem is that I can't help collecting new beautiful examples of yarn. My shop is stuffed full now as I've had large deliveries from Touch and Rare yarns from New Zealand as well as all the new Rowan summer yarns.

Do I have a problem!?

I know its a long time since I made a post. My excuse is that I've not been able to access the adminstration of the website for a long time because long suffering William is making lots of wonderful changes. Sometime very soon my web will be looking a lot slicker and hopefully you will be able to buy direct from the website.

Spin A Yarn has been a very lively place this Autumn last though with some brilliant workshops, even if I have posted no new photos or articles since the summer

My daughter Katie ran the shop on her own for a week and did brilliantly. Her fiance Dan constructed a load of new shelves for me in exchange for knitting him a new sweater. I've just finished the sweater which I made in the wonderfully soft Chunky yarn by Lang called Tierra, which he had chosen. Fortunately it knitted up on 8mm needles so was quite quick to do.

Now I can back backto my own projects. On the needles I've got the wonderful little lacey jacket, Loden Mist, from Knitters magazine, one Opal sock (I've finished one), a wrap made from Rare yarn Surino, a lacey scarf in Touchyarns brushed kidmohair/superfine merino and I've just started a new summer jacket knitted in the brand new silk cotton mixture from Rowan.

I'm looking longingly at the beautiful Cashmere from Shalisdair that I bought at Ally Pally in October and the yarns which I have in my stash from  the Fleece Artist and Handmaiden yarns, as well as my beautiful hand spun. Where do I start!!

Finally, I can get into my blog again after lots of hiccups!

Its been a busy week.

I decided to seize the the chance to go to Toronto for a week where my husband was attending a conference. It was the first time I had been away since I opened the shop, so it felt a bit like leaving my baby for the first time.

I was so lucky that my friend Ann has a friend in London who has always had the ambition to run a yarn shop. Between the 2 of them, they did a really good job.

Meanwhile I really enjoyed the break and enjoyed the hot sunshine after all the summer's rain.

Not that I could resist looking around yarn shops, especially when I discovered that Toronto was the home of the "yarn harlot".

I was delighted to get an email from Mary who I met in my shop way back at the end of May.

She was delighted to join me for a day looking around the local yarn shops. I also met up with Lindsay & Kerry from the Angel yarns forum.

Of course I wasn't going to buy any yarn, which I need like a hole in the head!

We met up in Romni Wools on Queen street. What an amazing place! It is absolutely huge and stuffed with every type of yarn you could think of. I was able to have a look at the Garn studio yarn which I am considering.

There was a huge basement with sale bargains, fleece and huge cones of yarn which you could buy by the meter.

The owner and assistants where very nice and seemed genuinely interested in hearing about Spin A Yarn. I was delighted to spot Claire Crompton's books and to be able to tell the assistants that Claire is a good friend and teaches lots of workshops for me.

There was a selection of wonderful Canadian yarn made in Nova Scotia with the brand names Handmaiden yarns & the Fleece Artist. Apparently, they are made by a talented mother and daughter. I had to buy a selection - purely for research you understand !

After a couple of hours in Romni Wools we mentioned to lose Kerry! Leaving lots of messages for her we went off to Lettuce Knits. This is a beautiful shop even smaller than mine. They stock only yarns from small businesses - such gorgeous yarns as Lorna's laces and lots of other beauties. I bought loads, I'm afraid.

I promise to take a photo of all my new acquisitions tomorrow. I can't stop stroking them all at the moment! 

We had a couple of relaxing days at Niagara Falls before returning to Exeter. Such an easy flight from Toronto now - only 6 hours.Already, I'm thinking that a trip to Nova Scotia would be fun - can't think why!

I arrived back on Wednesday afternoon to find Ann in complete control, as Joanna had had to return that morning.

The place was full of boxes of yarn however. 2 hugeboxes of yarn from Lang arrived the day I left and then of course all the wonderful new Rowan winter yarns are arriving in quick succession.

I have had to rethink my display again.

Can't believe we only had 2 participants for this wonderful course of Claire's. And I thought that most knitters were interested in "Saving the planet"!

The morning started when Claire gave us ideas of what to do with a felted sweater. She'd made everything from teddy bears to a tea cosy, a hot water bottle, a bag and a flower. All very beautiful items.

Next she showed us the best way of pulling back an old sweater, giving us lots of information about the best sweaters to buy from charityy shops.

After lunch she revealed the secretes of Magic Ball knitting. It was great fun playing with colours and textures and brilliant to get lots of new ideas for not wasting a centimetre of yarn.

I'm now falling asleep as I woke up at 4.46am this morning to go off to a Dog Agility Show at Wadebridge. I'd not planned to get up until 5.30am but there seemed no point in going back to sleep for 30min. I won a 12th rosette with Flynn so I was quite happy despite making a mess of my other round. I travelled with my daughter Katie and 5 of our dogs. Katie hasn't been training any of the dogs for ages because she's been doing a Master's course in Zoo Conservation Biology, so she decided to take 4 of them round the Grade 1 Jumping and Elementary courses. We were really pleased that all the dogs got Clear round rosettes apart from her most experienced Lab who was very unlucky

We've had 2 brillant jewellery making classes at Spin A Yarn these past 2 weeks.

The first was taught by Claire Crompton. Participants really enjoyed themselves and went home with some very pretty jewellery which they knitted themselves. See photos

Anne, one of the participants has already made 3 for her friends and has returned for more sari ribbon.

Then on Thursday Cat showed us how to make beautiful silver and gemstone jewellery.

Next time I think we'll do a rethreading class, that is if anyone has as many broken necklaces as me.

Surprisingly often for a wool shop, someone will pop their head around the door and ask if I mind if they bring their little dog in while they browse around my shop.

I always say of course I don’t mind because from experience quiet little dogs are a lot better behaved than husbands who quickly get impatient with their textile loving wife and cause her to exclaim in exasperation to me, “I’ll come back on my own another day when I’ll have time to have a good   look around!”