February Newsletter
January is a very quiet month in our shop. Our local
knitters have all gone off to the beach and the hot sticky weather
makes knitting anything but the lightest of baby garments a sweaty
activity.
Given Devonport’s wonderful seaside atmosphere, we have
plenty of overseas visitors in the shop. The leisurely pace is
conducive to swapping knitting ideas, finding out about other wool
shops in different parts of the world, and having a bit of a
geography lesson thrown in. this holiday atmosphere was not
conducive to writing a newsletter for January so I am to make up for
my tardiness by producing an informative letter for February.
I am going to give you a history lesson on Wild and
Woolly Yarns. I understand the business was established about 30
years ago, and during the knitting boom of the 1980’s, it had quite
a reputation as ‘The Shop’ to visit for fashionable patterns and the
latest in knitting yarns. The ‘Wild and Woolly Knit Kits’ were
especially sought out. These comprised of a garments worth of
assorted colours of mohair yarn (quite scratchy I’m told) and a
pattern of a model, wearing a voluminous drop shouldered sweater,
depicting a large butterfly of a flower, or some abstract geometric
design. I’m sure these garments were once the epitome of style,
along with Broke Shield’s style eyebrows, pixie boots and
legwarmers. We do occasionally get asked for a ‘Knit Kit’ usually by
a lapsed knitter, who hasn’t picked up needles for 25 years!
Time moves on, although in the case of knitting, the
move was not in a favourable direction. The 1990’s saw knitting fall
from favour. Women were busy ‘having it all,’ the career, the
family, and the enviable lifestyle. There wasn’t enough time in our
busy lives to stuff a mushroom, never mind knit a sweater. Cheap,
imported garments were readily available and knitting became the
sedentary pass-time of elderly ladies, knitting outdated baby
garments in dubious shades of acrylic yarn. (young women didn’t have
time to hand wash, I’m told).
Knitting shops were closing down, as elderly
proprietors retired and those that struggled to remain viable were
notoriously dusty, disorganised, and outdated. Even in NZ, the land
of millions of sheep, acrylic yarn ruled the day, and many a mother
shoved unwanted, outdated baby knitting and children’s sweaters to
the back of the wardrobe, and prayed that Grandma wouldn’t make an
unannounced visit to see her latest handiwork modelled.
Wild and Woolly continued to trade throughout the
1990’s but by many accounts became an unimaginative dusty store.
Just as the few remaining proprietors were resigned to putting down
their needles, a revolutionary new yarn arrived on the scenes.
Patons ‘Feathers’ got everybody’s needles clicking again! These
variegated, brightly coloured balls of synthetic yarn were whipped
into scarves within a couple of evenings. All over the land women
could be heard chanting “two balls of feathers, 6mm needles,
24stitches and knit.” These scarves were sported by National TV
newsreaders, primary school children, elderly ladies and busy career
girls. Wild and Woolly was now a busy, although still uninspiring,
shop.
My first visit to the store was in 2002. I was planning
knitting classes for children at the Devonport Community House and I
needed knitting needles and wool. My first impression of the shop
was not favourable. The wool was in no understandable order, and
looked very messy on the shelves, boxes were filled with
jumble of ball after ball of cheap acrylic yarn and there
were even a few ‘mohair butterfly sweaters’ for sale at hugely
inflated prices. I desperately wanted to get my hands on the shop
for a few weeks to have a big clear out and smarten it up. (In my
dreams I thought!) after establishing myself as a regular customer
the proprietor one day commented in my direction, “You’re in my shop
every day, why don’t you buy it off me.” And the rest is history…
Four years later, I have transformed Wild and Woolly
into a modern, vibrant, inspiring and welcoming shop, stocked to the
gunnels with luxury wools, cashmere, alpaca, silk and NZ merino. We
have modern and desirable knitting patterns, beautiful knitted
samples to inspire, and top of the range knitting accessories. We
are a very dangerous shop to visit. I constantly remind my
husband that running my shop is a tremendous slog, necessitating
many hours of pouring over wool samples and knitting patterns,
arranging displays and knitting samples. For a while he believed me,
but now he knows just to keep quiet and let me play with my huge
‘wool stash.’
Knitting has certainly seen resurgence in the last 4 to
5 years, and not just amongst the Grandma’s. in our shop we don’t
have a typical customer. Children as young as seven are coming in
for a short pair of needles and some colourful wool. Teenagers want
instant knitting, usually a ball of thick wool and some fat needles,
the scarf just has to be ready to wear for the weekend. Pregnant
women want to be re-taught how to knit so they can wrap their babies
in something hand-made and unique. Some of our customers are even
accumulating a stash of garments for a ‘yet to be conceived
grandchild.’ Our older, perhaps more traditional knitters, are
genuinely revived when we nudge them out of their knitting time warp
and guide them to knitting that will be genuinely cherished by the
recipient.
If you get a few moments to put down your knitting
needles (the ironing can certainly wait) pick up a copy of ‘It’s My
Party and I’ll Knit If I Want To!’ by Sharon Aris. This amusing read
is crammed with knitting anecdotes that are so relevant to todays
knitters. The extract below always makes me chuckle.
I used to get worried in the wool shops – they seemed to be staffed by
people who looked like they were about to retire – but in the last
few years that’s changed. There is a resurgence in the home and
cooking. I think it’s a reaction to the fast pace and the people who
have “it all” are realising that parts of it aren’t satisfying.
There are a number of exciting new developments at Wild
and Woolly this month.
Firstly I am delighted to announce that Laura, my
wonderful part-time assistant is taking some time off between school
and Uni and working alongside me in the shop. Laura is totally
addicted to her knitting, spending every spare waking moment (and
probably counting balls of wool in her sleep) planning, designing or
producing modern, stylish garments and accessories. Her talents have
been spotted by a major NZ fashion designer and Laura is now
producing cutting edge designs and accessories that will be
showcased in
Q. I have always been told that knitting was a private activity, best
confined to one’s home. However, recently I have noticed several
young women knitting in common social situations. Is it now
acceptable for me to knit in public?
A. Manners, as always, dictate all public behaviour and a few basic
considerations will ensure your public knitting is undisturbed. Solo
knitting, while on the train or in the park at lunchtime is a
pleasant activity that most enjoy watching. In mixed social company
however, it is polite to ask, ‘Do you mind if I knit?’ while
assuming, as do most smokers, the answer will be affirmative.
However, at business meetings, weddings and funerals public knitting
sends a quiet message of indifference, so it is best refrained from
unless that particular point is to be made.
Our second major achievement for February is the launch
of our website. This has been many years in the planning, with the
development of our gorgeous store always taking priority. Anyway, we
now have an awesome website championing what we believe is some of
the best yarns available, desirable patters, helpful hints, must
have accessories, and we hope it’s a knitters paradise for those of
you unable to visit our store. Please visit our website
www.wildandwoollynz.com
There is a special website offer – you can order
through the website two balls of Mist for just $9! Usually it would
cost you $15.80. You also get two free scarf patterns to use with
Mist.
Happy Knitting
From Fran and Laura.
February's Special!
To celebrate the launch of our new internet shop
Buy 2 balls of Mist Mohair online this month for only $9, saving you over $6 and you will also get 2 free patterns for making either a garter stitch scarf, (see above) or a lacy option.
click on the picture to find out more
