For as long as Kathy can remember, knitting has been her passion. Her mother’s family come from the Shetland’s, and she started knitting when she was four!

Kathy heard all the stories about how women in the Isles used to knit all day from their wheskers (knitting belts). Kathy later studied knitting design at college for 3 years and opened the shop in 2012 which was the realisation of a dream.

The ethos of the shop is to provide a warm and friendly environment for knitters of all levels to browse, discuss their projects and pick from the wide range of high-quality yarns. It’s all about touching and feeling the yarns and deciding what you like. Kathy believes strongly in the quality of British yarns, produced from sheep bred here. Kathy has deliberately focussed on British yarns, using suppliers such as Blacker, JC Rennie, Eden Cottage, Baa Ram Ewe, New Lanark and Jamieson & Smith; as well as many smaller and more local producers and farms.

Kathy encourages local designers and also sells a large range of books, patterns and knitting accessories. Many of the yarns that Kathy sells are exclusive to the shop, certainly in Scotland.

She also holds a series of classes, many events and book signings in the classroom. All knitters are very welcome to come along to her Knitting Group which meets regularly in the shop. The result is usually to have a lot of fun talking about your knitting projects!

The shop is located in Broughton Street, a thriving street in the heart of Edinburgh, full of interesting boutique shops, coffee shops, restaurants and bars. It’s at the basement level. When Kathy moved in she noticed that the flat above had a broken window, thinking it would get repaired soon. All these years later the tenant has still not repaired it. It is still broken and has become part of the shop folklore!

As a visitor to the shop, you should expect to be met by a bewildering array of balls facing you, organised by producer. Kathy will help to steer you towards your favourites and advise on what is best for the different patterns. The shop is full of options –  if not displayed in the shop, they may be found in the stockroom. For Kathy it is a real joy meeting knitters from all over the world, hearing different views and helping people to make the right choices and she looks forward to seeing you on your next trip to Edinburgh.

Kathy