Before I left France a knitting friend asked me to visit two shops in London, just to "check them out". So I did - well, I don't need too much encouraging to wallow in wool do I?!
The first was I Knit, London in Waterloo. Very easy to get to from Waterloo Underground and raved about on Ravelry. I was full of hope.
The good: I found I Knit no problem with help from the A-Z. It's a decent sized shop with wool along the two sides and a good selection of books. Tables in the middle covered in knitting extras and gadgets as well as a couple of spindles. A really nice collection of wool too in a good selection of colours. Friendly people and a lovely Chesterfield sofa to sit and browse the books - and I think on Saturdays to knit on as they have a knitting day at some point.
The not so good: It wasn't crowded when I was there but I imagine that on a Saturday morning (or whatever day most people buy their yarn) it gets quite difficult to move as the tables in the middle really do get in the way. The lighting isn't brilliant and as the wool shelves are white the colours don't stand out. You can of course take the wool to the window to check the "real" colour but they are bay windows and naturally full of display so not much natural daylight. Also, the shelves were really crushed full so when I took out one skein I found a couple more following onto the floor. Also, a couple of the brands had a variety of different colours in the same "box" shelf so I had to really hunt for the five balls of the same colour.
The BAD: I do try to put a gloss on the not so good and avoid "bad" things. However, this was a yarn shop for knitters (and crocheters but that's not me) so I did expect to have helpful advice from the people working there. Perhaps I picked a bad day (Wednesday). Out of three people one didn't have a clue about wool generally, the second couldn't answer (or look up) a question about the weight of wool and how two different wools would mix in one garment and the third simply said that if I liked the two wools together then that was fine.
Room for improvement: They had a very limited amount of spinning fibre and only three spindles. I realise that not as many people spin wool as the number of people who knit/crochet but if there was room for fibre and more spindles then I would add it. But that's coming from a spinner and is perhaps biased!
The second yarn shop was STASH in Upper Richmond Road, Putney. I was staying just next to Putney Bridge Underground and walked there in about 15 minutes, window shopping on the way. Feeling tired on Thursday and slightly disappointed with I Knit I nearly didn't go, but in the end Blind Granny sent me on a shopping errand not far from the shop so it was a case of "what the heck".
The good: Easy to find and to walk to from Putney Bridge Station and even closer to Putney Station (which I think is overground but I don't know). The shop is smaller than I Knit but it feels more spacious. I think this is due to the excellent lighting and the fact that being on a corner there are windows down two sides. The door is on the angle which helps too as it gives natural light when checking colours. The shelves are black which really make the colours stand out well and they are not crowded. I had the impression that if there were three of one colourway in the shelf there was probably a box "backstage" somewhere with more of the same.
The girl, whose name I stupidly forgot to ask, was the co-owner and unbelievably helpful. She showed me how to sandwich colours to get a better idea of the mix - sounds obvious but I'm not a good judge of colour and really need advice.
One thing I really liked was her comment that the two owners had decided that they would only stock wool and colours that they themselves would like to knit with - luckily they do have an apparently wide range of tastes and luckily again it doesn't seem to include orange or fluorescent pink!
The not so good: well, there were less books than I would have liked but they were better organised. However, to make up for the books (not a lack of, note, just less than you might have expected) Ravelry was pretty much on tap. By this I mean that she was more than willing to check out ideas for patterns on the computer at the till and look them up on Ravelry, neatly putting them into my favourites for future reference.
Room for improvement: well, not really anything. No spinning things at all which again would have been nice but perhaps it's not their thing.
And finally: She (I WISH I'd got her name!) was French so naturally I was impressed!
A FINAL COMMENT ABOUT YARN SHOPS IN GENERAL
So much is available on line nowadays and I imagine that any yarn shop owner with a bit of nowse would offer a mail order option but I do think that it's important we use these real shops. You can touch the wool and feel its softness - or courseness - and see the real colour which monitors don't seem able to do. And if we want these shops to continue then they need supporting. The girl in Stash gave me an outline of the problems she faces because of high council tax (or was it rates, doesn't matter) and high rent. At the moment they can keep going but it's a struggle. And this was a lovely shop that's heaving on a Saturday morning. So PLEASE, buy online if you have to but if you see a yarn shop for goodness sake go in and buy something - it's cheaper than therapy!
